One development came before the Meridian City Council and hit a familiar list of concerns: traffic congestion, traffic safety and the burden on West Ada schools.
The Blayden Subdivision, led by John A. Laude Sr.’s Trilogy Development in Boise, would include 312 apartments, 10 single-family homes and 14 acres of commercial uses, including two office buildings, on 38.5 acres. The site, on the southwest corner of Black Cat Road and Chinden Boulevard, would be annexed to the city.
For the municipality, the project was too much, too soon.
Attempting to show that the development met what Councilor Liz Strader called the council’s “high bar for annexation” was David Bailey of Bailey Engineering, representing Trilogy.
During a public hearing Tuesday, Bailey said the project was five years in the making. When it started, he said, “the environment just wasn’t mature enough to get us where we needed to go… So we’ve been through a number of iterations, and we think we got it done. now in the right place.”
Trilogy has been working with city planners over the past year since the application was submitted in August 2023 to address concerns, said Bill Parsons, planning supervisor in the city’s planning department.
“We spent a lot of time with the applicant, before it even got to the hearing, to try to get him to amend his plan so that it would better align with the comprehensive plan,” Parsons told the Idaho Statesman.
Parsons said that after the city planning department provided five rounds of comments to the developer — more than usual — the application was ready to proceed to a public hearing with the planning staff’s recommendation for approval, with several contingencies.
“We’re not trying to go into the hearing with a denial,” Parsons said. “We try to work with developers to make sure they meet the city’s requirements. That is our job.”
One of the concerns that staff advised the developer to address was traffic congestion on Black Cat Road.
Bailey told council the development would connect Ramblin Court from east to west with Levi Lane, complete with a traffic light, in the first phase of development. Bailey said no development would occur on Black Cat Road until the second phase, after the Ada County Highway District constructed a roundabout at Black Cat and McMillan roads in 2028.
The council was not entirely reassured.
“You may not be connecting directly to Black Cat until your later phases, but you are still adding a significant amount of traffic indirectly,” Strader said during the hearing.
Traffic problems were reflected in public testimony. Steve Elliott, a board member of the Bainbridge Subdivision’s Homeowners Association and one of the few residents within 500 feet of the proposed development, testified that his top two concerns were “traffic and the safety of our children.”
“Infrastructure in – not just Meridian, in Ada County – development is in decline right now,” Elliott told the Statesman by phone. “We build, build, build and then worry about the roads, roads, roads.”
Elliott said many children in the area surrounding the proposed subdivision walk to school. “There’s a lot of kids running around on bikes doing what we all did when we were kids… The more traffic you send to them, the less safe they can be.”
A letter to the West Ada School District City Council similarly emphasizes the importance of “safe walkways, bike paths and pedestrian access for our students to schools and community resources.”
Overcrowded schools are also a problem. School district data shows that nearby Pleasant View Elementary School has 679 students, 29 of which are over capacity. Star and Owyhee high schools are at 95% and 98% capacity, respectively.
A traffic impact study by CR Engineering estimated the subdivision would generate nearly 5,200 trips per weekday, 60% of which would be on Black Cat Road. ACHD plans to begin construction of the road widening in 2036.
The city council unanimously decided to reject the project, instead of putting it off by asking the developer to come back with changes at a later date.
Before denying the project, Councilor Brian Whitlock said: “I think Mr Elliott summed it up: it’s traffic and kids. And I don’t think this project raises the bar to address these concerns.”
“I like some of what is being proposed and discussed, but I think it may be too early for prime time,” Whitlock said.
Mr Parsons told the Statesman: ‘The Council has not historically denied many projects, okay, but in this particular case… it seemed that the plan was not far enough advanced for it to be supported… The timing for this was just wrong. ”
Elliott said he was “pleasantly a little surprised” by the council’s decision. “I was quite impressed by the council members and their very rightly asked questions.”
“There is no ill will towards anyone,” he said. “We just all have to do better.”
Bailey declined to comment on what Trilogy might do next, telling the Statesman via email that he had “nothing to add” to what he told the council.
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