2020-02-28 Cheryl Jones
Charlene Way
From:cheryl jones <44easthomedecor@gmail.com>
Sent:Friday, February 28, 2020 12:05 PM
To:City Clerk
Subject:CUPH-2019-0142
Hello there,
I plan on being present at the next city hall meeting and I did share some of my feelings last time on the parking space,
however, that wasn’t the issue at hand, as we all know, it was the height of the proposed building. (You still can’t stuff 6
sausages into 3 hot dog buns:) There will not be adequate parking for 400+ residential units and the additional 200
spaces proposed for parking which will eventually change into commercial actually creates less parking)
As I shared previously, I believe we, as business owners are excited for up and coming growth in Meridian. I personally
wish we were seeking a gas light district feel, creating a desire to gather, eat, drink, shop and hang out with family. A
place where community events happen consistently and our town bonds together to support each other. A place where
folks want to be.
With that being said, it seems that there are very different views on what is going to bring that into our community.
Some of the board seems to think the bigger the better and some would like to keep with the smaller feel.
Not everyone is going to agree with each other but I think there still needs to be a vision. Once we allow a larger
building to come in, I do believe that once we open that door, more requests will follow as Meridian expands and we will
become like most cities, just that, a city!!
If we stand true to an old town feel, and support the 75 foot height restriction, we can seek to bring in more businesses
who mutually desire that feel. We still maintain a foothold on what the future holds. Like someone said you can always
go small and make it bigger, but you can’t make it smaller once you go big.
It is sad to me that it feels like it’s all about the bottom dollar. If I have been correctly informed, the developer isn’t even
from this area and likely doesn’t give a darn about Meridian. The question arose at the last meeting, if there had been
consideration of a 75 foot building, and it was answered as not being profitable for him. So we are going to give control
to someone who may not really be invested in what we would like our little town of Meridian to become. Even my
landlord is from California. I understand we can’t all be locally owned as this is just how the world works.
But we need to ask ourselves what we really want for Meridian as a whole?
We do need more businesses downtown, we need more people moving and it seems as though no one wants to be like
downtown Boise, then let’s not be that. Let’s be different, keep the height at 75’. Let’s work on building our own
community center instead of borrowing money from this developer to have one put in.
I will choose to be supportive No matter what the outcome, because I am a small business owner and I do want to grow
with Meridian. I love the folks here and my daughter and I value the relationships we have developed over our two years
of business in Meridian.
I do belong to the Downtown Meridian Business Association, and NO , I have not made it to the meetings, and I will try
to do better this year.
Thank you for listening. You have a difficult decision in front of you. I respect all of you just for being part of the board.
Sincerely,
Cheryl Jones
1
44 East
2