2019-04-29 Raymond and Marlis AasTo the Honorable Tammy de Weerd, Mayor,
To the Members of the Meridian City Council, and
To the Meridian Planning and Zoning Commission:
We, as concerned neighbors, are strongly opposed t6the
proposed Delano development as submitted, consisting of 85
densely packed single-family homes and a group of multi -story
apartment buildings that could be between 96 and 200* units
when the ultimate CUP is accepted at the latter phase of
construction. We have several alternate plans to propose that
would allow DevCo to profit from their investment while
protecting the quality of life that Alpine Pointe residents
assumed when they bought their homes. One example of an
alternate proposal is in attachment 1. We oppose the Delano
development in its current form, for the following reasons:
First, DevCo, the developer, has done nothing to address Alpine
Pointe residents' valid concerns about having thousands of
additional car trips through our subdivision each day (we have
had three DevCo-hosted neighborhood meetings to date).
DevCo's plan will route the traffic from both this single-family
development and the adjoining apartment complex through
Dashwood PI, a quiet residential cul-de-sac in Alpine Pointe that
was never designed or designated to be a commercial collector
road. From the Dashwood stub road, these thousands of cars will
disperse throughout Alpine Pointe to connect to McMillan,
Locust Grove and Eagle Road, creating noise and traffic
hazards. The outlined traffic patterns will bring collateral traffic
to Settlers Bridge as well. Champion Park will also have
thousands of high-density development neighbors. We
respectfully ask you to help us protect our quality of life.
In addition, Alpine Pointe has two school bus stops within our
subdivision, thus the additional traffic will pose significant
danger to young school age children as those using our sub as a
pass through are more likely to drive at a higher rate of speed
and not have the same concern about safety as our residents do.
To clarify, it isn't solely the Delano project that will bring forth
this heavy traffic burden, but the situation is impacted by the
connection to existing subdivisions and projects under
construction that will bring the total density of the block of land
bounded by Eagle Road on the east, Alpine Pointe to the north,
Ustick to the south, and Champion Park to the west to a total
population that is significantly greater in density than anywhere
else in the city!
To illustrate how this proposal and future land use of nearby
undeveloped parcels will result in such high-density, this
Ustick/Eagle area already has the Centrepointe Way/Ustick four-
plexes (80 units) and the Brickyard Apartments (279 units). Add
another 85 single-family homes and 96 to 200 additional
apartments, and we are looking at 540 to 630 homes/apartments
and 1,490 to 1,739 or more residents in a small, tightly packed
footprint (avg Meridian household 2.76 persons).** This total
resident count and an unknown quantity of commercial traffic
will use Alpine Pointe (specifically Dashwood Pl) as the sole
northern route into and out of this area. We feel that this much
density must not be routed through a quiet and far less dense
subdivision like Alpine Pointe (3 houses per acre).
Furthermore, the future plans for this area will add to the traffic
burden; we are concerned that even more high density apartment
projects will be proposed in the future when the combined 10
acres belonging to Mrs. Wong and Mr. Hedrick are sold
(R4582530100 and R4582530202).*** The future zoning of
these parcels and the resident density would route even more
traffic into Alpine Pointe via the future Centrepointe Way to
Wainwright commercial collector, N Dashwood Pl, and at
Eagle/Wainwright.
Third, over -connectivity: Alpine Pointe, at 90 acres and 211
homes, will be over -connected relative to other comparable and
even larger subdivisions. If we add DevCo's proposed access
point on Dashwood, Alpine Pointe will have eight
entrances/exits when the Rogue River connection and the
Centrepoint Way/Wainwright commercial collector are
constructed. This just further exacerbates our existing problem
of drivers using Alpine Pointe as a high speed shortcut to avoid
Eagle Road's already overwhelming traffic burden.
Finally, DevCo's current proposal makes an abrupt leap from
Alpine Pointe's 3 homes per acre to 15 and then to multi -family.
We would like to see a more fluid transition from our mostly R4
to perhaps R8 in the portion of the Delano development that is
closest to Dashwood, and then a transition south to R15 (north
of the Brickyard project). Perhaps consider designating the
Delano apartment paddock to R-15 as a transition as well to cap
population density (parcel R4582530300).
Ladies and Gentlemen, we respectfully ask you to consider these
issues with an eye towards not only the future of Meridian, but
the quality of life of its residents. We trust you to act in our best
interests.
Sincerel � 0a")
*Without indoor fire sprinklers, multi -family dwellings are
limited to 100 units. With sprinklers, they can go up to 200
units on a parcel this size, or more with an accepted variance
application.
"Based on Meridian's average household size, of 2.76 persons
per residence (source h1p://w rlgpulationreview com/us-
cities/meridian-id-Pop lati nn
***Wong and Hedrick parcels (10 acres, R4582530100 and
R4582530202) could result in +/- 400 total apartment units, or
+/= 1200 or more residents (a density of +/- 120 persons per
acre).