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
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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
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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,