2019-04-26 City of Boise
April 26, 2019
Planning and Zoning Commission
c/o: Sonya Allen
City of Meridian
33 E Broadway Ave, Meridian, ID 83642
Delano Subdivision H-2019-0027 CPAM, PP, AZ
Dear City of Meridian Planning and Zoning Commission,
Thank you for transmitting the above noted application. Of the two properties in
question (14120 W. Jasmine Ln and 2800 E. Jasmine Ln), 14120 W. Jasmine Ln is located
within the Boise Area of Impact and is therefore subject to the provisions of the City of
Boise’s comprehensive plan, Blueprint Boise. Additionally, the property is contiguous
with Boise City Limits and is eligible for annexation at this time.
By way of background, the applicant on this project formally requested that the City of
Boise adjust the Area of Impact Boundary between the two cities on April 3, 2018. After
a work session on the request, the Boise City Council directed staff to schedule the
request for a public hearing to consider the merits and tradeoffs of the proposed
boundary adjustment in a publicly-noticed and fully transparent way. On June 19, 2018,
the Council considered the application and tabled it for a week to allow staff to
provide additional information on the cost of providing utility services to the site. On
June 22, the applicant withdrew their request without explanation and the council did
not act, leaving the property within the Boise AOI.
While there may be merit to the requested boundary change, and there is a stated
financial advantage to the developer, we believe it is bad public policy to make
decisions such as this in an ad-hoc manner. The cities of Boise and Meridian both
negotiated our respective AOI boundaries in good faith with the County and an action
by one city to annex land within another’s boundary clearly violates the spirit and intent
of our respective Area of Impact Agreements. Further, we note that Chapter 3 of the
Meridian Comprehensive Plan states: “The City of Meridian is committed to fulfilling the
terms of its Area of City Impact Agreement with Ada County as well as similar
agreements with neighboring cities including Eagle, Kuna, Star, and Boise. The plan
goes on to state “the City’s intent to continue working with the County and surrounding
cities on Area of City Impact boundaries and development policies”.
Finally, please note that the request does not comply with the provisions of the Idaho
Statutes pertaining to Category A Annexations. Specifically, Idaho Code 50-222.3.a.i
states: “Category A Annexations wherein: All private landowners have consented to
annexation. Annexation where all landowners have consented may extend beyond
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the city area of impact provided that the land is contiguous to the city and that the
comprehensive plan includes the area of annexation.” (emphasis added). Because
14120 W. Jasmine Ln is not included on the Future Land Use Map nor within any other
policies contained in the adopted Meridian Area Comprehensive Plan, the City of
Meridian cannot legally annex the property.
Based on the above information, we request that the application to annex 14120 W.
Jasmine Lane be denied or deferred until the such time as the Boise City Council
formally consents to a boundary adjustment between the two cities, placing the
property in question within the Meridian AOI.
Thank you in advance for your consideration in this matter, please do not hesitate to
call should you have questions or need additional information.
Sincerely,
Daren Fluke
Deputy Director
Comprehensive Planning