2023-02-16 Jane R. Byam
Charlene Way
From:Jane Byam <jbyam6050@gmail.com>
Sent:Thursday, February 16, 2023 5:02 PM
To:Clerks Comment
Subject:Re: Public Comment for P&Z Meeting 2/16/23
External Sender - Please use caution with links or attachments.
Please note that my comment in the attached letter in my earlier email concerning the zoning of Chesterfield
Subdivision is incorrect. Chesterfield is medium density or 3 to 8 dwellings/acre. I hold to my
recommendation that should the property at 4575 W. Quarterhorse Lane be approved for development that
they be required to keep it at medium low desnity (R-4) or lower as a transition between the R-2 dwellings on
Puma and the RUT dwellings adjacent to 4574 W. Quarterhorse Lane.
Thank you,
Jane Byam
On Thu, Feb 16, 2023 at 3:59 PM Jane Byam <jbyam6050@gmail.com> wrote:
Please see attached my public comment for the P&Z meeting on February 16, 2023 regarding the application
by Alexanders Landing/Quarter Horse Lane, LLC H-2022-0084 for your consideration.
Thank you,
Jane R. Byam
208-996-6797
1
Charlene Way
From:Jane Byam <jbyam6050@gmail.com>
Sent:Thursday, February 16, 2023 3:59 PM
To:Clerks Comment
Subject:Public Comment for P&Z Meeting 2/16/23
Attachments:Quarterhorse Lane.docx
External Sender - Please use caution with links or attachments.
Please see attached my public comment for the P&Z meeting on February 16, 2023 regarding the application by
Alexanders Landing/Quarter Horse Lane, LLC H-2022-0084 for your consideration.
Thank you,
Jane R. Byam
208-996-6797
1
Thursday, February 16, 2023
To the members of the City of Meridian Idaho Planning and Zoning Commission,
My name is Jane Byam and I live at 6050 W. El Gato Lane, Meridian, ID. I wish to comment on the
application for annexation, zoning, and development of 4575 W. Quarterhorse Lane Meridian by
Alexanders Landing H-2022-0084 (Quarter Horse Lane, LLC). First, I would like to express my frustration
for the location of the notification signs for the P&Z committee meeting taking place this evening
concerning this application. The sign located on Black Cat is in a ditch behind a concrete wall between
two pieces of private property in a high traffic location. Only the very top of the sign is visible due to the
concrete wall and shrubs and there is no safe place to park on public property to read the sign. The
other sign cannot be seen from a public roadway but is behind a house and a fence on the private
Quarterhorse Lane. In the interest of open public communication, should these signs not be place
where they are easily visible and accessible by the public? I would also like to bring it to your attention
that the address on the application (as found in the Staff Report Community Development Department
of the City of Meridian) is incorrect. The address in question is listed as 4574 W. Quarterhorse Lane
which does not exist according to Ada County Assessment records. I would expect that this error would
void the application.
As you know the applicant Alexanders Landing/Quarter Horse Lane LLC is requesting the annexation and
rezoning from the RUT Ada County designation to R-8 Meridian designation. The current access to this
property is via the private dirt lane Quarterhorse Lane to which visibility is blocked by the private fence
and home located at 630 N. Black Cat. Since the construction of Compass School and the adjacent
townhomes, and with the increase in population, the traffic on Black Cat has increased drastically. It is
almost impossible to get out on to Black Cat off Pine or El Gato safely during peak hours of the day. I see
another street entering Black Cat in this area as an additional hazard.
Two of the properties bordering 4575 W. Quarterhorse Lane (one to the north and one to the east) are
zoned RUT. The property immediately to the west is zoned R1. The properties in Chesterfield
Subdivision east of the property east of 4575 W. Quarterhorse Lane are R-4 Medium Low Density. The
properties on Puma Lane off of El Gato are zoned R-2. El Gato Lane is RUT, and if ever annexed into the
City of Meridian will remain Low Density. As you can see the majority of the properties in the area of
the intersection of Pine and El Gato are zoned for RUT up to R-4 or medium low density. In keeping with
similar area zoning and in accordance with the recommendations found in the City of Meridian
Comprehensive Plan 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”, and “Support and protect the identity of existing residential neighborhoods” and out of a
desire to preserve the quality of life for the current residents of this area, I respectfully request that the
Meridian City Planning and Zoning Committee reject the application for annexation and rezoning of
4575 W. Quarterhorse Lane from RUT to R-8.
Page 1 of 2
Some of the P&Z committee members may remember me from other P&Z and City Council meetings
where I have made public comment expressing concern for the changes occurring to our area in western
unincorporated Ada County falling within the area of city impact. We purchased our property on El Gato
in 2009. We thought we had found our little slice of heaven in an agricultural area close to urban
amenities. Over the past 5 years, we have seen a lot of change to this area. Too many of these have not
been positive changes. The west Meridian area is becoming crowded, a traffic nightmare, and quickly
losing its rural feel. As evidenced by the public comments collected during the surveys taken in the
process of preparing the Comprehensive Plan, many of the residents of Meridian valued the farm and
agricultural nature found here. It is hard not to feel that the opinions of those residents are being
disregarded. The quality of life we have enjoyed here is quickly vanishing in the name of “progress”.
What progress is being gained by the current residents who have enjoyed the quite safe environment of
west Ada county?
Sincerely,
Jane R. Byam
208-996-6797
Page 2 of 2