Boise bike advocate named to little-known ACHD committee. 2 mayors object. This is why
Should a Boise advocate for bicycling and pedestrian safety represent other parts of Ada County on one of the county highway district’s citizen advisory committees?
The mayors of Eagle and Star don’t think so. They don’t like that the Ada County Commission nominated him to the Ada County Highway District to represent unincorporated areas of the county to ACHD. They want someone they say is more attuned to rural road needs and less to bike lanes and sidewalks.
Their opposition led County Commission Chairman Rod Beck to change his mind and ask the ACHD Commission not to select Don Kostelec, a former ACHD staffer, after all.
Did that ever give the ACHD Commission something to talk about Wednesday.
Kostelec worked for ACHD from 2002 to 2008 and has spent the past 14 years as a private transportation and urban planning consultant. He has amassed more than 10,000 followers on Twitter with his advocacy. “Can we get a bill for public roads that gives pedestrians in Idaho as much legal protection as livestock get? #idleg,” he tweeted March 1.
ACHD’s bylaws for its Capital Investment Citizens Advisory Committee say: “Each member shall reside within the jurisdictional boundaries of the Nominating Agency nominating that member.” The committee is made up of representatives from each of the six cities ACHD partners with and unincorporated Ada County.
On July 13, ACHD commissioners voted to waive the highway district’s policy and appoint Kostelec as unincorporated-Ada representative. The commissioners said they trusted the county commissioners to nominate whoever they thought would best represent unincorporated Ada County.
The committee provides guidance on impact fees, which ACHD charges developers to offset the cost of new roads needed to accommodate new development. Because of the technical nature of the topic, Kostelec emerged as a viable candidate, ACHD commissioners said.
ACHD Commissioner Kent Goldthorpe said he was “more than just a little surprised” by Kostelec’s nomination, because of the political makeup of the Ada County Commission, which has two Republicans, Rod Beck and Ryan Davidson, and one Democrat, Kendra Kenyon.
The ACHD commissioners voted 4-1 to approve Kostelec. The lone opponent was Commissioner Dave McKinney, who represents North Meridian. McKinney said it’s unwise to create a policy and then waive it.
McKinney also said he disagreed with Kostelec in the past and was subjected to personal attacks from Kostelec.
“Mr. Kostelec has specifically addressed me and told me that because I disagree with his preferences for bicycle and pedestrian facilities that I must want people to die,” McKinney said at the July 13 meeting. “... It tells me that he is an ideologue and in many cases not always looking at the facts and deciding based on pure rationality but rather emotion. It would be unwise to have someone like that on this committee.”
Then the two mayors weighed in.
Eagle Mayor Jason Pierce and Star Mayor Trevor Chadwick objected to Kostelec, concerned that Boise has too much representation and that someone with an urban perspective might be speaking on behalf of people in rural areas.
Pierce and Chadwick wrote letters to ACHD asking for reconsideration. They said the rural representative’s focus should be on roads.
“The road sections (outside city limits) are usually more rural in nature and may or may not include sidewalks or bike lanes,” Pierce wrote in a letter sent July 15. “Please allow those residents to be represented at the committee level.”
In a phone interview with the Idaho Statesman, Pierce said he takes issue with Boise having “double representation” even though the county commissioners nominated Kostelec.
“People want different things,” Pierce told the Statesman. “In a place that has one-acre or two-acre lots, do you really need to spend the money on sidewalks and all kinds of other things when you’re gonna have very few people walking those roads?”
Chadwick then wrote and echoed Pierce’s concerns.
“County developments are far different in density, requirements of sidewalks and road widths than a typical city development,” Chadwick wrote. “It is vital that this seat is held by a rural county member.”
Beck, who was part of the County Commission’s unanimous vote for Kostelec, wrote to ACHD requesting reconsideration. He said he wanted to nominate someone who had the support of other local governments.
At Wednesday’s meeting, McKinney and Commissioner Mary May supported the reconsideration. May said reconsideration was justified because the objections were raised by partner agencies.
Goldthorpe, however, said he hadn’t received enough new information to sway his July 13 vote for Kostelec.
“I was pretty upset at how political this was going,” Goldthorpe said. “The fact that we have only objections from those in political office doesn’t necessarily help my attitude to change.”
Commissioners Jim Hansen and Alexis Pickering stood by their July 13 votes, too. They previously said they thought Kostelec would do a good job, given his background.
The five-member commission voted 3-2 Wednesday not to reconsider Kostelec.
Kostelec told the Idaho Statesman that he lives in Boise but also pays Ada County taxes, even though he doesn’t live in the unincorporated area. He also cited Ada County’s transportation plan as something he’d like to learn about so he can help put it into action.
Despite his support of bicycle lanes and sidewalks, Kostelec said his priority is aligning with Ada County so he can best serve the unincorporated area.
“My first thing is going to be to meet with the county,” Kostelec said by phone, “and get to know both the goals and interests of their plan and their relationship with ACHD, and figure out how I can best represent the county in being on that committee.”
Goldthorpe said: “I think the county probably knows best. I don’t have a moment’s worth of hesitation to have somebody on the committee who is a professional.”
Beck, Davidson and Kenyon declined to comment through the county’s spokesperson.
Business and Local Government Editor David Staats contributed.
This story was originally published July 29, 2022 at 4:00 AM.
