Boise Fire Department said this subdivision would be unsafe. What the City Council did
Limited access for fire trucks to reach a proposed housing development in the Boise Foothills led the Boise City Council, in part, to deny an appeal from the developers of the planned Eyrie Terraces subdivision near the Quail Hollow Golf Course.
The Boise Fire Department recommended denial of the application from Boise developer Colin Connell, who wants to level a ridge northeast of Hillside Junior High School, cutting and filling hundreds of thousands of cubic yards of soil for 30 homes.
Fire officials are concerned there would be only one access road into the development and three dead-end roads inside, making it difficult for fire trucks to reach homes and maneuver through the subdivision.
Council Member T.J. Thomson said he couldn’t remember a development being approved without the blessing of the Fire Department.
“I couldn’t fathom doing something like that,” Thomson told the audience of about 125 people on Tuesday.
Council President Pro Tem Elaine Clegg said she was concerned about fire safety and also about possible earth movement from unstable soils. Most of the slopes on the subject property exceed 25 percent, and Clegg said the goals of the city’s comprehensive plan and hillside development standards call for protecting property from hazards.
Those same concerns were raised by the city’s Planning and Zoning Commission, which recommended denial of the application following a hearing in September.
“It seems to me that the Planning and Zoning Commission was not in error,” Clegg said.. “And in fact, their statements were fully supported by our standards.”
Connell wants to build houses on 30 lots and develop another four common lots on 22 acres located at 2317 W. Winter Camp Drive. The property is located above North 36th Street and the Quail Hollow Golf Course, near Connell’s existing development, Eyrie Canyon, where North Villa Way and Winter Camp Drive meet northwest of the Hillside to the Hollow Reserve.
While the property is zoned for single-family development, at about two homes per acre, there are a set of standards that must be met, city Planning Manager Cody Riddle said. Grading is meant to be kept to a minimum.
Deborah Nelson, a Boise land use attorney who represents Connell, said the development met the city’s standards and should have been approved.
“Because this is only a hillside and a subdivision, the Foothills plan development standards do not apply,” Nelson told the council. “Compatibility with the comprehensive plan is not an applicable criteria. Compatibility with existing uses is not an applicable criteria.”
Tim Breuer, a representative of the Central Foothills Neighborhood Association, which has fought the subdivision, said a massive amount of fill dirt would be needed for the project.
“Well, 1,546 dump-truck loads per lot — even that’s hard to get your head around,” Breuer said.
He said that amount could cover Boise State University’s blue turf 290 feet high.
“A reasonable person would conclude that Eyrie Terraces is not keeping grading to a minimum,” he said.
Judy Myers, who lives just east of the proposed development site, on North Arrow Villa Way, worries that if homes were built there, they could be damaged by shifting soils. The area is unstable, she said.
“The road alongside our home has sunk 3 inches, along with our sidewalk, driveway and garage floor,” Myers said. “It’s pretty scary to hear cracks going on in the home at night.”
The hearing came three weeks after the council was originally scheduled to hear the appeal. About 100 people showed up that night, only to be told it was being postponed.
That night, Council Member Scot Ludwig moved to delay the hearing, asking the council to visit the site first. Last week, the council canceled the visit, after concerns were raised about access to the property and over a possible conflict of interest by Ludwig.
Ludwig, a lawyer, has done legal work for the landowner, Kipp Bedard, a former Micron Inc. executive and a member of Boise State University’s 1980 I-AA national championship football team.. Ludwig said he would derive no financial benefit from the council’s decision on the land.
He then recused himself from the Eyrie decision because he said he wanted to avoid the perception of a conflict. Ludwig did not attend Tuesday’s hearing.
This story was originally published December 11, 2019 at 12:03 AM.
