WinCo-anchored Linder Village isn’t dead yet. Meridian council will decide its fate.

The Meridian City Council is scheduled to hear Dave McKinney’s proposal for Linder Village on Nov. 21, city planner Sonya Allen said Friday.

Allen said she expects that hearing to take place, even though the Planning and Zoning Commission on Thursday recommended denial of developer Dave McKinney’s plan for an 80-acre mixed-use project on the corner of Linder Road and Chinden Boulevard on the city’s northern border. McKinney said Thursday night that he didn’t want to change his plans despite the commission’s unanimous vote against him, she said.

WinCo Foods would be a key tenant of the project and operate a store on the property’s southwest corner. The proposed layout calls for more big- and middle-box stores along the property’s southern boundary, with smaller stores on the north side and some kind of residential development toward the southeast. Some have speculated that Costco might occupy part of Linder Village, but that is not a certainty.

Commissioners saw several problems with McKinney’s plan. Many of those issues were elements they believe are inconsistent with Meridian’s comprehensive plan, including strip mall-style architecture, large commercial buildings that would be too close to homes to the south and poor integration with the surrounding area.

Commissioners also balked at allowing a WinCo grocery store to operate 24 hours per day so close to existing homes. Like planning staffers, they wanted WinCo to limit its hours of operation or reorient the store so that the back side — where trucks go to load and unload cargo — faces Linder Road. WinCo doesn’t want to do that because it will diminish the store’s exposure, Allen said.

Commissioners wanted more details on how the rest of the development will unfold, including the undefined residential area; pedestrian and vehicle connections between the project and the area around it; and how stub streets that dead-end on the property will connect to each other and the surrounding road network.

If the City Council denies McKinney’s application, he would have to change it significantly or wait a year to resubmit it, Allen said.

This story was originally published October 20, 2017 at 5:26 PM with the headline "WinCo-anchored Linder Village isn’t dead yet. Meridian council will decide its fate.."