Boise Nancy must be livid–having her good name used in connection with Avimor!

Good one, Guardian!

It would be interesting to find out what is was that Mayor merrill did to help avimor. avimor, if you remember, had to get approval from Ada County, not Eagle. And, getting past gerry armstrong, and commissioners yzaguirre, tilman and peavey-derr (lower case intended) could not be easier.

My guess is they want to help get merrill elected to the legislature where she can help get avimor friendly legislation passed.

I agree major faux pas. So major that it was probably a mass mailing without any personalization. I bet all the invitations look exactly the same. Looks to be a monthly event for the Chamber.

EDITOR NOTE– Clancy, are you saying these people are insincere? The letter was signed by Dan Richter on nice Avimor letterhead.

I think the Insider missed the point(s).

So, you claim that, “Community planning has definitely evolved and improved in the last decade.”

Has it now? I guess violating the state land use planning act to approve avimor might be called evolution. I have my doubts about whether it should be called “improvement.”

While you are baring your soul, would you mind telling us about the deal you made with ITD that got you out of building the overpass? I’m sure you have a lovely explanation.

Throughout the Eagle Comprehensive Plan hearings, Mayor Merrill made it very clear that she would not support willey-nilley growth in the Foothills, but that she sought to protect them with managed growth under the perview of Eagle’s City Council. Remember, she knew during all those hearings that she would not personally have this oversite, but that her predessors would. Her leadership paved the way for future generations of Eagle citizens to have a say in what happens in the foothills. She made it clear to us that growth must pay its own way and that it should provide solutions to its own impact on the community.

Look at the alternative to Avimor’s master plan. What if the ranch owner of this private land had sold the land piecemeal to 50 different small developers. You wouldn’t see land being donated for schools, firestations, trails, etc. You wouldn’t have a large developer that could help cover the bill for Hwy 55 improvements. You wouldn’t see the revegetation of native and drought resistant plants. You wouldn’t see the removal of noxious fire-hazard weeds. You wouldn’t see the first Firewise master planned community in Idaho. You wouldn’t see the wildlife migration cooridors being preserved. You wouldn’t see a community of 100% EnergyStar certified homes. You wouldn’t see the water conservation efforts. Avimor is doing all these things and much, much more. Mr. McLeod chose SunCor to develop his land because he knows that we would do it the right way, leaving a lasting legacy for his posterity to enjoy. (not just financially)

The other alternative is for the state to take over all the private land by way of eminent domain and turn it into a protected wilderness area. Who cares about property rights anyway? Aren’t they just archaic principles that our founding fathers believed in that have no relevance in today’s society where we are so concerned about global warming?

“insider” shows the exact thing that is VERY VERY concerning – very little concern about impact to our tax and infrastructure, close insider relationships with local elected officials (relationships that go WELL beyond casual), and a general “hang-it-in-your-ear” we are going to do what we want because “we have the elected officals in our back pocket” attitude.

Add to that we have local offials (who are in the developers pockets) hiring lobbists to change the Constitution to try to get a blank check for local option taxes!!!!!!!!!!

Avimor player said, among other truculent claims that “you’d come away extremely impressed with the level of stewardship that Avimor has taken for the land and community.”

Stewardship? That’s not what I call what Avimor “NLC” (NO Liability Corp) is attempting. Strip mining, clear cutting or dredging perhaps but stewardship? Never!

I have though been “impressed” with the lengths and deviations that all you opportunists and developers will go to in order to make the big and fast bucks. Then too I was, and still am, very impressed with Paul Tibbets’ handy work with the Enola Gay. I suppose that the Japanese weren’t nearly as pleased with that devastation as I am. I view your huge subdivisions full of empty houses and lots and the rest of the rape of Idaho in exactly the same light as the Japanese survivors viewed what was left of Nagasaki and Hiroshima.

Anyone of you developers and house builders who claim you are doing ANY of the land raping and house building as expensively as you can or for the “good of the community” but not to line your own pockets with as much profit as you can scam are truly “mis-speaking” on a colossal scale.

Wining and dining our elected representatives in any venue that you can lure them to may be business as usual for you lobbyists and developers but it smacks of foreplay leading to under the covers deals to me.

I truly hope that you and your other developer pals experience the exact same success as Jean Pierre and his buddies are currently having. You deserve it!

Gee, Avimor, Hammer Flat, just a little hand holding on the part of elected officials to let the out-of-staters have “their way” with our formerly beautiful valley. In some situations, it is referred to as “rape”. But what the heck, if Lt. Gov Risch can keep his cows up on Hammer Flat (The Cliffs) so the out-of-state developer can truck in feed and water on that barren stretch of sagebrush, bitterbrush and rock and be able to declare it an “agricultural exemption”, I guess Ms. Merrill or any of the other elected officials can be appropriately thanked for keeping Idaho’s growth in check…HUH????

I digress but Bert, you said “I think you just otta leave Texas out of this. Anybody who has ever seen the bluebonnets bloom between San Antonio and Austin wood know what it;s like to shed a tear or too.

Well Bert, Your beloved San Antonio can’t be too beloved or we wouldn’t see all of these Texans pulling stakes and swarming here. I don’t know many Idahoans that voluntarily spent anymore time in your beloved Texas than we had to spend there.
In 1968 at the tender age of 18 and, at the time, never having traveled east of Montana or Arizona, north of Seattle, or South of Monterey Kalifornia, I had never seen daily 99% humidity or inch and half long cockroaches and scorpions in every dark corner. (I must have sneezed while flying over the “Austin wood.”) I did see a few young mommas boys “shed a tear” but I attributed that more to the stress of Basic Training and the fear of becoming TAC Trained killers than being impressed with the state.
Having said that about the proliferation of skittering and slithering varmints in Texas I’ll be glad to leave Texas out of most things if you can figure a way to get most of the Texans out of Idaho.

Cyclops,

It appears that you, and Dave, haven’t, and likely won’t, see the point. I’m not threatening anybody and I have read this blog long enough to know that Dave couldn’t care less if he loses a reader.

Let me make the point one last time. To use the Avimor mailer to defame Mayor Merrill is a complete and total red herring since receiving the invitation does NOT entail being a supporter of Avimor. My point has NOTHING to do with Avimor, but is about pure and simple logic.

It’s clear that Dave got caught up in thinking that he had some kind of “scoop” and is unwilling to retract it. His inability to own up to the fact that the invitation, and hence this post, is completely meaningless casts doubt on his entire enterprise.

Don’t bother responding as I won’t see it.

Cook is no longer at WRG, as of 2007.

Gerry is no longer at Hubble, as of 2007.

Peccheninno is a quack who will say anything and do anything to make a buck. He says he is the only “qualified planner” in the Treasure Valley. I have more qualifications than he does, and all that consists of is a BS Urban Planning degree from Utah! And he does side work for some of the PC developers, trying his best to write ordinances. I used to send them back to him with several pages of red-marks. What a worthless slob.-l

PC’s are terrible ideas in places like the Treasure Valley, I learned that the hard way. They teach, in school, that new urbanism and planned communities are the greatest thing on earth. Maybe in a more dense area like SLC or Denver (and elsewhere that is still booming). But not in Boise where the infrastructure cannot handle to demand placed by these PCs and PUDs. If people want to live in Eagle and Meridian, or Nampa, and deal with those headaches, then let them. I live in SE Boise and it is close to everything I need, at the same cost to what they’ve paid. But they have all the extra square footage they’ll never use and pay for. Oh wait! Now they can’t afford it and are having to foreclose. So much for the dream you developers were selling.

I do agree with the statement that it’s better to have one large development on the same plot of land than several small ones and the services offered will be greater. That’s nice on paper or a pretty map that PC developers like to produce. Yet, those services aren’t enough to sustain trips and even stay in business. Witness the Merc at Hidden Springs.

I grew up in an older PC…Kingwood, TX. Now just a bedroom community of Houston. Same as the better known Woodlands. Both were developed, initially, by large development companies with the backing of oil money. Kingwood never was self-sustaining, partially because it was annexed by Houston, but also because it just didn’t work. It’s finally built-out after 30 years and it’s just a bedroom community. Sure there are some shopping centers for the 60k people living there but the “town square” was never completed and trips were never combined. I will say, the greenbelts are bar-none the best I’ve ever seen in the US. Construction on US-59 is perpetual, developers never paid for any of that. Texas state law is AS relaxed as Idaho’s.

In the end, you’re trying to create (and get approved in less than 2 years) the idea of a new community. It takes decades to create a livable area that works well. In fact, every city has it’s issues that each government faces. You’re trying to create a harmonious community that will damned near self-sufficient and work in some warped utopian-way. Wait! That’s just what you’re trying to sell. The same product in a different wrapper. And charge a little more because of harmony you’ve created for each consumer.

Great legacy!

Philomath, I don’t believe that Mrs. Merrill deserves a pass because she was the messenger here, although unknowingly. The fact that “all, or most” of the elite are invited still speaks to the fact that there seems to be a level of “coziness” among developers and city/county officials that most citizens find concerning?

I would certainly not think to speak for the Guardian, but if it would make you feel better to say that “Ex-mayor Nancy Merrill has received an invitation, along with every other sleazebag politician and bureaucrat in the valley to attend a celebration party put on by Avimor to thank them for their support and manipulations so far, and to entice them to continue to assist us in our efforts to skate through the “paperwork” so we can maximize our return”, then I guess I would agree to that! I certainly wouldn’t want to single out the ex mayor of Eagle when she obviously has no shortage of fellow “shady” officials to party with.
I don’t see this as a scoop as much as one more instance (of the numerous pointed out in the past by the Guardian) of someone elected to office to represent the citizens and failing to do so. I don’t think Mrs. Merrill will attend the “celebration” especially now that this has come out. But I will bet you “mucho dinero” that she would have. She would be nuts if she didn’t! Just think of all the fund-raising “opportunities” she would have with that many of the “chosen” in one room at the same time. It would make her future political plans so much easier.

EDITOR NOTE–The only reason Merrill was singled out is because of the faux pas with the mailing. Had Avimor not sent Boise Nancy the packet and the self-described boilerplate form letter inviation, we never would have known. We find it odd and a bit disconcerting to “thank” politicians who vote against your interests.

Mr. Logic, being aware, and having genuine concern are two entirely different things. There will most definitely be a by-pass of some sort. I am just afraid it won’t be built by Avimor. Gee! maybe that will be on the agenda at the “celebration”!
A lousy way to run a railroad.

Get over yourselves. The letter does not reference Nancy in any way. To me it sounds like a general letter that probably went out to anyone they sought fit to invite to their little party. You guys are starting to sound desperate…

A quick look at Avimor’s (Suncor (PNW)) annual report is an eye opener. From 2006 to 2007 their revenues dropped by a whopping $185 million (46%). Their net income dropped from $61 million to $24 million, a decrease of 60%.

Keep in mind, the housing market was still semi okay for most of 2007. Currently it is a sure thing that Suncor/Avimor is bleeding red ink. And, given the surplus of houses and planned communities on the market, both here and the rest of the country, the story won’t be changing for several years. Other analysts seem to agree. The parent company’s stock (PNW) is doing a Micron-esque swan dive. At $53 per share in Dec-O6, it is now at $35 and dropping. Suncor is the main reason why. Keep in mind that the parent company is an electric utility. They are not used to losing money.

Safe Bet 1 – PNW will dump Suncor/Avimor if it gets half a chance.

Safe Bet 2 – Avimor won’t be contributing funds for highway improvements any time soon.

Smart alternatives = Roundabout? If so, please do make the central portion big enough to land Life Flight.

SH-55 in the future. SH-44, traffic signal, Hill Road – traffic signal, Floating Feather, traffic signal, Beacon Light – traffic signal, Brookside – traffic signal, Shadow Valley Golf Course – traffic signal, Avimor – two traffic signals.

Try to visualize 3-day weekend traffic.

Here is the list of these after hours events that the Eagle Chamber of Commerce sponsors.
Jan 08 – M3 Companies
Feb 08 – R Squared Digital Media
Mar 08 — Multiple Businesses
Apr 08 — Sandra L Clapp & Assoc
May 08 — Porterhouse
Jun 08 — Avimor
Jul 08 — Eye to Eye
Aug 08 — Legacy
Sep 08 — Pamela’s Bakery Cafe
Oct 08 — Franco Latino
Nov 08 — Bank of the Cascades
Dec 08 — Chamber Christmas Party

Note to Politicos, you better not attend any of these, as it could be considered as a conflict of interest.

Here’s some cheery news for growthophobes:

http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/new-home-sales-sink-85-17-year/story.aspx?guid=983B3C33-AE77-42D3-B29F-46BB8302562B&dist=SecEditorsPicks

Snoop,

Let’s see. Armstrong did get rescued from the County by Hubble Homes (aka Hovel, Rubble, Insta-Slum, etc.) Cook did get rescued from the County by WRG. I mistakenly called them WRG Engineeering. Their real name is WRG Design and yes, they are one of Avimor’s consultants. Check out their client list at http://www.wrgdesign.com.

I stand corrected that Armstrong and Cook have parted company with their recent employers. However, the bigger point remains. Staffers instrumental to Amimor’s approval were very cozy with the members of the development community that had matters pending before the county. That includes both Hubble and Avimor.

As for Yzaguirre. There was testimony at the Avimor BOCC hearing regarding his ownership of property (subsequently sold) near the intersection of Highways 55 and 44 (State St.). Approval of the project would increase traffic at that intersection and increase the value of his property. Yzaguirre did not recuse himself.

That is in character for Yzaguirre. This is the same man that misappropriated public funds for personal use and to make republican campaign donations. See http://www.boiseweekly.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%3A147723, and https://boiseguardian.com/2005/09/07/official_yzaguirre_rehash.html.

It is also the same man that dropped $17,000 of public money on a failed defense of his open meeting law violation to discuss The Cliffs.

That is what a corrupt government looks like. And, it is disgusting for companies like Avimor to put on a smiley face and say that elected officials are obliged to meet with them behind closed doors.

Again, nice legacy. Nice, corrupt, ugly, stinking, legacy.

Oh Clancy, come on. Politicians shouldn’t attend Business after Hours events because it might cause a conflict of interest? Please.

Conflicts of interest under Idaho Law are those of financial interest which can include those of close relatives such as a spouse, parent or child and really, if the parent or child don’t share income with the politician than that really doesn’t count. Most would declare that relationship anyway, I’m sure, as in my daughter works for so and so and then they might ask to be excused from voting.

But Clancy, are you and many others posting here it seems, really saying that politicians cannot speak with developers? That’s absurd just as it would be absurd to say that politicians cannot speak with neighborhood group representatives because someday they might come before the commission/council and that would be a conflict of interest.

The Constituent gets it right.

+1 for “Finance 101” (for providing some data showing how Avimor flounders), and +1 for “Philomath” & “Insider” (for trying to show that conicidence does not equal evidence.)

And +2 for “Cyclops” (for somehow associating all this with railroads.)

Er, excuse me Mr./Ms. Avimor Insider. You mentioned that the stop light would be ‘temporary’. Exactly how long is ‘temporary’ in this case?

Life is temporary. So is an ice age. So are the earth and the stars.

One of those elusive words, like ‘reasonable’.

In my mind, temporary would be a stop light installed for traffic control on a highway construction project. The end of its usefulness is specified. If it depends on the number of rooftops, who determines how long it will take to build/sell the rooftops? I’d say the economy makes those determinations. Could be a year. Could be 10 years. Could be the 12th of fornever.

Oh, welcome to our happy club.

Heeding Sun Tsu I provide the following Avimor/Suncor “facts” gleaned from the slick copy at http://www.avimor.com/

Great shopping opportunities! But they are only available in Eagle, along Eagle road, in downtown Boise and at the Town Square Mall. Guess Meridian doesn’t rate except for the schools.
Employment opportunities abound in the same general areas.
Meridian School District and Meridian High School. (Gives new meaning to a neighborhood school?)
Lots the size of back yard gardens. 45×110 clear up to the upper crust 90 x 130 foot size. But they ARE only ten to twenty five minutes from some necessities. Maybe the house buyers can use the extensive facilities at the Hidden Springs subdivision just east of there.

With disillusioned, bankrupted, immigrants leaving Idaho in hordes, to whom do the developers of Nevermore hope to sell their little lots and houses crowded on an old sheep ranch “10 minutes” from Eagle and “25 minutes” from downtown Boise? Who spends big dollars to live on an expensive 45 x 110 foot lot in a sea of other crowded together boxes that far from their strip malls? (Never understood “minutes” as a measure of distance for ground conveyance. How many miles, or even gallons of fuel, is that for the single soccer mom jabbering on her cel and herding her Expedition with her elbow?)

Traffic on SH55 has been morphing into a long two lane version of Eagle Road (or a bumper car parking lot frequented by flatland fools) for a number of years. This newest subdivision, full of yuppies seeking only God knows what “lifestyle” will, even with ANY type of traffic safety provisions, only add more traffic incidents and fatalities to 55’s growing toll. (No smog increase though because after all I’m certain that they will all voluntarily pay their smog certification taxes.) I feel sorry for the Idahoans who can’t detour the whole mess but I enjoy seeing the yahoos that think they are getting away from it all at Tamarack and present day McCall every traffic jammed weekend.
No wonder the shakers and movers behind this operation are trying every trick at their disposal to schmooze our elected reps. Sleazy deals, wine blurred sales pitches, under the table favoritism, whatever. What’s next, expense paid trips, new loaner beemers, cheap property for investment opportunities? Oh Wait! That is illegal and then too, it would take a bigger speculative investment than might be recovered. Sociopaths and developers have no consciences and no shame. Lets not kill any of those domestic or Canadian wolves and stop controlling the numbers of urban cougars. To them I’m sure developers and yuppies would both taste like chicken.

You know…..sillyness of this blog site and related posts aside (especially this one), it has finally dawned on me why the majority of you local Growthphobes hate developers/builders. You all sat here with your thumbs up your butts and watched real estate prices skyrocket around you, and you were too dim witted and/or scared to get in the game and capatilize on it. Must be painful…I almost feel bad for you. NOT. You sat here and watched little run down 80 year old huts in the North End go from $100k to $300k almost overnight, and you missed the boat. You’re jealous and pissed. Aren’t you?

Reply to Antiphobe.

NO!

We talked with a person today who has a sister who is worried about unemployment. She works for an outfit in Phoenix. According to our friend, they have had significant layoffs lately. Apparently, it may have something to do with a project in Idaho.

Homework assignment: Think of a PC, and fill in the blanks, rounded to the nearest million:

Earthwork ___
Sewage Treatment plant ___
Land acquisition costs ___
Idaho Power line ___
United Water line ___
Intermountain Gas line ___
Concrete batch plant ___
Paving ___
Build model homes ___
Application fees ___
Build million gallon water tank ___
Advertising ___
Design and engineering fees ___
drill monitoring wells ___
Property taxes ___
Employee wages ___
Legal expenses ___
Loan expenses ___
Other/miscellaneous ___

Total ___

Current return on investment ___

Via Con Dios, Muchachios.

Antiphobe,

I don’t have a problem with making money. And, I have no problem with developers. Unless, they make their money by making false promises to their customers, leaving others to pay for their infrastructure, subverting the democratic process and destroying parts of the valley that the public has determined best left undeveloped. In that case they deserve all the scorn they get because they are no better than people who rob banks with the help of the bank managers.

No, I don’t miss not being a liar, a cheat, a scoundrel, and a thief.

It is not only Suncor & Avimor..but also Kastera wants to build 128 or so homes around the Shadow Valley golf course… and Cartwright rance and Jeker’s place at Brookside and Dry Creek…HUNDREDS of homes are planned for those areas… currently, deer, coyote, fox, quail, pheasant, a few Elk, a badger or two…all visit the areas being developed. Soon after houses are built and sold, complaints about missing cats and dogs will arise and the coyotes will be trapped /killed.. the quail and pheasant habitat will be gone..no more fox and badger, etc. And, where is all this water needed to support the homes, lawns, gardens, etc. going to come from? When I moved here in 87, Boise was in the 3rd year of a drought..people could not water lawns or wash cars except on certain days… a drought will come again…. the cycle continues…