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2020-12-09 Greg Stock C ' J- Sim 2915 `West 53aCuta.Cmva .;'t vdditm Jdaffu.S3646 (M) 844-04L 5 Cjeft (2(72) ,5a5C-329C December 9, 2020 Mr. Robert Simison & Members of the City Council 33 E. Broadway Ave. Suite 300 Meridian, Idaho 83642 RE: AZH-2020-0987,Spurwing Sewer Annexation Dear Mr. Mayor and Members of the Council; The City must reject Mr. Hewitt's offer of property for annexation! The City, in its good faith efforts to be developer friendly must not allow itself to be manipulated by those same developers. In spite of Mr. Hewitt's continued attempts to obfuscate this issue,this application is about two separate issues;the City of Meridian's need to have maintenance access to its sewer line and fire protection for the homes being developed in Olivetree! Mr. Hewitt is quite simply trying to manipulate the City into aiding him in his quest to avoid responsibility for his actions by combining restoration of maintenance access with a secondary fire access route in his effort to circumvent the denial by Ada County. The City's requirement for fire protection is a fully separate issue and can be met in several ways,all of which Mr. Hewitt has refused to consider and which he has actively worked to block in his effort to have his own way. The City need take no action on this annexation offer to achieve goal of restored access! Mr. Hewitt is currently under a Court mandate to return the property to its condition as of July, 2019, prior to his illegal construction over the weekend of July 41h. That condition included the required sewer and water main access! By declining this annexation offer, Mr. Hewitt remains mandated to return the property and access to its pre July 2019 state. By accepting Commissioner Yearsly's suggestion requiring residential sprinklers,the City can reach a solution that provides sewer and water main maintenance access and achieve its goal of fire protection. The updated Staff Report points out that the applicant has the option of fire sprinklers for additional homes beyond 30 as an alternate to secondary access. This solution both protects the property value of and quality of life for Balata Court residents as well as meets the City's needs. Additionally by this solution, any potential issues with ITD are negated, Mr. Wagner's property is protected and the Club's aesthetics are preserved. Frankly if annexation were a best avenue, Mr. Hewitt would have made this offer prior to July 2019, not as a reaction to Ada County's rejection of his application and the resulting court order. This offer is no more than an attempt by Mr_ Hewitt to enlist the City in their efforts avoid that court mandate. As Ada County found in two hearings, Balata Court is not an appropriate route for secondary fire access. In spite of the last minute appearance of Mr. Hewitt's friend Rod Wagner,who refused to allow access over a small portion of his property and an 1V hour, letter from The Club at Spurwing, which Mr. Hewitt has a financial interest in denying access, and the Balata Court route remains inappropriate. No evidence has been presented by Mr. Hewitt altering this fact. NOTHING HAS CHANGED! At the July 14, 2020 neighborhood meeting required by the City Ms. McKay, inferred that the City of Meridian was already"on board" with this annexation request and that meeting was simply pro forma to tell the neighborhood what had already been decided. Most importantly, Ms. McKay admitted on July 14th, that the true reason for attempting to force this route through the Balata neighborhood was simply because The Club at Spurwing did not want the secondary access crossing the golf course. Again, it is important to understand that Mr. Hewitt has a vested interest in the Club, as the lessor of the property. In her Oct. 15" presentation Ms. McKay presented a slide titled "Approved Emergency Access Plan" dated 03-02-17, showing the entire proposed fire access route, however such approval could only apply to that portion within the City of Meridian, the property now under consideration is within Ada County. Interestingly this is the same map Ms. McKay presented to Ada County without the bold "APPROVED EMERGENCY VEHICLE ACCESS PLAN" banner. Please see exhibit 1. As I said in my statement to the Ada County Commissioners, I am a retired Police Captain and in that role I have also reviewed such emergency access requests. In my experience,the best route for emergency access from a public safety standpoint, is that which is most direct. The normal access to the Olivetree Subdivision entrance at North Big Cedar Way, is from Chinden Road,via N. Long Lake Way to N. Penncross Way to N. Spurwing Way and then a very short section of West Balata Court onto Big Cedar Way. Mr. Hewitt's purposed secondary access route incorporates all of this route. Logic dictates that any need for alternative emergency access to the Olivetree Subdivision should not incorporate over half of the normal access route. The distance from Chinden to Big Cedar is one half mile then from Big Cedar to the proposed access off the Balata Court cul-de-sac, is two tenths of a mile. Any obstruction between Chinden and Big Cedar Way would also preclude use of the remainder of purposed emergency access via Balata Court. Such an obstruction is most likely to occur between Chinden and Big Cedar Way, due to the normal congestion around the Club at Spurwing. On a regular basis vehicles are parked on both sides of the street as well as the additional congestion from carts and pedestrians using the street. Please see exhibit 2 Further exacerbating the potential delays inherent to this proposed route, are the three sets of gates, which emergency equipment would have to navigate. After opening the first double gates at the Balata court cul-de-sac,which themselves require 9.2 seconds to open wide enough for fire equipment to enter,that equipment must then make a sudden, sharp left turn and open a second set of gates secured with the Knox Box Key System to access the proposed route,further delaying any response. Please see 2 exhibit 3,which shows the existing gate and proposed gate but which also shows the existing sewer access stub road. Even if the most efficient and least intrusive route,via Chinden, is unavailable, alternative fire protections do exist, despite Mr. Hewitt's protestations. At the Oct. 15t" Meridian P&Z meeting, when residential sprinkler systems were suggested as an alternative to a secondary fire access road, Ms. McKay immediately announced that the cost per home would be at least$12,000 inferring that amount was prohibitive. Commissioner Yearsly asked if sprinklers would meet the need for fire protection without the need for the secondary access road. Mr. Parsons responded that sprinklers would meet the requirement citing the Fire Chief. It is noteworthy that no mention of this exchange or the sprinkler alternative was reflected in the Staff report dated December 15, 2020. Even is Ms. McKay estimate is correct, which research shows to be inflated, it would still add less than two percent to cost of an Olive Tree home, based on average cost of those homes. This is a cost that would be passed to the buyer. There would be no impact to Mr. Hewitt except that he failed to get his way! Mr. Hewitt holds himself out to be the aggrieved party here and depending on which argument he puts forth, he "only" wants to help the City with its sewer access, in the next breath he is concerned about public safety. Mr. Hewitt destroyed the City's access as well as that of Suez Water by his July 2019 actions. If he were truly concerned about public safety he would work to create a solution that met everyone's needs instead of working to throw roadblocks to any alternate solution. By now coming before the City of Meridian, Mr. Hewitt wants not only two bites of the apple but three and four. This is simply about Mr. Hewitt having his own way! Mr. Mayor and Members of the Council, do not allow the City to be a party to Mr. Hewitt's manipulation. Please do not allow Mr. Hewitt to benefit from his own wrong doing. Y s ruly,ge' ' r g 0. tock Attached Exhibits Numbered 1, 2, and 3 3 EXHIBIT 1 --------------------- EFL as 20 ic I r �'\� ..`v -M4� g I y g is I � .---a�—II @` $ _ r�r,l�' �' � s� R/ �` �•� c ' �� YGi zJI� �. �"� .L�� - p i'•' �� e� � /'}� SEE SHEET ST3 Gz) J C�3C r Z- c)r-,-, Q- �) mg g } ax i x �xFk " ,� �o sa 5 ' !' abcr5 ��Q. &I� APPROVED FOR GONSTRUCTION P DAT 0"n 17 5 I E OLIVET$EE AT fVINEERING °"°°�','°^a a% AWRovEVFUW- PFarrp�pP�PytlFo IVJSION /{ /� a cousrnucrwru wraw sw�c N. SPU Vl4WING $URlslf .9.m. ou�1 slEF RAN AND ;' OFFSRE.,ECON©ARY ACCESS PLAN {u "t.ut I ,...,. ------------ 7z �o a P ROLP ' — CI n g H Jr,R R m ROB 1 � a a I0 , tr1,141 1p Ali gig f � , m e e a _ flg Ilk 1 1Oz E :\'0.3 -- ---- 5 -,JPHpC2�9BlT� C � !I m y I u2 . F.. I r A Rft till II SEE SHEET ST-2 � ! o 00000a o 0 0 � � o® o ® oo o a - Q mar€� Fmw a� z p t & t � � � H S 21 ' ; a $ APPROVED FOR CONSTRUCTION a a . DATE:03-02-17 OLIPETREE AT ENG►NEER►N6 0 m aa-v-,9,� liVi$RIDIANY. APPROVED FOR Plans a.0—Act C mmd Far ® cOH3TRUCTIOH Public Slreel CnnskMdion � . s SPiIRWING SIISAIVI3IOIV=M�,ia,.R.1W.. M. SOLUTIONS, a« m STREET PLAN AN{] OFFSITE SECONDARY ACCESS PLAN lsa-meNwm EXHIBIT 2 �)5 PM Fri av � LUA _ Fm Jr j i - S ANY f JT Al lw 1 .II i., i • • • f EXHIBIT 3 •.` ° .. Nth �'. �� ��` Y f f;;:1: '�'"7'��' � '.�" � 1�� "f+� r`•s`F�,�q,�� �r �'� sir y i � _,.1 � , y -.FH �� -yp3'