April 3, 2006
SKYLINE HIRES SWCA TO ASSIST WITH
COMPREHENSIVE ENVIRONMENTAL PLANNING FOR THE CLIFFS
Nationally Recognized Firm Will Add Expertise to Formulate
Open Space Plan to Benefit Wildlife
BOISE – Skyline Development Inc. has further strengthened its environmental planning team for The Cliffs with the hiring of SWCA, a nationally recognized environmental consulting firm based in Phoenix, Arizona.
SWCA's Salt Lake City Office will assist in the development of a conceptual habitat restoration and enhancement plan for the property. The plan will be submitted to Ada County as part of the Planned Community application. A finalized habitat restoration plan will be developed through a collaborative process involving interested organizations including the Idaho Department of Fish and Game following planned community zoning approval by Ada County.
“In a field as complicated as land development, you’re only as good as the experts on your team,” said Tucker Johnson, Skyline’s vice president and project manager for The Cliffs. “Environmental planning is one of the most important elements of this project and for that reason, we scrutinized various firms which all came highly recommended. In the end, SWCA’s skill set proved to be the perfect complement to the groundwork already laid by Accipiter Consulting who we hired last year to perform an exhaustive analysis of the land.”
SWCA (www.swca.com) has more than 25 years in the environmental consulting field and will provide expertise in wildlife habitat restoration and management, archaeology and environmental planning. The company has offices in Boise and Salt Lake City, as well as in Arizona, Nevada, Wyoming, Oregon, California, Colorado, New Mexico, Texas, and Hawaii. SWCA recently completed a vegetation/habitat analysis, wetland delineation, water quality assessment, and cultural resources survey for a proposed 700-acre planned community development near Sandpoint, Idaho.
In addition, SWCA is currently working
with Idaho's Local Highway Technical Assistance Council on an environmental
study for a road project in Rupert and is providing environmental compliance
services for the Idaho Transportation Department for roadway
projects located outside of Preston and Montpelier. For the past seven
years, SWCA has been providing environmental planning services related
to mule deer and elk migration and winter habitat use on the 3,800-acre
SunCrest Development in Draper, Utah.
SWCA is working closely with Boise-based environmental experts at Accipiter
Consulting. Accipiter produced the detailed biological evaluation for
the property where The Cliffs will be built. The two firms will collaborate
on the habitat restoration and enhancement plan.
“The Cliffs is ambitious and we intend for it to serve as one model
for environmentally friendly developments in the Treasure Valley, providing
a greater level of wildlife enhancement than has occurred to date,”
Johnson said. “To accomplish that vision, we will need the local
expertise of Accipiter and the national resources of SWCA.”
Last month, Skyline submitted its application to Ada County for the 1,200-1,400 home residential/neighborhood commercial development to be built on 707 acres of privately-owned property above the black cliffs in Ada County near the intersection of Idaho 21 and Warm Springs Avenue. More than half of the property will be set aside as contiguous open space, the majority of which will be designated as restored habitat for wildlife.
The Skyline Development family, a 38-year-old home-grown
Idaho business, has developed and designed more than 15 Treasure Valley
neighborhoods with well over 5,000 home sites, including The Hickories,
Vienna Woods and Rockhampton. About 15,000 people valley-wide live in
Skyline neighborhoods.
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Media Contact:
media@thecliffsidaho.com
Jeannette Duwe, office: 208.321.1253, cell: 208.794.2620,
Martin Johncox, office: 208.658.9100, cell: 208.407.0700
