2019-05-01 Sherry Garey
April 30, 2019
To the Honorable Tammy de Weerd, Mayor,
To the Members of the Meridian City Council, and
To the Meridian Planning and Zoning Commission:
My husband and I, as concerned residents and neighbors, are strongly opposed to the proposed Delano
development as it is currently being proposed and submitted. The project consists 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. Our subdivision has 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 his single-family
development and the adjoining apartment complex through Dashwood Place that is 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 estimated 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 subdivision 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. We also have a number of retired residents who experience health and mobility issues that try to
improve their health by walking within the neighborhood, which are also a concern with significantly
increased traffic and speeding. Our home is on N Camas Creek Way and we experience a substantial
amount of cut-through traffic from McMillan Road through the subdivision to Eagle Road, and vice-
versa. Our subdivision is completed, and no construction or remodeling is in process. However, we have
observed numerous contractor-outfitted vehicles and even concrete trucks zipping through in hopes of
saving a little time. The vehicles give the appearance of substantially exceeding the posted speed limits of
our subdivision.
To clarify, it isn’t solely the Delano project that will bring forth this heavy traffic burden, but the situation
is intensified 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 Centrepoint 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 Place) 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 these adjacent areas 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 Centrepoint Way to Wainwright commercial collector, N Dashwood Place, 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 the DevCo’s proposed access point on Dashwood Place
is added, 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, safety, beauty and livability that our city offers and provides to
its residents. We trust you to act in our best interests.
Sincerely,
Chuck and Sherry Garey
4563 N Camas Creek Way
Meridian, Idaho 83646
208.866.1351
sgarey@cableone.net
*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
http://worldpopulationreview.com/us-cities/meridian-id-population/ )
***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).
1
Charlene Way
From:Sherry Garey <sgarey@cableone.net>
Sent:Tuesday, April 30, 2019 11:02 PM
To:Meridian City Clerk
Subject:Letter regarding the DevCo Development scheduled for May 2, 2019
Attachments:letter to Mayor, City Council, and P and Z.docx
Dear Clerk, Please forward the attached letter to Mayor de Weerd, the City Council, and to the
Meridian Planning and Zoning Commission for their review and consideration regarding the above
referenced public hearing for DevCo Development scheduled for May 2, 2019.
Thank you for your assistance,
Sherry Garey
4563 N Camas Creek Way
Meridian, Idaho 83646
208.866.1351
sgarey@cableone.net