2020-10-09 Larry White October 9, 2020
City Clerk
City of Meridian
33 E. Broadway Avenue, Suite 104
Meridian, ID 83642
cityclerk@meridiancity.org
Attention: Planning and Zoning Commission
Subject: Skybreak PP,AZ H-2020-0079
Members of the Planning and Zoning Commission:
Thank you for this opportunity to provide public comment on the proposed Skybreak development.
My wife and I are homeowners in the Vantage Pointe subdivision. Skybreak's developer, Laren Bailey
from the Conger Group, met with me in late-February to present the development plan. I am frequently
reminded of one thing he said when leaving our meeting. I asked about his license plates because they
were from Minidoka County, not Ada County. He said that he lives in Ada County but uses his parents'
address to license his car to save the additional cost of vehicle registration in Ada County. Yes, he really
admitted that.
Ada County residents voted for higher vehicle registration fees to provide additional funding to fight
traffic congestion. It is needed to keep up with the crazy pace of development and, arguably, because
development is not paying its fair share. Knowing that this developer avoids paying a few dollars extra
each year to help mitigate a problem caused by his industry provides the perfect context for Skybreak.
This development avoids costs and maximizes lots numbers to earn the developer a few extra dollars
without regard to the impacts it may have on others.
Ultra-narrow streets: The developer proposes constructing ultra-narrow streets for nearly 2 miles (75
percent) of Skybreak's internal streets. These streets are so narrow that they are prohibited by the City
of Kuna in new development, and ACHD requires the elimination of parking on one side of these narrow
streets to maintain emergency vehicle access.
Approximately 300 of the 353 residential lots are 0.1 acre in size,with widths of 45 feet or less. The
development application indicates every home will have a minimum two-car garage. This leaves room
for only one vehicle to park on one side of the street along the house frontage. One on-street parking
spot will need to be shared between two homes on opposite sides of the street. What could go wrong?
Some of the streets are designated "private" instead of"public". Public streets have sidewalk and are
constructed to ACHD standards, with street maintenance by ACHD. ACHD will not maintain private
streets;those costs will be the responsibility of Skybreak homeowners. Nearly all of the private streets
will be constructed without sidewalk, with only two private street segments providing sidewalk on one
side.
Members of the Planning and Zoning Commission
October 9, 2020
Page 2
The developer is proposing ultra-narrow streets and eliminating sidewalk in order to reduce
construction costs and make more land available for lots. With this plan the city will be responsible for
parking enforcement, handling parking disputes, handling complaints from pedestrian and mobility-
challenged individuals due to lack of sidewalk, and potentially for delays in emergency vehicle response,
if access is blocked. Additionally, omitting sidewalk in a residential development violates the 2017
Meridian Comprehensive Plan (Comp Plan) goal to: "Ensure development provides safe routes and
access to schools, parks, and other community gathering places."
■ Commissioners, please consider requiring the developer to construct all of the proposed streets,
public and private, to meet ACHD Policy 7205.5 for a standard local street(33 foot wide), with
5-foot wide sidewalks on both sides.
Lots on hillside slopes: Skybreak's Geotechnical Engineering Report, updated in September, identifies
"a 40-to 60-foot tall slope" along the eastern property boundary that extends "downward at
approximately 3 feet horizontal to 1 foot vertical (3:1) to 2:1." This development proposes eleven
homesites at various locations along this slope.
The City of Boise has experience with development on slopes that unfortunately includes the liability
associated with hillside construction. Remember the landslide at the Terra Nativa subdivision in 2016?
Five homes were destroyed by a slope failure. Boise tax payers paid for the demolition and removal of
the homes, and according to an April 2018 report from the Idaho Statesman, paid the homeowners
$257,500 in damages to end a lawsuit. Boise requires all construction on slopes 15 percent or steeper to
meet their 2002 Hillside Development Requirements for Technical Reports. Terra Nativa met those
requirements and included peer reviews of the geotechnical and geological reports, but the City was still
drawn into lawsuits. With that precedent, it is reasonable to assume that Meridian tax payers would be
liable for a similar slope failure, even if Skybreak were to conduct the additional engineering required to
meet Boise's hillside development requirements.
In 2019 another subdivision was proposed at the same location as Skybreak. It was called Skyward and
also known as Profile Ridge. It proposed eleven lots located along the top of slope, providing room to
construct home pads without requiring earthwork on the steep slope. The Skybreak developer also
proposes eleven lots along the slope but shifts some of the lots easterly onto the slope, requiring
significant earthwork (terracing) on the hillside to construct home pads. Their current plan benefits the
developer by increasing the area available for development, but puts Meridian tax payers at risk, similar
to Boise tax payers with Terra Nativa.
■ Commissioners, please consider requiring the developer to re-configure the lots along the
development's eastern slope to eliminate construction of homes, driveways and roadways on the
hillside slope. This change would appear to only affect the boundaries of six or seven of
Skybreak's 353 proposed lots.
Transition areas: Vantage Pointe subdivision borders Skybreak's southern property boundary and is
comprised of one-acre plus size lots. Our neighborhood identity is rural estate lots, with open spaces
and open vistas.
Members of the Planning and Zoning Commission
October 9, 2020
Page 3
Meridian's Comp Plan contains the following regarding transitions between existing and new
development:
• Guidance noted on page 3-10 is for areas that "transition between existing rural residential and
urban properties. Developments need to respect agricultural heritage and resources, recognize
view sheds and open spaces, and maintain or improve the overall atmosphere of the area."
• The action statement on page 3-22 is to "Require all new development to create a site design
compatible with surrounding uses through buffering, screening,transitional densities, and other
best site design practices."
• The action statement on page 5-2 is to "Support and protect the identity of existing residential
neighborhoods."
Skybreak's attempt at transitioning does not meet Meridian's Comp Plan. The developer is attempting
the low-cost approach by placing an internal street located only 25 feet behind the property line of two
Vantage Pointe residences, a small pocket park behind another, and three lots behind a fourth
residence. The developer claims that he worked with our residents in developing the transition plan,
but in reality, he made a small edit to his original plan to re-route a pathway but did not address our
desire of placing larger lots sizes on our border to more closely align with our lots.
■ Commissioners, please consider requiring the developer to re-design lots and roadways along the
southern property border to meet the Comp Plan requirements for transition areas.
In summary,the developer's preliminary plat for Skybreak is consistent with his approach to vehicle
registration fees, his costs are avoided where possible and without regard to how it may impact others.
This subdivision is not designed for CEO housing, as claimed in its application, and is not commensurate
with nearby subdivisions at The Keep, Sky Mesa or Century Farms. This economy-model development
does not fit with other neighborhoods in the area and needs to be rejected.
■ Commissioners, please reject the Skybreak preliminary plat and return it to the developer to
re-design.
Thank you for your consideration and the opportunity to participate in this planning process.
Sincerely,
V7""
Larry White
3804 E.Vantage Pointe Lane
Meridian, ID 83642