Loading...
Section A FoundationNorth Meridian Area Plan Section A: Foundation Report North Meridian Area Plan Section A-1 Compiled by Wardle & Associates November 15, 2002 I. Introduction The 1975 Idaho Land Use Planning Act required local units of government (cities and counties) to plan for their futures. The City of Meridian complied with that requirement, adopting its first Comprehensive Plan in 1978. The plan updated in 1993. Unprecedented growth in the Treasure Valley, particularly in Meridian, the “Hub” of the growth corridor, led the City to initiate a process for updating the Comprehensive Plan. A draft plan was presented to the public in June of 2000. The new Comprehensive Plan was adopted in August, 2002. Even as the City looked to the future, proposed development activity in “North Meridian” led the parties responsible for managing that growth--the City, Ada County, and the Ada County Highway District--to consider short term solutions. On June 18, 2001, the officials of the three entities requested the North Meridian development community to lead a focused effort to avoid planning the area project-by- project. All participants agreed with the need to provide a framework for growth with the requisite services, community facilities and transportation system provided much earlier than heretofore. Of equal importance to participants is the character and quality of growth within the North Meridian area. North Meridian Area Planning Area Defined… The North Meridian Area Planning area, as agreed upon by stakeholders on July 23, 2001, is the 10 square mile area bounded by Chinden Boulevard on the north, Ustick Road on the south, Locust Grove Road on the east, and McDermott Road on the west. · The northern and western limits coincide with the City's Area of Impact Boundary. · Locust Grove was selected as the eastern boundary inasmuch as the City's Impact Area is restricted by Boise City limits and much of the remainder of Meridian’s jurisdiction is already committed to development. The North Meridian Area Plan is… A focused planning effort led by the development community, in concert with North Meridian Area Plan Section A: Foundation Report North Meridian Area Plan Section A-2 Compiled by Wardle & Associates November 15, 2002 physical and cultural resources and so forth, are addressed in the City's Comprehensive Plan commencing with the June 2000 Draft and through subsequent addenda; that information is not repeated here. II. Vision and Goals The Meridian City Council adopted a vision statement in 1998 as a guide to the Comprehensive Planning up-date process: “Meridian is a vibrant community at the center of the Treasure Valley dedicated to embracing its heritage and providing a high quality of life where its citizens live, work and play.” North Meridian Area Plan As a guide to the North Meridian Area Plan, the stakeholders, as identified hereafter, approved the following vision and goal statements. Vision “North Meridian will develop with all of the diverse elements of community in an orderly and serviceable manner, in accordance with approved community plans. Goals The goals adopted to support the vision are: · Enhance the sense of community through master-planned neighborhoods. · Encourage a range of housing types and densities, located in close proximity to employment, services, schools, and parks. · Provide shopping, recreation, and services to meet the routine daily needs of North Meridian residents. · Provide essential infrastructure including major roadways, schools, parks, and pathways early in neighborhood development through innovative public /private agreements. · Enact development standards and incentives that encourage high quality and high amenity neighborhoods. · Provide for the possibility of future public transportation services through land use patterns and density. North Meridian Stakeholders Overall guidance to the developer-funded planning effort was provided by a principal North Meridian Area Plan Section A: Foundation Report North Meridian Area Plan Section A-3 Compiled by Wardle & Associates November 15, 2002 · Ada County Highway District · Meridian School District · Idaho Transportation Department · Ada County Planning · COMPASS Technical support · Idaho Smart Growth · Idaho Urban Research/Design Center · Private Sector Consultants The most significant result of the North Meridian Area Planning effort is expected to be its incorporation into the Meridian Comprehensive Plan--the City's guide to its future growth. “Products” include: · Land-use designation with specified development standards and incentives. · Implementation policies. · Recommendations for public/private agreements setting forth phasing and construction of public infrastructure including, - urban services - community facilities - transportation improvements III. Land Use “North Meridian,” for the purposes of this planning effort, encompasses a total of 6,400 acres (ten square miles). The area will develop predominantly as a residential community as the city grows northward to its ultimate urban boundary. The challenge is to achieve the North Meridian Area Plan's goals of enhancing the sense of community with diverse housing choices and employment, services, school, and parks in high quality neighborhoods. Density Excluding public uses (parks, schools, well sites, public safety building sites) and proposed commercial/office areas, projected residential development scenarios range from 15,912 dwellings (2.95 d.u./ac) 1 to 18,850 dwellings (3.5 d.u./ac.) 2 to 21,550 dwellings (4 d.u./ac.) The North Meridian Area Plan proposes land-use policies, which maximize density in order to support neighborhood services, and to encourage public transportation. The North Meridian “Community” will be home to 42,962 residents at the low end of the range, or 58,185 if the high range density is achieved, based on COMPASS' factor of North Meridian Area Plan Section A: Foundation Report North Meridian Area Plan Section A-4 Compiled by Wardle & Associates November 15, 2002 proposed to link the community parks from section-to-section within the planning area. Among the stated objectives of City officials is to change development patterns of the poorly-connected and repetitive single- family subdivisions which are symbolic of the last decade’s growth. IV. Urban Services Sanitary Sewer Service The singular factor controlling North Meridian development is the provision of sanitary sewer service. City officials encourage “orderly and serviceable growth.” As a result, the City has programmed, designed and constructed expansions of the sanitary sewer system to control growth patterns. Further, under current policy, service is extended only to annexed land. Hence, development has generally been within existing service areas, or in city- planned and constructed expansions. North Meridian growth will be accommodated through the planned sanitary sewer service areas described as: White Drain, North Slough, Black Cat and McDermott. The first (White Drain) is under construction. The service area is generally east of Ten Mile Road, between Ustick and McMillan. Service to the North Slough area requires approximately a one-half mile extension of the Ten Mile Trunk. That expansion will serve the remainder of Meridian's Area of Impact east of Ten Mile Road and north to Chinden Boulevard. A change of City policy is required to open the North Slough area to development (or the Black Cat and McDermott areas to the west) under developer-programmed and funded efforts. The argument is easily made that City expansion in an outward direction is as “orderly and serviceable” as incremental rings around the City as long as the developments are contiguous, annexed and served by City sewer and water services. Domestic Water Under current City policy, developers provide well sites which must meet site and location criteria and the City constructs the well. This cooperative method of water system expansion will continue. Drainage The handling of storm water drainage will be a challenge for both the public and private sectors. ACHD has completed a North Meridian Area Plan Section A: Foundation Report North Meridian Area Plan Section A-5 Compiled by Wardle & Associates November 15, 2002 an area where cooperation between the public agencies and development community is needed. V. Community Facilities Community quality depends in great measure on the facilities that form the nucleus of neighborhoods, such as schools and parks. Public pathways and open space, and private parks and recreation facilities add to the character of, and accessibility within neighborhoods. Other public facilities, such as fire, police and emergency medical services, provide the sense of safety and security that the residents require. Schools The specific location of elementary, middle, and senior high schools is somewhat flexible, providing latitude for negotiation between the School District, and landowners and developers. The District has identified the service areas and established size and locational criteria. It behooves the District to initiate site acquisition discussions early. Contact with the District should be one of the early steps taken by developers. That will enable the District to secure the site(s) in large developments, or to commence assembly of sites from several smaller projects. Further, it will facilitate site planning for access, and for integration into the neighborhood. Parks Park sites pose a challenge similar to schools, although there are far fewer planned public facilities. In addition to the existing 56 acre “Large Urban” park site at Meridian and Ustick roads, up to six (6) community parks are proposed for North Meridian. Acquisition of sites is the City's first priority in the proposed “Action Plan.” Current funding constraints necessitates a creative solution or neighborhoods will be fully developed before the parks are improved. Public/private partnerships, developer- funded turnkey projects, with credits and reimbursements, or “banking” of City- required open space improvements through the planned development process, must be explored. In addition, consideration should be given to serving this public need, in part, through neighborhood parks. In numbers, they would be closer and more accessible to residents. While there is a need for the community parks with their full-sized play North Meridian Area Plan Section A: Foundation Report North Meridian Area Plan Section A-6 Compiled by Wardle & Associates November 15, 2002 Implementation of the proposed public pathway system is more easily solved by establishing the desired linkages, defining standards, and being certain that development applications conform. However, acquisition and/or reimbursement issues must be addressed at the onset. The City may provide as-yet undetermined incentives to encourage these facilities (just as may be done for parks). The City must also address access and liability issues with the irrigation districts, where the pathways are proposed to use canal or drain rights-of- way. Public Safety: Fire-EMS-Police Selection of public safety sites is not a controlling land-use factor. Potentially, two fire stations and one EMS facility will be required to serve North Meridian. The sites will be from 1 to 2 acres each, depending on single- or joint-use. City policing needs may be met through sub-station sites in commercial centers--or possibly with the other public safety entities. The challenge facing the City is the cost of constructing and equipping a fire station. Each single-use facility costs approximately $1.3 million in capital outlays. If co-located with EMS, the extra land and bay would add $300,000 to the cost; likely that difference would be borne by the County. An interesting side note is that EMS services historically are not required at the same rate of expansion as fire protection in newly developed areas. Hence, an EMS facility may likely be located in the more established neighborhoods adjacent to the North Meridian Area Planning area. Library The Meridian Free Library District (MFLD) operates independent of the City of Meridian. Its boundary incorporates properties within, as well as outside, the city limits. The Library District’s boundaries, are generally, McDermott Road, the Boise River, Cloverdale Road, and Lake Hazel Road, but excludes those areas within another library district (i.e., Boise, Eagle, Kuna or Ada County). The MFLD currently has two locations: · Main Library, 1326 W. Cherry Lane · Old Town Branch, 18 E. Idaho St. The Library District funds programs and services through property taxes, and receives some contributions. In 1995, the District North Meridian Area Plan Section A: Foundation Report North Meridian Area Plan Section A-7 Compiled by Wardle & Associates November 15, 2002 MFLD will likely expand its services in the North Meridian area through the Bookmobile option. While branches provide a permanent location, the MFLD has noticed low patronage at the Old Town Branch since the Main Library was constructed. The Bookmobile could locate in parking lots within shopping centers or in other patron- accessible locations. The MFLD desires locations that are visible, close to residential neighborhoods, accessible by pedestrians, and away from roadways with high levels of traffic. VI. Transportation & Circulation Transportation system concerns prompted the North Meridian Area Planning effort. Analysis of development proposals led to ACHD-sponsored traffic studies, first of a reduced area, then of the City's entire 12 square-mile northern tier. The magnitude of those numbers in the projected “build-out” scenario of WGI’s October, 2001, Traffic Study, has unduly raised the level of concern among governing officials. If those concerns are only for projected levels of traffic on the existing arterial system, they are unjustified. Traffic study densities are essentially the same as those of west Boise as it merges with the now- developing eastern portion of Meridian; or, for that matter, the City's growth pattern up to Ustick Road. The difference is the “big-picture” look at North Meridian growth versus the incremental, project-by-project analysis that typically occurs. Rather than an extraordinary problem, however, North Meridian provides an extraordinary opportunity: To provide an improved transportation system concurrent with development. Avoiding, the post- development pattern of up-grading the system will require a public/private approach, and innovative financial solutions. Arterials The foundation of the North Meridian transportation system is the one-mile section-line grid of arterial roadways. At this point in time, the arterials are within unplatted 50-foot prescriptive rights-of-way, and are generally light-duty, rural roads. Complete reconstruction may be required as expansion of the roadways occurs. North Meridian Area Plan Section A: Foundation Report North Meridian Area Plan Section A-8 Compiled by Wardle & Associates November 15, 2002 North Meridian, but it also makes funding of an additional river crossing more likely. Such an alignment would also have the long-range benefit of a more useful connection to a future Robinson Road Interchange. For the purposes of the North Meridian Area Plan, Black Cat Road will be the designated Ten Mile/Highway 16 connection corridor. Collectors The transportation system’s second-tier is the collector system. That component was the subject of an ACHD-funded study by JUB, dated August, 2001. Of the study's four conclusions, one is a threat to the viability of future North Meridian neighborhoods. Specifically, Conclusion 3 which states: “Collectors should be continuous within any given one-mile section.” That pattern will further subdivide and separate neighborhoods within the one mile section structure. The objective should be to create livable neighborhoods with internal connectivity, not a means to short circuit the arterial system. The North Meridian Area Plan proposes that collector roadways be required at any point where the internal street system generates trip counts that exceed ACHD’s local street standard. That will encourage more internal connections and shorter block lengths. It will also protect the heart of the section from being divided by high volume, high speed streets. Project plans, coordinated during the approvals process, must encourage internal access throughout each section, particularly when schools, parks and pathways are located therein. But there should be no continuous collector roadway that directly connects arterial-to-arterial. Access Controls The Idaho Transportation Department has adopted a policy of controlled access along Chinden Boulevard. Signaled intersections between the one-mile arterials will be limited to one, located at or near the half- mile point. Other points of access may be possible, but without signalization. Similar constraints would be expected for the Ten Mile Interchange-to-Highway 16 route, if such a link is approved. ACHD proposes similar controls on the arterial system with signaled collector intersections at the mid-mile point. The North Meridian Area Plan Section A: Foundation Report North Meridian Area Plan Section A-9 Compiled by Wardle & Associates November 15, 2002 Locust Grove along Fairview Avenue, at the Eagle Road/Fairview intersection, and at I-84 and Meridian Road. With a projected North Meridian population base of 43,000 to 50,000-plus, there is a need not only for “neighborhood” services but also larger commercial centers. Such facilities will serve the dual purpose of providing services to North Meridian residents, and of reducing trips outside of the area. The precise location of a major commercial center must be flexible, keyed to the transportation system, particularly Chinden Boulevard. Secondary influence will be the principal north/south routes through North Meridian. For the purposes of this plan, those routes are Linder Road and Black Cat Road. The North Meridian Area Plan proposes designations for regional, community and neighborhood and village scale commercial centers but not at the mid-section locations depicted by the Comprehensive Plan. It is important to establish size and locational standards for regional and community scale commercial centers. Village centers, containing retail, office, professional, or community facility uses are also designated on the Land Use Map. They should be encouraged, where feasible, through incentives to the developer to include and integrate such uses directly into North Meridian neighborhoods. City’s proposed neighborhood center concept, and the reality of multiple ownerships will challenge these controls. The objective should be to make the arterial system as efficient as possible, with the least possible number of travel lanes. Hence, internal/external function is an important issue to be thoroughly discussed and resolved. VII. Commercial and Neighborhood Services The adopted Meridian Comprehensive Plan Future Land Use Map depicts neighborhood, community, and the regional scale mixed- use “centers” and one previously zoned commercial designation. Currently, major commercial services are available to Meridian residents east of There are two external influences on the North Meridian arterial system: (1) Chinden Boulevard (Highway 20-26), serves as Meridian’s northern Area of Impact boundary. It also separates the City’s distinctly urban growth patterns from the City of Eagle, with its low-density, rural development character. (2) The potential connection of the Ten Mile Road/I-84 Interchange with State Highway 16. In simple terms, the corridor options are to follow Ten Mile Road north, across the Boise River, then jog one mile westerly to align with Highway 16. That places the two major north/south river-crossing routes (Ten Mile and Linder) only one-mile apart, effectively splitting North Meridian in two. Another scenario is to transition from the Ten Mile interchange westerly to Black Cat Road. That two-mile separation from Linder softens the transportation impact on passed a bond to construct the Main Library. Each year, during the month of May, the MFLD updates its “Five-Year Plan.” A goal of that plan is to provide its patrons access to programming and materials. While the “Five-Year Plan” does not directly identify how and where future library facilities will occur, the MFLD has considered two options: - Branches. If built, future branches could be located in shopping centers. Construction costs for a new branch are estimated at $500,000, excluding staff. - Bookmobile. A bookmobile could service the entire district, with a set schedule and fixed locations. Capital cost for the bookmobile is estimated at $200,000, excluding staff. fields and facilities, they are typically less desirable as “neighbors” and most users arrive by automobile, not on foot. The proposed City Park's “Action Plan” encourages co-location of schools and parks. But that plan also encourages private development of neighborhood parks which almost assures that co-location will not occur. Homeowner's associations would have liability for inviting public use of a private facility, plus the added burden of maintenance. This issue, one of the most significant decisions to be made, will have a direct affect on the quality and character of the North Meridian neighborhoods. Pathways drainage study for a portion of the area and is in the process of studying additional areas in North Meridian. Given the topography and water table, alternatives for handling of surface drainage are limited. The implications are significant. If subsurface solutions are not available, then large areas of land will be consumed for drainage facilities. Those areas could serve jointly as open space and storm water facilities, if designed to handle the low- volume storms without restricting the area’s use for other purposes, including recreation. The use of natural and existing constructed drains for storm water must be explored, and standards established to make the use of such drains a feasible alternative to the consumption of large areas of land. This is 2.7 persons per household. Development Pattern While single family detached will be the predominant residential unit, higher density housing is encouraged close to service centers and along the roadway corridors with potential for public transportation. Achieving densities greater than the typical single family detached will require patience and a marketing emphasis on life-style choices. The “building block” of North Meridian is the one square-mile section, each of which is projected to have an elementary school (a total of 10). The 10 square mile area will also have three (3) middle schools, two (2) high schools, and--if the Park's Plan is adopted by the City—up to six (6) community parks. A public trail system is stakeholder group composed of: Sponsors · Meridian City Mayor and Council · Ada County Commission · Ada County Highway District (ACHD) Commission · Development Community Cooperating agencies · Meridian City - Public Works - Planning - Parks - Fire & Police Department local government leaders, to provide a framework within which development proposals will be reviewed, approved and constructed, including the means by which public infrastructure and community facilities will be implemented. The North Meridian Area Plan is not… An in-depth background Comprehensive Plan document, but rather a component thereof, focused to a geographic area of the city with primary emphasis on land use. · Community history, population forecasts, economic development,