Some of your talk sounds good. However, your decisions don’t match. I am a land development engineer with over 12 years experience. My job depends on growth so I certainly don’t want to stop it. However, there is such a thing as smart growth and it is not happening in Star. Go ahead and try to talk your way out of this one. I hope your slick words fail and we get a group that knows how to implement smart growth.
By the way nice shantytown strip mall and disco colored Mexican restaurant. That lack of a design review is really working wonders for you.

The City of Star is trying to annex everything from here to Tijuana and rezone it, AT MINIMUM, as R3 or R4, regardless of whether it abuts existing homes with larger acreages, particularly those WITH LIVESTOCK.

Aside from the obvious problems that will ensue when you plunk ritzy houses next to smelly cows, horses, llamas, goats and the like, there are other concerns such as potential liability issues. I was a kid once – and I know from experience that when you put subdivision children next to horses, the kids are NOT going to stay on their side of the fence. The Law of Attractive Nuisance scares the living snot out of us! As does the threat of the loss of all the things that we – and MANY people – moved to Star FOR. These include peace and quiet and fresh air and open space.

Do you see Nate & Co. making any substantial effort to PRESERVE these qualities? I certainly don’t. They can’t even get their act together enough to acquire land for future schools though there is apparently plenty of money to do so. Their idea of a park is a small, bare square of land in downtown with no amenities whatsoever except GRASS. They’ve allowed abominable commercial developments including that god-awful western toon town and the gaudily painted Mexican place going up next to it. They allowed a new Chapala situated so that headlights from its patrons’ cars (in its postage-stamp parking lot) point right into the windows of a brand-new home which will probably never be occupied as a result.

I will never forget listening to a nice young-ish father get up at one of the City Council meetings to testify that he had moved his family here from Arizona and given up EIGHTEEN YEARS of seniority at his former employer to do so. He wanted his kids to grow up in the kind of community HE did – only to find that Star is rapidly turning into the kind of community he’d just left. He was terribly & bitterly distressed.

I will never forget the testimony of a young mom who grew up in Star, moved away and then ultimately moved back to Star once she had kids – into a new subdivision – with the hope that one day she could “trade up” to a horse property in Star so her kids could grow up like she did with open space and animals. With nothing lower than R-3 or R-4 density, that is purely a pipe dream.

Star needs a VARIETY of zoning categories to satisfy the needs of ALL its citizens (and future citizens). Nate & Co. want folks to fall for the notion that people with livestock and five acres are a bunch of rich a**holes who have only disdain for struggling young families. That is really a laugh. We’ve been married nearly 40 years. We were a “struggling young family” once, too. Heck, we’re STILL struggling. We’ve worked, saved, sacrified and risked EVERYTHING to move to Star so we could have our horses at home instead of boarded out somewhere. We work from sunup to sundown and then some to take care of them and to keep the place in good repair. We bought an older, rundown place and are fixing it up so it is safe for the horses and will be our “nest egg” for retirement. Our neighbors are thrilled that we’ve improved THEIR property values by cleaning up the mess that was here before we arrived.

Now, Nate & Co. want to put high-density housing all around our subdivision, which will drive away many of our neighbors and eradicate the habitat of “our” beloved wildlife. We’ll be buried in dust, bombarded with noise and will have to figure out a way to defend our “borders” so we won’t be sued if a trespasser is injured by one of our horses. Nate & Co. are threatening to ruin our lives and diminish our property values – and have the audacity to call US the problem.

We’ve been to meetings where if the word “horse” or “acreage” is mentioned, you can see the sneer building on the lips of the mayor and three of the city council members. We – and hardworking folks like us – are not “outsiders” as Nate & Co. would like you to believe – but we certainly are the ENEMY – to Nate & Co. – an enemy they must destroy so they can complete the paving of our beautiful community.

All we are asking is that zoning densities – at least on the boundaries of the new developments – are more compatible and in keeping with the lot sizes of the properties they abut. Instead of 3 or 4 houses to the acre next to an existing 5- or 10-acre property, what is wrong with one house per acre or two? Why do we have to jump from “Agriucultural” to R-3 or R-4 in one big step? Hey folks, when the open space is gone, it is gone forever – and along with the loss of open space EVERYONE IN STAR will lose privacy, clean air, wildlife and quiet. Maybe that is no big deal to some people but it is a big deal to many.

There should be CHOICES in Star. Nate & Co. offer us only THEIR vision of the way things should be. Anyone who doesn’t share their narrow vision is labeled an outsider or a Californian. The reason so-called “outsiders” are fighting Nate & Co. is because we are in the county – and we wouldn’t be fighting at all if Nate & Co. had not intruded into our neighborhoods and set about ctrying to change their very character through unacceptably high zoning densities.

When all of Star is nothing but a sea of ROOFTOPS, when there are acres of temporary classrooms at Star Elementary that have been there for ten or fifteen or twenty years, when Star’s children are being bussed all over the valley, when traffic is gridlocked not ONLY on State Street but on New Hope and Floating Feather and Beacon Light, when our wells fail while the newbies are playing in their lawn sprinklers and swimming pools, I hope the good citizens of Star will look back on this debate and pin the blame squarely where it belongs – on the shortsighted, narrow-minded, so-called leaders who are trying very hard to make Star into a smaller, trashier Meridian. Ugh.

Nate

I do love the absolute distrust of anybody elected that you guys get a chance to whack at. Aren’t you excited about running again Sharon:-) Attempting to facilitate the conversation and allowing input from both sides (really said “all” sides) is my entire life right now. Heck, I was accused of having too many citizens involved with determining the course of the City….of the people, for the people, and by the people must just be a nice one liner from back in history.

I think your comments about paying the wrong level of government are appropiate. School Districts should be the first to benefit. Cities and Counties should be able to survive on what we have (Did I just say that?). Shifting the schools O & M sound like a good idea? Of course I don’t agree with your comments about legislators getting serious….way too much potential for progress there.

Thanks,
NATE

Tam: The sewer, water, parks, and police are prepared and funded to handle the inevittable behemoth. Schools, Roads, Fire, and EMS need some help. We can solve some of the EMS and Fire needs with anticipated increased tax rev, but the taxes mostly only cover M & O budgets not capital improvements.

Schools are in the same mess in Star as they are in the rest of the Meridian Joint School District #2. At or over capacity with kids in modulars. It has been about 50 years since any capital improvements have been done in Star…meaning no new schools. Our current and projected growth has been in front of the School Board and we anticipate a new Elementary School by Fall 08. Also, if current negotiations with land owners go well, we will secure two more elementary school sites, a mid and a high school site in the coming months.

As I mentioned above, I think there are funding mechanisms that with some necessary Statute changes the Legislature could make available to Cities to better handle the growth. Improvement Districts, Impact Fees, Local Options Taxes, and Public Service Districts all would help, but are not currently available. Allowing Schools to collect revenue from the new construction rolls as fast as Cities do would be another great change.

Roads…I could rant about roads until I die. We simply don’t collect enough money to fund road improvements. ACHD Impact Fees are severly restricted by State Statute, and we collect no capital improvement money for our State Highway’s from new construction. So each new house gets you about $1500 to build new roads with. Wow, let’s not spend it all in one spot. I do realize all my options add to the cost of new construction. That is where I think we need to make people migrating in make a choice. Either Pay up or don’t move here. Shouldn’t be a problem as the recent home price appreciation indicates, they are willing to pay.

Here is the facts about the Canyon County land grap. We had an applicant request annexation and zoning of about 507 acres between the County line and Blessinger Road. We held a public hearing about 3 weeks ago and required the applicant to address numerous items including school siting, on and off site road improvements, density and types of uses, open spaces, and several other items.

The requirements will go before every public agency that has jurisdiction over the ground, and the applicant can choose to comply with the agencies or choose not to be annexed. We will not effect the tax jurisdication boundaries of any service providers. We will not redraw school district boundaries. No turf wars going on. Everybody servicing the ground today will continue. There are four other cities in Idaho that are in two counties. Pocatello is the largest as it is in Bannock and Power counties. We will use as much institutional knowledge from them as possible. If we get word back from our fellow service providers that this will cause a HUGE mess for them we won’t proceed.

Jon: the easiest thing I can tell you is that the Design Review deficiencies in our City ordinances are being addressed as our highest priority right now. I welcome you to be involved in the drafting of the guidelines so we can start implementing/enforcing sooner rather than later. Once we have an enforcable document approved by the residents we will establish a committee to enforce. You used the term “good growth”. I would also ask you to let us hear from you regarding how you individually define “good growth”. The more ideas we can include in our planning documents and policies the better.

A quick update on the horror story known as El Tenampa. The colors painted will be changed within weeks. I think they are going to a beige…big surprise…beige in the Treasure Valley…I guess that is better than the ticky-tacky-tan we paint the houses right? The El Tenampa, however, is no longer intending to occupy the building. I think they are opening a Sports Bar.

Sis: First I get a dope award for spelling your name wrong above…my apologies. I mentioned several of the changes I think need to take place at the other levels of government above. Basically, I would just like to see all elected officials get over their collective egos and let’s get caught up with what we can. The time and energy spent acting like what Guardian so appropriately called us Apes, monkeys and chimps, is time not listening to our constituents, not fixing problems, and validating everything this forum like to pound us on. As far as the funding options I spoke of earlier and there effectiveness once development is approved…I think we can tie most of the monies to building permits and Final Plats.

Take Star for example. Since becoming a City we have issued about 1200-1400 building permits while we have platted about 4500 lots. I can still catch a large majority of money if we act now. The Final Plats and building permits are much slower to come than annexations and zoning approvals.

As to changing the subject away from the density discussion…Don’t need to change it, lets just keep the entire picture in front of us. There is room for all types of development. I don’t think an (over) abundance of any on form of develpment is healthy. Each form brings it’s own associated financial, environmental, and cultural consequences.

I just try to focus on mitigating as much of the negative impacts that I can control. Also, the buck does stop with the City of Star….I don’t shy away from responsibility, just ask for help from those I need it from. Obviously, with all the change taking place in Star I am going to have some people who disagree with what is going on. I will continue to reach out to them, trying to engage in good, honest, open debate….because trust me Tam, I am well aware of the tendancy to recall in many a small town. Hope some of this adds to the conversation. And Sis, hope to see ya on the 30th.

EDITOR NOTE–Team Nate has impressed us. He used the GUARDIAN as it is intended. Who’s move is it now?

Infrastructure needs like schools, roads, sewer, emergency services, jails, etc. are provided by local government, but the income generated by new growth mainly goes to the State. Legislators in fast-growth areas such as ours need to get serious about trying to pass legislation to send at least some of those surplus funds back to the areas where they are generated, in order to help offset the cost of the additional infrastructure and services made necessary due to the growth.

Mayor Nate is in a particularly good position to help work out the details, since Star and the surrounding are is within “urban” Ada County, yet has (at least until recently) maintained rural characteristics. He ought to be able to communicate effectively with people on both sides (urban and rural).

My question to the Mayor is this: if you have access to a computer so that you can respond to the questions posed here, then why are you not able to provide at least some specifics as far as a response right now. Don’t tell me that the City of Star, like Ada County, has hired a PR person to help “spin” the elected officials out of their self-generated troubles and you need to get back to find out what to say?! 😉