What a quaint name – and an oxymoron. Certainly sounds better than Mayfield Stage (no offense Regina :-)). A better name might be Mayfield Springs North.

Toward the end of June, The Statesman published a list of proposed planned communities in southern Ada County. The story even had a graphic showing the approximate locations. Mayfield Springs appeared in two locations – one north of the freeway and another south of the freeway off Orchard Access Road. Both locations were about the same size although the one to the north appeared to be slightly larger. Makes one wonder if only one shoe has dropped.

Add the to sounds of snakes hissing, and the winter “breezes”, the roar of the track – as in War Eagle Speedway. It’s proposed to be built right over the county line (literally) south of the freeway in Elmore County. It has the potential of being a backyard neighbor to Mayfield Springs South. Talk about NIMBY. Then there are the two or three new feedlot operations coming on line soon. At least they are a little further south on Simco Road in Elmore County. Hope there aren’t too many “breezes” coming from the south.

Mayfield Springs North basically is surrounded by government owned land – at least in Ada County. There is some private land to the east in Elmore County but even that is surrounded by public lands. Seems this will be an isolated community cut off from Boise and Mountain Home at least in terms of annexation. The land situation for Mayfield Springs South is a little better but not much. It’s still surrounded by public lands. Remind anyone of The Cliffs?

Just where is the water going to come from? Certainly not from some springs. Add this development, another one proposed just over the county line in Elmore county, the speedway, and the cattle operations and one has to wonder just where the water source is and how big it is. And who else is accessing it.

And then there is the question of where EMS and fire services will come from.

(EDITOR NOTE–both the Cliffs and MF had wildfires last night)

Enough people for a bus line? Folks I know who have been in the bus business say this development doesn’t even come close to the density needed for a bus line. Heck, Boise barely makes it. Vanpool maybe, but not a bus line. But then the Union Pacific tracks aren’t that far away, maybe we can rebuild the Orchard Townsite and have a light rail (or would that be heavy rail?) station there.

Isn’t it great when there is a county line and on one side of the line a developer wants to build homes and on the other side of the line the area may become industrial? Ah, regional planning. Got to love it.

JQP

Keep up the great campaign of bashing all growth and especially “Mayfield Springs.” As a current Mayfield resident (yes, there are a few of us out here in the weeds…) I can’t thank you enough.

The reason we live out here is because we abhor the “Stepford Wives” type Hidden Springs communities and revel in our privacy and solitude.

To the uneducated, we work where everyone else does – in Boise, and my commute takes half as long as my co-workers living in Meridian and Eagle…

Aside from that the place is a desolate, arid and lonely purgatory. There is absolutely no water, it’s brutally HOT, and there are millions of snakes! Snakes EVERYWHERE!

I can’t imagine anyone (else) building or buying out here.

Although, a golf course in my back yard might be nice… -)

I know the Google Ads are providing a meager income to subsidize the cost of running the Guardian. I and many others appreciate the work that you do. But you seem to be taking a little money from the greedy developers also. A huge percentage of your ads are for developers and estate agents or “Growth Enablers”

One of your top “advertisers” is Kastera Homes, the same Kastera Homes looking to develop the Foothills a hop skip and jump away from the Northend. You might see yourself in a predictment, when Kastera homes goes to Boise with their plan for development. You probably should look at revising your Google Ads account to reduce this conflict of interest.

EDITOR NOTE–This has come up before. We thought about killing the ads and going strictly local, but there is a certain irony in taking a few cents off the developers everytime someone clicks!

Check out Ada County’s Planned Community ordinance – which requires that impacts on all essential public services (including, but not limited to): Roads, Sewers, Schools, EMS, Fire Department, Police, Parks, Natural Open Space, Air Quality, Historic & Cultural Resources, Wildlife, and Water (potable & irrigation) – be paid for, constructed, conserved, or rehabilitated. If the impacts of the proposed development can’t be mitigated, the development doesn’t get approved.

And, to ensure that any Planned Community stays on track in meeting its financial, cultural and environmental obligations the county performs a top-to-bottom audit of the development every other year until the development is fully constructed (usually 10-15 years, sometimes as long as 20). This financial audit also includes personal interviews of the residents in the community to ensure that the developer is making good on his/her promises. If any such audit shows a system or mitigation beginning to fail, the developer must correct the problem – or no new construction will be permitted.

If we could just get the cities to start implementing ordinances like this, growth will become a lot more manageable – and we would never have to worry about a crumbling infrastructure, declining levels of service, or a degraded human environment.

Right now, that ordinance is the closest thing this valley has to a truly Green & Sustainable approach to regional planning. And, if you think the private sector will never go for what could be a huge upfront cost and a long-term financial committment, read the paper or call Ada County. Ask them how many ‘greedy’ developers are lining up to pay for all these efforts – last count it seemed like around thirteen. With each being at least 640 acres in size, and each with housing densities identical to Boise’s Northend, that’s a lot of houses and a lot of land.

Seems to me that the county’s approach has struck a chord in the development community.

Well said!

How about the simple fact; There aren’t any good paying FAMILY WAGE jobs here!

We have radio ads touting jobs that pay $10.00 an hour and sounding like that is a good wage. When will Idaho wake up to the wage scam?

Dear Developer, where will your people work?

Furthermore, if one has a clear vision of the future. Might I suggest one drive the population bus rather than trying to stand in front of it. You’ll get very rich if you’re correct.

We have a neighbor who came here from California last year. He has a wife and two kids. Both parents work full time but don’t earn enough to afford housing in this valley. They want to stay here but may have to leave to get jobs with decent wages. It doesn’t matter if housing is “cheaper” here if the wages are too low.

I notice in today’s Statesman that the Chamber of Commerce has hired a guy to recruit businesses. That sounds like a “which came first” situation. You have to have businesses to create jobs but if there aren’t enough people to fill those jobs why would a company want to move here?

Anyway, you can call me a certified “growthophobe.”