Growth

Another Flood Plain Subdivision

Whew! Looks like Eagle dodged the flood bullet! They’ve announced that
river flows probably won’t get any higher; in fact they might soon be receding.
And, as if in celebration, the Eagle City Council has unanimously approved the new
“Laguna Pointe” subdivision, on Eagle Island, near the notorious South Channel.
S. Channel.jpg

Laguna Pointe sounds pretty sweet – 56 big lots along a 43-acre lake with
sandy beaches and bass fishing.

Only time will tell if those 56 new well-heeled families will join their Island
Woods neighbors in future lawsuits. (Laguna Pointe IS in the flood plain.) We didn’t make the Eagle Council meeting, but no doubt the houses are to be raised enough so only the lawns will flood in the future.

Comments & Discussion

Comments are closed for this post.

  1. Did you know if you take the “ag” out of Laguna…you are left with LUNA…as in “What makes luna…tic.” I understand wanting the good life; I understand being wealthy (well, not so much being wealthy); I understand desiring to create your own little piece of heaven on earth. I do NOT understand those who desire to live near, or those who APPROVE these developments. It makes me think people will never learn.

  2. I think the Island Woods HOA is missing the mark. It will be a shallow victory if they get their 70/30 river flow channel split (30% to south) because their homes can flood anyway.

    What they really need – and this would protect Laguna Pointe, too – is to cement in both channels and build retaining walls about 10 feet above grade. That way if the flows ever do get really high, the banks won’t crumble. Additionally, they need to remove all the trees from the split of the river to about Eagle Island State Park. Even with the river lined with cement, if a tree should fall there will still be flooding.

    Half measures aren’t going to do it. Island Woods HOA should go all the way.

  3. I guess the developer owns the city council. He was already moving dirt around before he got approval…doesn’t that mean he knew what the outcome would be? I will not vote for anyone who is currently in office for state, county or local office. I think they are mostly all on the take.

    Are there any honest people out there running for office? Not to my knowledge.

  4. Guardian–
    Flooding on the Boise river is a very interesting topic. A little history to look at on the WWW.
    http://www.idptv.state.id.us/buildingbig/dams/luckypeak.html

    Lucky Peak and Arrowrock, and Anderson Ranch have several competing interest. Lucky Peak was built in 1955 ( when I was a young lad of 8. The reasons given for building…. Recreation, irrigation, flood control, and last but not least hydro power. I remember very well when every concrete truck was headed up to the dam in the 80’s. Had to get the hydro done.

    Irrigation companies… they want every drop of water in the dam… … Recreation… boater and boat salesman want as much water in the dam as they can get…Hydro… well the more water the more money they make… saves you and I big bucks when we pay our power bill. Flood control… well they are last on the list

    Many things have changed in Boise since 1955. Easy to point your finger at the “well-heeled families ” ( your words) and say they shouldn’t have built where they did. Would it hurt to maybe rethink the dams priorities ?? Just a silly thought. I know for a fact that irrigation in Boise, Nampa has changed since 1950. Maybe flood control should move up on the list??

    EDITOR NOTE–Couple of clarifications for you, Porc. Hydro doesn’t really save us anything on power because City of Seattle owns the power generating. There is nothing to change in the “priority” list with flood control, it worked. They had to make room for runoff to prevent an overflow of the dam which could have been a HUGE disaster. Water managers did what they had to do and from our perspective did it right. It is still dumb to build in a flood plain.

  5. I am ready to sue Eagle. As a tax payer in Ada County I do not want to pay for sand bags, etc to help out the errors which are making some politial people rich – grease, grease, those palms. Why does this remind me of CEO’s running old buisinesses into the ground only to be given great amounts of money when they leave the company. (shades of MK and Albertson’s)

    Shame

  6. It has become quite clear that there were two heretofore unknown questions contained in the last census.
    #1- Are you willing to live beyond your means?
    #2- Do have more than two brain cells betwen you and your spouse?
    If you answered “yes” to #1, and “no” to question #2, the government officially invited you to move to Eagle Island Idaho.
    What a bunch of lunatics!

  7. Why’s everybody getting all worked up about houses in the flood plain, on the hills, and all those other places they don’t belong?

    They’re all gonna wash away./fall down/etc. eventually anyway. Just be patient. Nature, God, the rain clouds, the bursting dams, the hillside slides … whatever … well take care of it all.
    My, we just think so short-term. Relax, enjoy the ride, and quit worrying; you ain’t get out of this world alive anyway.

  8. In retrospect one of the larger mistakes we Idahoans made was not giving the greedy souls to the south and west of us our water when they wanted to shuttle it to their states. As it has turned out, that would have been the lesser of the evils. Having them move here to consume, pollute and “recreate” on it (and even having the audacity to gripe about having too much of it during a normal year) has certainly been no bargain.

    How naive of us to have worried about hydro power and agricultural irrigation back in the nineteen sixties and seventies.

    Would that we could just renig and give them all our precious river water now, with the proviso that ALL refugees from those states be repatriated upon the start of the pipeline(s). If the Boise, the Payette and the Snake were dry, perhaps the allure and myth of Idaho would not be so strong. I would be very pleased to see the newbies deported back home to consume, pollute and recreate with the diverted water from our no longer flowing rivers.

    Guardian, do you suppose those perfidious, but coy, escaped Koi have made it to the now flooded lower portion of Eagle Island and are arrogantly trying to breed our hatchery trout? I think the residents of lower Eagle Island and we, the owners of the Hatchery, should sue the developers and homeowners who have caused this new downstream flooding.

    EDITOR NOTE– For you non-library types “perfidious” is deceitful and untrustworthy.

  9. One does feel a little empathy for the elderly gentleman on Channel 7 news last evening. He has lived on Eagle Island for 37 years. This is the first year there has been flooding of his place and no one really cares. I suspect that all of the development, retaining walls, levies, berms, and what-have-you likely diverted the water from the mansion district and now the mobile home park will suffer. The gentleman is frustrated because when KOI central flooded, all resources were put toward rectifying the situaiton. Now, he is flooding and there is no aid. Commissioner Rick Yzagguire said the reason was because they are taking care of the main roads first. NEWS FLASH to the COUNTY COMMISHES…there are NO other roads flooding. Just this one. For crying out loud, go help this 75 year old man fill sandbags. BTW, I have heard that the Brookwood Koi have taken up with a gang of unruly Carp in a big eddy outside of town. Buy, my sources are often crappie, so what do I know.

  10. Thanks for posting on the new development. When this contoversy began my wife, a mapmaker for a state agency, sent an aerial photo of the island showing the new lots. All I could think was that the madness continues. The developer only has to wait six months and the buying and forgetful public will greedily gobble up those lots for their place on the river.

    I have to reiterate that I agree the City of Eagle should be sued for ignoring the threat of flooding. Not because they should alleviate the potential flood risk but for allowing the development into a place where a flood will assuredly occur. There are plenty of necessary community amenities that could have been more properly placed in the flood plain like parks or golf courses, thus preserving the prime location for all, not a few, and preserving popular wildlife riparian corridors.

    From a community planning standpoint it makes sense not to build structures, particularly residential structures, where the water will run.

    Which brings me to Catherine’s comments. I don’t think dikes or levees are the answer. You’ll just be pushing water into somebody else’s place. On May 17 the news channels ran a story on a long time farmer experiencing his first flood event and which he blames on upstream development. Moreover the proposal would never fly because of the permitting requirements, the substantial increase in the cost of the development, and the most assured griping from other riparian landowners.

  11. Hey, Sisyphus – I wish you were in charge of stuff – maybe there would be some common sense running local governments instead of what we have.

  12. Sisyphus, I was joking.

  13. Jon Q Publique
    May 18, 2006, 11:57 pm

    Well the hydro may not save us anything on power, but for those of us lucky enough to live in the New York Irritation District with no access to water (thanks to some developer 40 plus years ago) the Seattle revenue does help to reduce the annual irritation assessment that shows up in the mail each year at Christmas time.

  14. Sorry Catherine I missed the hyperbole. Its not the first time and I’m sure it won’t be the last. Tam, yours I got. You crack me up.

  15. My question here is ” they may be well heeled, but one wonders what is going on upstairs?” do they have stock in recreational boating companies.

    Why did their local politicians allow the developers to build in such an unsafe area?
    Sounds like their the same developers that have been turning Boise into a overpopulated, traffic congested ,polluted, nightmare!!!

  16. Sharon Ullman
    May 19, 2006, 11:37 pm

    To Jon Q and others who live in the New York Irrigation District yet have no access to water but are still paying semi-annual fees: Please call the Irrigation District on Monday (378-1023) and look into how you can transfer your water rights back to the District so you can stop paying for something you do not get! I do not believe it was always possible to do so, but it is now.

  17. Sharon, It’s been possible for at least seven years. Once you transfer your rights you cannot get it back. However, the Irrigation District isn’t going to be giving out water in the future, so there is really nothing to loose – except your semi-annual fees.
    Good post

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