PZ - Request for hearing From: Clay Sammis
To: Alan Tiefenbach;Will Goede
Cc: Cameron Arial;Caleb Hood;Bill Parsons;Victoria Cleary
Subject: Re: Black Cat Industrial
Date: Friday,September 17,2021 2:05:27 PM
External Sender-Please use caution with links or attachments.
Confirmed, please put us on agenda for October 21st, and could you confirm once the 30 day notice
goes out for our hearing on Oct 215t. Also, could you send some times when your team is available
next week for us to jump on a zoom call or a meeting in person to discuss our project? Thank you.
,-,„t
SAWTOOTH
DEVELOPMENT GROUP
Clay Sammis—Founder
371 N. Main St,Ste 201
PO Box 4767
Ketchum, ID 83340
(m)858.229.3506
From: Alan Tiefenbach <atiefenbach@meridiancity.org>
Date: Thursday, September 16, 2021 at 12:29 PM
To: Clayton Sammis <clay@sawtoothdevelopment.com>, Will Goede
<will@sawtoothdevelopment.com>
Cc: Cameron Arial <carial@meridiancity.org>, Caleb Hood <chood@meridiancity.org>, Bill
Parsons <bparsons@meridiancity.org>, Victoria Cleary<vcleary@meridiancity.org>
Subject: RE: Black Cat Industrial
Clay,
Per our phone call yesterday, my understanding is that you are requesting to go to Planning
Commission on October 21.
As I mentioned, understand you will likely be going to hearing with a recommendation of denial. You
should also expect Meridian Economic Development to have concerns with this proposal. I have
listed all the reasons in the previous email below.
That said, if you intend to submit any new documents, I need them by October 4, 2021. 1 will not be
able to analyze substantial changes after that date.
Alan Tiefenbach Current Associate Planner
City of Meridian Community Development Dept.
33 E. Broadway Ave., Ste. 102, Meridian, Idaho 83642
Phone: 208-489-0573 1 Fax: 208-489-0571
C4E IIR -
Built for Business, Designed for Living
From: Alan Tiefenbach
Sent:Tuesday, September 14, 20218:54 AM
To: Clay Sammis<clay@sawtoothdevelopment.com>; 'Will Goede'
<will@sawtoothdevelopment.com>
Cc: Cameron Arial <carial@meridiancity.org>; 'Caleb Hood' <chood@meridiancity.org>; Bill Parsons
<bparsons@meridiancity.org>; 'Victoria Cleary' <vcleary@meridiancity.org>
Subject: FW: Black Cat Industrial
Clay,
I've had a chance to do a cursory review of your submittal.
We have concerns with the development as shown. Caleb already listed out some of his concerns
with circulation, connectivity and the lack of a subdivision plat, so I won't repeat here.
As you know, the 10 Mile Plan recommends this property for Low Density Employment to the east
and Mixed Employment to the west and south.
The purpose of Low Density Employment is to provide low-rise office and specialized employment
areas. Low Density Employment areas should provide a variety of flexible sites for professional
offices and similar businesses. Low Density Employment areas should be designed with elements of
Traditional Neighborhood Design.
The purpose of the Mixed Employment areas is to encourage a diversity of compatible land uses that
may include a mixture of office, research and specialized employment areas, light industrial including
manufacturing and assembly, and other miscellaneous uses. Mixed Employment areas should
provide a variety of flexible sites for small, local or start-up businesses, as well as sites for large
national or regional enterprises. Mixed Employment areas should be designed to encourage
multimodal travel and convenient circulation to supporting uses located within the area.This would
include multiple access points to help disperse traffic, and a complete system of streets, sidewalks
and pedestrian and bicycle paths to provide circulation within the area and connections to the
surrounding roadway, pedestrian and trail systems.
The Plan states the area adjacent to 1-84 is planned for an employment district that will support the
creation of more than 20,000 jobs that will be offered by a wide variety of employers.
In the meetings that we have had between myself, Bill Parsons, you and Will, we had suggested you
consider breaking up the buildings so they are not so large, and providing some kind of mechanism
to ensure the entire development does not just build out as a distribution center, warehouses, etc.
We've also given some suggestions regarding alternatives to the design requirements of the 10 Mile
Plan.
What you have provided is a concept plan with eight 250,000- 300,000 sq.ft. buildings aligned
symmetrically with each other, and loading docks internal to all the buildings.The low density
employment area, which is supposed to be designed with the elements of traditional neighborhood
design, consists of a northern building of 1,000 feet long and a southern building of more than 500
feet along. Parking lots run adjacent to the street and in the front of all buildings within the entire
development. Even if the immediate intent is not for this to be a distribution center or industrial
warehouse complex,the buildings as they are sized and oriented suggests eventual future use in
that direction.
Except for the park at the front, none of this development suggests a walking environment or follows
the design principles of the 10 Mile Plan. Pertinent principles include:
• Complete streets
• Buildings built to public rights-of-way
• Building frontages, rather than surface parking lots and landscaped areas, "hold the corners"
by framing sidewalks or public spaces
• Entries are announced through changes in details, materials, and design compositions
• Street oriented design of commercial areas with active sidewalks and pathways.
• Storefronts offer wide expanses of transparent glass for an enhanced pedestrian environment
• Doors to individual shops and restaurants open directly onto public space
• The facades of larger commercial buildings should be broken down into short frontages and
"big boxes" should be wrapped in smaller commercial, residential, and office uses
We are struggling to ascertain how this development meets these principles.
In addition, in the narrative, you have requested relief from the design requirements that prohibit
more than 30%of parking at the front, requires 20%ground floor transparency, and the height of
the structures in relation to the streets. If you are requesting design exceptions, you need to explain
why the design you propose is equal to or better than what the regulations would require.The
conceptual elevations that you have provided shows very large and similar tilt-up concrete buildings
with blank walls along the Collector Road. As this area is recommended for commercial, not
industrial, we would apply the commercial standards of the Architectural Standards Manual. I do not
believe the elevations as shown would even meet the industrial standards.
After internal discussion, including with Economic Development, staff is not comfortable with
supporting this proposal as it presently exists. You do have the option to move forward to public
hearing with the present application, but I recommend your design team redesign this to get closer
to the vision of the Plan and provide significantly more detail.
Alan Tiefenbach Current Associate Planner
City of Meridian Community Development Dept.
33 E. Broadway Ave., Ste. 102, Meridian, Idaho 83642
Phone: 208-489-0573 1 Fax: 208-489-0571
UE ID�
Built for Business, Designed for Living
From: Caleb Hood
Sent:Thursday, September 9, 2021 10:00 AM
To: Clay Sammis<clayPsawtoothdevelopment.com>; Bill Parsons <bparsonspmeridiancity.org>
Cc: Alan Tiefenbach <atiefenbach(@meridiancity.org>
Subject: RE: Black Cat Industrial
Clay,
Thank you for the email and voicemail. I was out of the office yesterday but have had a chance
to connect with Bill this morning on your project. First, Alan Tiefenbach will be your assigned
project planner. Alan is great and I'm sure you two will work well together. As far a hearing
dates go, Bill and Alan will work with you to schedule.
I'm not going to insert myself into your project or the process too much, but as you noted in
your voicemail I have talked to Bill and Alan previously about the planned collector network in
this area and want to provide some additional comments on traffic and roads. While there is
some flexibility in where roads may be built, it is critical that access to parcels in this section
be provided from these roads. Based on the site plan you attached, I have some concerns
about the layout along your northern boundary and the north-south collector along your
western boundary and the timing for construction.
Long, straight private drive aisles with back-out parking is not ideal in my opinion. Motorists
will be tempted to speed and there is no vehicular connectivity proposed to the north until
your west property line—one-half mile. While I'm not your project planner, I'd like to see
some change to your scheme/layout to address this concern. Further, sending all traffic to
Black Cat, without an option to get "up" to Franklin is also a concern. To that point or concern,
it would be nice to have a subdivision plat so that we could work through the exact locations
of public roads and access in this area and phasing of roads and other improvements. This is a
large site and proposing to annex and zone such a large property without a subdivision
application could be problematic. I'm certain that traffic impacts and potential mitigation
questions will arise. Without a TIS and ACHD analysis, I'm worried we (staff and appointed and
elected officials) won't have an adequate understanding of the traffic implications. That said, I
haven't reviewed your application submittal and maybe you are proposing enough details to
give Alan, the P&Z Commission and City Council enough assurance that this is the right
project, in the right location at the right time.
I'm happy to discuss with you (and Alan) further if you'd like.
Calek
C. Caleb Hood, AICP I Planning Division Manager
City of Meridian I Community Development Department
33 E. Broadway Avenue, Meridian, Idaho 83642
Phone: 208.884.5533 1 Fax: 208.489.0572 1 Email: chood(@meridiancity.org
All e-mail messages sent to or received by City of Meridian e-mail accounts are subject to the Idaho law,
in regards to both release and retention,and may be released upon request, unless exempt from disclosure by law.
From: Clay Sammis<cla)l(@sawtoothdevelopment.com>
Sent:Tuesday, September 7, 20213:28 PM
To: Caleb Hood <chood(@meridiancity.org>; Bill Parsons<bparsons(@meridiancity.org>
Subject: Black Cat Industrial
External Send, -Please use caution with links or attachments.
Caleb and Bill,
My project manager gave me some good news today that it looks as though our 121 acre Black Cat
Industrial annexation and zoning application submittal was accepted today(attached is our concept
site plan for reference). I left both of you a voicemail today,to discuss timing and appointment of
our planner. Please shoot me a call on my cell when you get a moment (858-229-3506). Thank you.
/Y A
SAWTOOTH
DEVELOPMENT GROUP
Clay Sammis—Founder
371 N. Main St,Ste 201
PO Box 4767
Ketchum, ID 83340
(m)858.229.3506