Twenty-three new planned communities are proposed for Ada County according to the Statesman’s front page article of October 11, 2006.

If approved, these massive “planned communities” will give us sprawl as far as the eye can see.

It’s this kind of mindless development that has made Phoenix, Denver and Las Vegas bloated, environmentally challenged eyesores, and could result in an Ada County with no wildlife, clogged roads and freeways, and collapsed infrastructures. But, gee, there will be a lot of happy developers.

Fully one-third of the planned communities will be placed in the Foothills. Say goodbye to the beautiful natural backdrop to Boise and Eagle, good-bye to wildlife and nearby trails. Hello, Hollywood hills (gridlock, smog, no wildlife, no greenery, no recreation, overcrowded schools, fire hazards, and piped in water from heaven knows where).

Here’s the breakdown of what’s proposed:

– The Cliffs – 1,300 homes (approved by P&Z Board, to County Commissioners next)
– M3 – 12,000 homes
– Dry Creek Ranch – 4,300 homes
– Cartwright Ranch – 700 homes
– Avimor – 8,000 homes (680 homes have been approved as “phase 1”; the number of homes for succeeding phases is “said to be” in the 6000-8000 range)
– Connelly – 4,000 homes (number not settled–still on the “drawing board”)
– Kastera – number unknown (they have acquired enough land for a planned community that encompasses the Shadow Valley Golf Course. They also have two additional large parcels of land, one in the northwest foothills area, and another in the central foothills north of 36th Street.) 
The number of homes to be built in the Foothills totals 30,980 without Kastera. Keep in mind that planned communities consist not only of single family residences, but also townhouses, condos, some have apartment buildings, and all have some kind of commercial development. That means traffic, folks. Lots of it.

The Ada County Highway District and developers themselves estimate between 232,350 and 309,800 vehicle trips per day will be generated by those communities. Cars will pour down Highway 55 in numbers greater than the Flying Wye at commute time, and from there onto State Street, Eagle Road, Seaman’s Gulch, Hill Road, and Warm Springs to downtown Boise, Eagle, or I-84. The nightmare intersection of Eagle and Franklin has “only” 54,000 vehicle per day!

COMPASS, ITD and ACHD did not expect high density development in the Foothills and have allocated no money for new or widened roadways there. The public has spoken loud and clear that it does not want the Foothills developed. The recent Ada County Comprehensive Plan update and the Blueprint for Good Growth both go along with the public’s wishes.

Will Ada County’s planning staff, P&Z board, and County Commissioners support the public or act like the Developers’ Cheerleader Squad?

Only time will tell. Enjoy the Treasure Valley while you can. It might not last much longer.

EDITOR NOTE–Developers at Hidden Springs caused the collapse of a county road and that planned community has already been altered into a big subdivision after the “plan” failed to attract buyers. Even so it is touted as a great example of planned growth.

Dumping commercial runoff into Boise Parks is not new. WinCo (between Myrtle and Front Streets) cut a deal with deposed mayor Brent Coles to route their parking lot water into Julia Davis Park in exchange for a “donated” sign (reportedly worth $50,000) on Capitol Blvd. several years ago. They claim to have a “state of the art” filtration system, but when it comes to separating antifreeze and de- icing chemicals from water, it takes some technology. We are not aware of any monitoring of the discharge into the lagoon.

One reason the Bench-Depot neighbors aren’t screaming too loudly is because they fear water collected onsite and allowed to seep out could take a right turn and ooze out the face of the rim and make a mess of the existing upscale Park Center Apartment complex. In fact, there has been a long standing problem with irrigation water saturating the area and spewing from the hillside.

A similar thing happened years ago along Warm Springs Avenue after septic tank seepage from Warm Springs Mesa caused mud slides. The cure was a sewer system.

In the case of the Crescent Rim condo development, there is no problem–YET. There are no condos or parking lot, but that is comming soon. Looks like the city will “bail” the developer out of a water problem. The proposal on the table calls for a discharge rate of about 450 gallons per minute–which will occur only during rain storms of heavy snow melt.

We question the wisdom–and propriety–of discharging runoff into the waters of the little known stream which meanders along the base of the rim within the park. This deal needs to have public scrutiny before Boise City becomes the facilitator to action which could cause an environmental impact.

The proposed 1 CFS discharge of water into the public stream needs to be monitored closely BEFORE it is a done deal.

The GUARDIAN also has long been concerned about the legality of Drainage District #3 having taxing authority, but none of the commissioners is elected. A law office sends names to a judge to APPOINT these three guys. It seems highly irregular to allow absolutely no public vote for officials who have authority to tax our property. These are the guys who are a party to cutting the deal with the developer who doesn’t want to follow the law and collect surface runoff on site.

The short version is BoDo developer Mark Rivers wants to take over six blocks of of our city and include a library– which he will rent back to the city for a mere $2 million annually.

If the city is to ultimately OWN such a project it would be an illegal unconstitutional agreement, based on recent Idaho Supreme Court and 4th District Court rulings. To his credit Mayor Dave Bieter was cautious in his remarks and vowed to perform “due diligence” on how to finance a library.

Bieter and Team Dave lost a bond election for a new library in February. He caught some city councilors off guard when he suggested selling parcels of unused city land to pay for a new library. We have heard nothing on the progress of any city land sales.

The daily claimed Rivers told them his proposed six block development would generate $2 million annually in taxes which would offset the cost of a library. That is simply not true. Improvements within the urban renewal district generate NO REVENUES for the city of Boise. ALL TAXES in the district go to the CCDC (Capital City Development Corp) which is the city urban renewal agency.

CCDC Director Phil Kushlan confirmed for the GUARDIAN any development in the area would yield NO CITY REVENUES for 30 years from the time it is built. He said it is “very premature to offer any comment on the proposal other than, “Isn’t that interesting.”

Either the guy who built the $60 million BoDo project doesn’t understand the tax system where he built or he offered up a false impression to the daily paper. Apparently no one at the daily understands how urban renewal is financed either.

The lengthy cheerleading article was prompted by a legitimate CCDC “request for proposals” to develop an acre of land behind the library at River Street between 8th and 9th. It is currently an old warehouse.

The daily also failed to mention there are at least three proposals being considered at a board meeting next week.

We suspect the front page play, including the word “Library” in the name, architect drawings, and other behind the scenes maneuvers are aimed at getting the nod from the CCDC Board. Perhaps a good sales tactic, but without a legal finance plan it rings of “Voo Doo Economics”. If the City wants a library the proper move is to come to the voters.

Kushlan said the proposal from Mark Rivers is, “Much more grand” than the 1 acre CCDC is offering.

Thursday night’s intense thunderstorm and accompanying winds were not really unusual for Southwest Idaho, but losing homes and risking lives should send a signal to local authorities considering development in lands subject to wildfire.

Three occupied homes and an empty house trailer burned in the Tipanuk (Kuna Pit backwards) settlement just north of I-84 at the first overpass west of Mountain Home. Fire crews from the BLM responded, but could do little to help by the time they arrived. The range fire, caused either by lightning or electrical wires downed by the wind, swept through at 50 mph.

It is a heart-rending experience to watch families sift through the remains of their lives following a tragic fire. Gene Kastner and his two adult sons were remarkably calm and resolute as they tried to salvage “something” from the still hot ashes Friday.

“We lost all our family pictures and everything but the clothes on our backs,” Kastner told the GUARDIAN. He said he lived outside any fire protection district.

Kastner’s plight is similar to thousands of residents in Idaho who choose to live in the wide open spaces. While taxes are low, they don’t have the luxury of big red fire engines and trained firefighters to protect them. Red Cross volunteers were on the scene offering financial and lodging assistance to those who needed it. You can make donations at www.redcrossidaho.org.

Another home near Lucky Peak Dam was also lost to fire as the Hammer Flat area burned.
That area is where the proposed “Cliffs Development” is slated to contribute more than 1,400 homes.

Hidden Springs in the foothills northwest of Boise has a nice fire station, but it is unmanned. Avimor on Highway 55 has no fire station, but got Eagle to annex the acreage. The latest Mayfield Springs proposed development along I-84 is outside any fire district.

Bottom line: developments in areas subject to wildfire are risky, have no municipal water system with hydrants and mains and no full-time fire departments. The low tax rates appeal to buyers and those of us who pay taxes for our fire departments have to provide fire equipment and staff as “mutual aid” for the BLM wildfire crews who don’t have the training or trucks to fight structure fires.

Boise City responds all the time to the area east of Boise where there is no fire district and fires abound. They turned down a request for assistance Thursday on the Hammer Flats fire, but KTVB-7 reported two trucks were eventually dispatched.

The latest aggressor is Westpark Company with ‘Mayfield Springs.’ It is another of those mass subdivisions billed as a “Planned Community” proposed for land located northeast and adjacent to Interstate-84, approximately 14-miles east of Boise in unincorporated Ada County.

The primary access to the paving of the formerly flower covered desert
is at the Mayfield Springs I-84 Interchange and Indian Creek Road.

The proposed 909-acre community would include approximately
2,500 residential units presented in a variety of styles and price ranges desired by single-family home buyers, empty-nesters, and residents looking for condominium living opportunities. (That probably means cheap houses). The proposed project would be built in phases over the next 5 to 7 years.

The planned community application indicates the project is to be built
around an 18-hole public golf course….great use of precious water resources!!
The course is to be designed by’Audubon Certified Sanctuary’ criteria that requires special attention be given to sensitive and wildlife-friendly areas. The proposed plan calls for a large clubhouse facility, driving range and learning center…something the eagles and badgers will surly love!

The Mayfield Springs community would be divided into various village
styles that are linked by a network of streets and walking trails. One
proposed village style would provide several housing options desired by families while other village styles will cater to those living a retired
lifestyle. Each proposed village includes a developed walking trail
system, pocket parks and recreation opportunities…they forgot the equestrian trails, however.

In addition to the residential villages, the Mayfield Springs Planned
Community application also outlines plans for a mixed-use hotel,
conference center and spa. This complex would be located along with
other related commercial facilities proposed for the northeast corner of the Mayfield Springs Interchange. A community shopping center and
related retail opportunities are also proposed for the northwest corner of that same intersection. Does this somehow have the ring of swampland in Florida or those desert developments in Arizona where you get a free dinner if you come to hear the sales pitch?

Today’s submission does not mean Ada County has formally accepted the
developer’s planned community development application. It only marks
the beginning of the completeness review process to ensure the developer
has adequately addressed the appropriate local, state, and federal
regulations and ordinances as they pertain to the proposed development
in their application.

We need to do something friends. The enemy is aiming at getting us surrounded. We will soon be held hostage in our little communities unable to escapt to C.J. Strike to the south or Cascade-McCall to the north.

This is a no brainer. There is not enough water, sewage disposal, or roads to handle what these greedy developers are trying to do. Our only hope is to elect a few growthophobes who won’t sell out.

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!

Narrow streets and limited space are not conducive to massive public buildings. We don’t have the broad avenues of Paris or Buenos Aires or even the wide streets of Austin, Texas. We are small town at least in scale and should make the best of it…live within our means.

The Greater Boise Auditorium District made the front page of the daily paper yet again with plans to build a convention center the voters and a private developer have turned down. The daily paper headline asks WHERE a convention center will be built and the real question is IF it will be built. The sub headline mixes west with east which is appropriate since NOBODY has offered a clear direction on the issue.

The broad open spaces along the 9th of July Boulevard in Buenos Aires look better all the time.

The G-BAD boys are rushing to meet a Tuesday deadline to have “something” started on the parcel between 11th and 13th bounded by Front and Myrtle Streets. The entire area presents a nightmare of competing plans for anyone who cares about our town.

Most of the land is owned by the J.R. Simplot family in one form or another. The Foundation, headed by Scott Simplot, wants to extend Broad Street to the west, essentially cutting the parcels in half with a new Discovery Center at the base of the freeway ramps at 13th. They envision shops and restaurants along a pedestrian corridor.

The G-BAD boys are happy with their site for a convention center, don’t want it cut in half to create a “bowling alley” and will fight for something that is without support of the community.

Mayor Bieter and his Team Dave want to move the proposed site to 9th and Front diagonally across from the existing Center on the Grove. He wants to use CCDC bonding authority to issue bonds the citizens refused to approve for the G-BAD boys.

Of the three concepts we see on the table, Scott Simplot’s idea of a pedestrian area with an expanded Discovery Center as an anchor sounds best for our city–without a new convention center.

Tall buildings and massive structures on small lots crowd our city and create a claustrophobic sense of “big city.” Downtown will always be a small town no matter how tight you cram it full of buildings.

If you have a small living room, it doesn’t get any bigger with more furniture and a bigger TV set.

Long time opponent of the project, Tony Jones, claims ITD owns land that Skyline Development has designated as primary entrance to the plateau. He says the 5 acre parcel cost taxpayers $90,000 and was acquired under condemnation proceedings in 1995. ITD got the land as access to a potential second bridge across the Boise River on Highway 21. Jones says it is worth $400,000 today.

Jones claims the property is worth as much as $400,000 and is concerned about the financial mechanism that will put it in the hands of the Ada County Highway District. Generally speaking it is the responsibility of a developer to pay for roads in new subdivisions and then turn them over to the ACHD once the streets have been built to ACHD specs.

The GUARDIAN thinks Idaho Transportation Department needs to sell the 5 acres to the highest bidder…creating a highway land speculation deal in reverse. The public already owns the land which a developer needs in order to dedicate it to the public for use as a road–a classic “Catch 22”.

Here are the options as we see them:

–State sells to highest bidder because the land is no longer needed.
–State transfers the land to county for “public purpose”–even though the developer is required to provide access to his subdivision.
–State gets the developer to make an offer in excess of the $90,000 they paid the original owner 11 years ago.
–State offers original owner first right of refusal on the land they took at condemnation.

We also hear that if the original purchase was made with federal highway funds the rules of the game are changed. Now that things are public, ITD will be hard pressed to release the land at less than market value of $400,000. Meanwhile ACHD won’t approve the plan.

While the state owns the door and the ACHD holds the key (they will not pay for the land they require of the developer) it looks like Tony Jones may be the locksmith who knows the combination or how to make a key for the lock. Stay tuned.

UPDATE 7/28/06
A reader called our attention to the following ITD rule for disposal of surplus property which could result in Ada County Highway District getting the land from the state. ACHD has told the GUARDIAN they will not invest any money in the project–it is the obligation of the developer.

302. METHOD OF SALE FOR PROPERTY VALUED AT TEN THOUSAND DOLLARS OR GREATER.
The department shall first offer the property at the appraised price to the following: State Agencies, County and City where the property is located, the Highway District in which the property is located.
The state agencies are given first priority to purchase the property, county second, city third and Highway District forth. If none of the above public agencies purchase the property, it will be offered at public sale. The sales price shall include an administrative fee.

Term sales of up to twenty (20) years may be offered at the discretion of the department. (7-1-97)

Allied Waste Systems, the parent of trash collector BFI, had applied to build a 500 acre landfill facility, but the Ada Planning and Zoning Commission couldn’t reach a decision, allowing the application to die. Allied appealed to the full Board of County Commishes who turned them down, citing a desire to not impede growth and to keep the skies near the airport free of birds.

We see it as a pro-growth move on one hand and a logical decision to keep the county from turning into a dumping ground on the other hand…Sort of “choose your poison.”

Future decisions by either the county or city regarding ANY kind of development need to realize more development will create more waste (trash, garbage, junk) which will in turn create increased demand for landfill dumping grounds.

Recent “cover stories” in the Statesman about city-owned land and Boise’s plans for growing into the southeast desert should sound alarm bells for growthophobes–like the GUARDIAN.

Cynthia Sewell did a nice job reporting the dreams and desires of Boise’s government elite as well as the old and new money developer elite who have “visions” of paving and populating the sagebrush desert south and east of town.

Lots of money to be made by the land holders, some of whom trace their roots back to the sheep and cattle ranching heritage of the area. All tolled five groups are talking about developing nearly 20,000 acres.

Who is quoted as seeing the area as a “blank canvas” for planned development? None other than the captain of “Team Dave,” Boise Mayor Dave Bieter. This is the same guy who is AGAINST planned development at Avimor along highway 55. He also wants to annex the planned development at Hammer Flats above Lucky Peak.

We aren’t ready to totally condemn Team Dave, but to oppose a development Boise is unable to grasp with its massive tentacles while promoting development which will have more impact–admittedly with tax revenues–rings hollow in our ears. This is the same guy who preached to city employees the virtues of having a “livable city.”

Encouraging growth by providing sewers under the guise of “planning” and encouraging people and businesses to locate in Boise is like the Pope telling the starving masses in Africa to refrain from birth control…well intended with inhuman results.

The Brad Hem story about Boise land holdings is also a well done piece which points to the sins of the past administration. It also shows us that meeting in secret to conclude land purchases is counterproductive–the city can end up with land they don’t need and sometimes cannot unload. It is also off the tax rolls.

The economic development office of Team Dave has taken to using the citizen/taxpayer land to entice development in the city. They “lease” land to commercial enterprises like the ROCK CLIMBING GYM and the controversial MOUNTAIN VIEW POWER PLANT to get around the law which requires land be SOLD to the highest bidder. By leasing, Team Dave can eliminate any fair access by businesses they don’t like.

While most development is bad in the view of the GUARDIAN, there are exceptions. We don’t like to see blight created by poor decisions–like the vacant parcels along Fairview at 25th and also at 2900 Fairview.

Each purchase was the “perfect location” for a police building and now Chief Mike Masterson is aiming to get smaller stations located in the growth areas instead of a huge central complex…council is split over what to do with the property. One plan calls for selling the land and using the revenues for libraries. At least they wouldn’t have to include the citizens if they paid cash.

Then there is the “railroad to nowhere,” the industrial park near the Outlet Mall and thousands of acres of undeveloped “future park” land–all without a defined public purpose or need.

The current mood of City Councilors is to get out of the land speculation business and own land identified with a specific purpose only.