|
The Boise Foothills are at a
turning point. Will they continue to exist as a natural jewel in our midst,
or will they be paved over by homes and businesses?
THE
DRY CREEK VALLEY
Over 1400 acres southeast of the Shadow Valley Golf
Course on Highway 55 may become "Dry Creek Ranch" a planned community development of 4300
homes and over 10,000 residents.
(Click here to see the slide show that the developers presented
at a neighborhood meeting--14MB.)
The Dry Creek Valley is a
little known, quiet and pastoral land of stark and rare beauty. It has long
been used as an alfalfa field (it was part of the Jeker farm), pasture land, and for
horseback riding. Consisting of an ancient flood plain and surrounding hills,
the valley is home to bobcats, foxes, mountain lions, and coyote as well as hawks, pheasants, chukars,
blue heron, and quail. It is on a migration path for many
additional species due to the creek and emptiness of the land. Mule deer have
long utilized the Dry Creek valley, as do pronghorn antelope, and during
winters with heavy snowfalls, elk. The special status Idaho
plant, Aase's onion, thrives there.
To the east of it, is Hidden
Springs, and a new planned community adjacent to it,
called Cartwright Ranch, with 800 homes is in the
planning stage. To the west, Kastera Shadow Valley is
planning a golf course community of 122 homes. To the
north, Avimor Planned Community, which will begin with
about 700 homes, and grow to several thousand, is
getting ready to market their first homesites. The
following discussion concentrates on Dry Creek Ranch
both because of its size, and because it will sit in the
heart of the valley:
TRAFFIC
Using the customary 10 vehicle
trips per day per household, this community alone will add over 43,000 vehicle trips
PER DAY onto Highway 55. That's more than Eagle at Chinden!!
SEWAGE
Apparently the developers are planning to build and operate their own sewage
plant and discharge treated storm drainage and wastewater "effluent" into Dry Creek.
Dry Creek is currently a clear
stream that, in winter, runs through the foothills and from there into a
network of canals throughout Eagle. In summer, it is traditionally
"dry"--but once this community is developed, it appears the creek may
continuously have treated wastewater discharge flowing
downstream.
OPEN SPACE
The density of the homes will average 3 residencies per
acre. Over
10,000 people are expected to reside in the community--a bit smaller
than the town of Eagle--all within two square miles.
EFFECT ON FOOTHILLS
Grading would be done on the existing foothills "as necessary."
At this time, not only does Dry Creek run through the property, but it has many
rivulets and marshy areas that absorb run-off from the creek. It would be necessary to fill them,
causing the creek water that now fills the wetlands to continue downstream.
(Potentially, this might cause the problem we're seeing on the Boise River,
where upstream developments result in flooding downstream.)
WATER
The Dry Creek Developers have applied for municipal water rights. This means
they can tap into the foothills aquifer for water for their community first,
before private well owners. No one yet knows the true capacity of the
foothills aquifers. We have asked Idaho Department of Water Resources to do
a study. We are awaiting their decision. Lack of sufficient water will
affect all Treasure Valley residents in cost.
SCHOOLS
Dry Creek Ranch developers will apparently provide land for two elementary,
one middle, and one high
school. The taxpayers of the Meridian school district must actually build
and operate the schools. According to an Idaho Statesman report, this
development will have approximately 2,560 students who will need new schools
or transportation to existing schools.
Developers
can provide land for schools, but they do not pay to
build the schools or to staff them.
EMERGENCY
SERVICES
The 10,000 people in this
development--larger than Eagle was in 2000--will need police, fire,
and paramedic
services. The developers pay "impact fees" to help with the cost...but how
far will those fees go in building, staffing, and equipping a new fire
house, perhaps a police station, and EMS services?
VISION OF THE FUTURE
The citizens of Boise,
Eagle, and Meridian have spoken loudly about not wanting the foothills
destroyed by high density development. The citizens have said they wish to be good stewards of the land
and to protect the small creatures who call it home. People who love the
Treasure Valley expect, when they look northward, to see nature--to watch the foothills change
through the seasons from snow-capped, to verdant green, to the burnt tan of
summer, to the earthy russet of fall. Instead, they may soon see only the
slate gray and brown of rooftops.
WHO IS BEHIND THIS?
The companies and corporations involved in this planned community are "Land
Baron Investments" of Las Vegas, Nevada; JMM Dry Creek LLC of Dallas, Texas; plus Colliers
International and WRG Design in Boise.
WHAT
CAN I DO?
Together we can accomplish much. We need to
save the Dry Creek Valley and all the foothills
from being paved over. Once they're gone, we can never get them back.
In
keeping with requests from many who attended the last Dry Creek Rural
Neighborhood Association meeting, here's a list of things you can do now:
1.
Read
Ordinance 621.
It is this ordinance that allows for planned community
developments in existing rural residential and rural preservation zoning. It
is what the developers, P&Z and the Ada County Commission will be held to in
evaluating any PC application Study this ordinance well -- we will all need
to know it better than anyone. (To find it yourself, go
to www.adaweb.net,
type in "621" in the search box.)
2.
Familiarize yourself with the recently adopted
2007 Ada County Comprehensive
Plan, especially
Chapter 5 on LAND USE:
As part of the
2007 Comp Plan, agreement was made to create a Central Foothills Sub Area
Plan. The Dry Creek Rural Neighborhood Association expects to
be heavily involved in that process. For more
information on the status of that plan, contact Ada County Development Services
Planning & Zoning Administrator Jay Gibbons at
jgibbons@adaweb.net
or fax him at 287-7009.
The Land Use chapter refers to:
--Blueprint
for Good Growth (1.86MB) and
--Boise
Foothills Policy Plan
--Revisions
to the North Ada Foothills Sub-Area Plan (as of Jan 30, 2007)
You can read the revisions as is, but they do refer to the original
plan, which can
be found here.
3.
Click on "Traffic" above and read the State
Highway 55 white paper and Reader's Opinion
to get up to speed on the issues, plus a special report on the cost of
building out State Highway 55, plus Boise and Eagle
intersections to handle the traffic planned communities
ini the foothills will create.
You may wish to write to people in charge
to express your concerns about this major problem. See addresses below.
4.
Know other concerned friends and neighbors? Please spread the word and bring
them to our next meeting.
Join our private
Yahoo listserv for
DCRNA members to stay
in touch with all the latest happenings, receive reminders, etc. We've got
to educate our own neighborhood and the public.
Please
sign the
Petition to the Ada County Commissioners voicing your opposition
if you haven't yet done so, and encourage as many people as you can. They
needn't be residents of Dry Creek to sign, just concerned citizens!
5.
Contribute to the Save
Dry Creek project.
6.
Join "Save Dry Creek" -- an
e-mail information list for updates and other pertinent information from the Dry Creek Rural
Neighborhood Association. Our mission is to conserve rural community
neighborhoods in the Dry Creek Valley through efforts to preserve the
habitat and the environment.
7. Contact your
Ada County
Commissioners (Rick Yzaguirre,
Fred Tilman, and
Paul Woods), the
Mayor of Boise, the
Mayor of Eagle, and your neighbors to protest this massive development.
Thank you for your caring and commitment. We really are having an impact and
we need to keep up the pressure. We've come incredibly far in 18 months!
Please check the Meetings/News link routinely to find out when important
meetings will be held.
If you have any
questions, write us at info@savedrycreek.com, or at PO Box 1532, Eagle, ID 83616.
Here's
a list of handy addresses for your use:
District Traffic Engineer
Idaho Transportation Department
P.O. Box 8028
Boise, ID 83707-2028
Pamela Lowe, Director
Idaho Transportation Department
P.O. Box 8028
Boise, ID 83707-2028
Darrell Manning, Chairman
Idaho Transportation Board
3311 W. State Street
P.O. Box 7129
Boise, ID 83707-1129
John Franden
Ada County Highway District
3775 Adams Street
Garden City, ID 83714
Charles Trainor
COMPASS
800 S. Industry Way, Suite 100
Meridian, ID 83642
Ada County Commissioners Paul Woods, Fred Tilman, Rick Yzaguirre
200 W. Front Street
Boise, ID 83702
Gov. C. L. "Butch" Otter
Statehouse
Boise, ID 83702
Boise photo from Boise Convention &
Visitors Bureau @ DCRNA
Webmaster 2007 |
