Growth
A Hump For The Cliffs
August 5, 2006 
Ada County’s chief civil attorney made what some saw as a surprise appearance at the county P&Z meeting Thursday–looking to hump the CLIFFS development at Hammer Flats.
Ted Argyle appeared with his fellow homeowners in the Surprise Valley subdivision asking for a berm along Highway 21 if the project is ever built. Wasn’t Surprise Valley the Peter O’Neil subdivision below the rim and above the river that is literally a sea of rooftops as you look west into the smog? The promo ads on TV featured the screech of an eagle as it soared above the river.
He wants the berm to cut down on the noise from increased traffic on Highway 21. If the berm is anything like the one at Chinden (Highway 20) and Linderer, you can kiss a view of the mountains and foothills goodbye. That one if like driving in the Los Angeles River!
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Comments & Discussion
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Aug 5, 2006, 11:58 pm
The growth has just begun Mr. Time for five lanes!!!!!!!
Aug 7, 2006, 2:37 pm
Funny how even city officials oppose these massive projects. Too bad none of them live on Crecsent Rim or near Harris Ranch or Hidden Springs. They did not seem to care then – why now?
The fact is that our current city officials have created the very bed they lie in. To be fair NO NIEGHBORHOOD is safe from either massive condos, cheap row houses or massive planned communities.
Mr Argyle – -welcome to Boise – the city of density that makes no sense. The city that caters to developers who do exactly what the City Council wants – build massive projects!
And by the way if you have a neighborhood plan you might as well throw it away – it means nothing….just like the Boise Comp Plan means nothing to ACHD.
Aug 7, 2006, 5:43 pm
One of the problems with sound berms is the effect on animals. Animals cannot negotiate these barriers and become trapped on the road until they are hit by vehicles. I regularly see dogs on I-84 between the Cole Rd. and Eagle Rd. exits, running down the freeway or dead on the roadway. A few weeks ago there were two deer in that stretch, which is flanked on either side by super-sized sound barriers. The area east of Surprise Valley, along Highway 21, where the requested berm would go, is populated with the Boise river valley’s remaining wildlife. Do we really want to add one more impediment to their survival to protect Ada County employees from the disaster they wrought?
Aug 9, 2006, 4:53 pm
What’s he worried about traffic on Hwy 21 for? Now that Skyline is going to move the entrance to their Utopia to Highland Valley Rd all the traffic is going to go down Warm Springs. Expect for those few enginerds that are going to work at Micron, but we all know most people will work in the hood. Think they’ll be grooming and manicuring the deer herd. That and shoveling the sh*t out of that waste containment trap…(which is just upstream from Boise’s drinking water intake)