The Cliffs' Blog

Last week’s public information meeting gave us excellent guidance. About 50 people came to see our previously-released concept plans, as well as the first concept of the preliminary plat for the North Neighborhood. Their comments, as well as the many supportive e-mails we’ve received, show our year-long public information effort is reaching people and helping them understand the careful planning with which we’ve approached this remarkable project. The public is increasingly aware The Cliffs will provide a diversity of high-quality, attainable housing in an environmentally conscious manner.

At our most recent public information meeting (held last week), we had a wonderful cross section of people. In fact, those who attended were exactly the group of people we’ve been aiming to appeal … young families, singles, empty nesters, couples without children and retirees. The guidance they gave us was invaluable. Here are excerpts of some of the comment sheets from last week’s meeting:

“At least I know there is a diversity of houses – not just hilltop palaces. So far the project seems to be well-thought-out and avoid the pitfalls of develop-and-run.”

“Reduce the density of the housing.”

“I would like availability of large lots with the first phase. I would like to see bigger lots than 8-10,000 square feet, more 15-25,000 square feet.

“Make sure you have nice homes affordable for retirees.”

“When are you going to build? Build it sooner.”

As we’re working to demonstrate through our preliminary plat for the North Neighborhood, there will be single-family homes, townhomes and patio homes which are popular with retirees, empty nesters and singles or couples without children. Additionally, there will be a few estate lots.

We’re also listening to the comments that people would like to see more, larger lots. While we will have a few larger lots, there are sound environmental reasons for having smaller lots predominate and I’ll discuss those in a subsequent blog.

It’s official: Ada County has accepted our application for a planned community called The Cliffs.

The county’s acceptance is the culmination of more than a year of public meetings and thousands of hours of work by skilled planners and consultants. The result is a greatly detailed plan for one of the most environmentally conscious large-scale developments yet seen in Idaho.

We submitted our application for The Cliffs Feb. 21. Since that time, we’ve worked with county planners to ensure our proposal addresses the 14 elements in the county’s Planned Community Ordinance. These elements range from economic viability, ability to provide services and expected demographics to population trends, open space, high level of self-sufficiency and financing plan.

This level of scrutiny is not at all unusual. In fact, it’s required for all planned communities in Ada County. Suffice to say that no other kind of development is subject to the scrutiny planned communities are put through by the county.

So what’s next? The Cliffs now enters a new phase: the rigorous public evaluation process with Ada County. As part of this process, the county will hold at least one public hearing before the Ada County Planning and Zoning Commission. That meeting is currently scheduled for July 20 at 6 p.m. After that, the Ada County Commission will have final say on whether or not The Cliffs is approved.

It’s worth noting the Cliffs will have up to 1,350 homes when fully built out (projected for 2015). We welcome the county’s process, because we know it will result in sound planning.

One final note and reminder. I hope you will make time to join us Thursday, April 20th at the Shakespeare Interpretive Center for a neighborhood meeting. We’ll have the preliminary plat for the North Neighborhood available for viewing as well as a myriad of experts available to discuss various features of the project.

We are pleased to announce we’ll hold our second public informational meeting on Thursday, April 20, from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at the Idaho Shakespeare Festival Interpretive Center, 5657 Warm Springs Avenue.

We held a similar such meeting in February, but there will be one key difference this month. The meeting will feature the first preliminary plat for at least a portion of the north neighborhood. Though subject to change as we go through the approval process with Ada County, this preliminary plat does show new details, including the layout and sizes of the 355 homesites, streets and locations of the environmental education center, amphitheater, parks, water recycling facility, community clubhouse and pool.

Over the past few months, we have been inundated with e-mails and calls from families interested in reserving or purchasing a homesite at The Cliffs. Our neighborhood meeting on the 20th will be the first opportunity for people to get a more intimate look at what many have told us they want to call their home. That said, we do need to note here that we will not take any money or other information to reserve lots until the final plats have been recorded, which may happen in several months. Furthermore, we currently anticipate that most, if not all, lots will be sold through our builder team (which has yet to be determined) – not to specific individuals.

The format of this meeting will resemble our February meeting, including information and displays about the overall design, services and vision of The Cliffs. Our development team and experts will be on hand to answer your questions. As always, we appreciate your comments and suggestions because they help us do our job better.

If you’re considering living at The Cliffs, we suggest you write a letter to the editor of The Idaho Statesman to show your support. We are entering a crucial phase of the official approval process and the public needs to know The Cliffs will meet a demand for high-quality housing in an environmentally responsible manner and be a great place to live.

We know any ambitious project such as The Cliffs will attract great public interest and we want to give everyone full opportunity to learn as much as they can. See you Thursday!

Recently, we put up signs asking people not to trespass. This was a difficult decision, because we know the plateau is a special place to many people.

Our first priority is the health of this land. We are designing The Cliffs entirely around what is best possible development style to accommodate big game, birds, plants and other creatures frequent the land. This land has suffered many abuses and continues to suffer.

We’ve also become aware of people allowing their dogs to run off-leash in the area and chase wildlife. Following is an excerpt from an email from someone who was in the area:

“I yelled at a guy whose dog was running after deer and he told me there was no leash law there since its outside Boise City and I told him not true. Please check on this. How about a sign on each gate?

Strict leash laws will need to be reinforced and should be now for Hammer Flat. The dogs chase the wildlife which is not acceptable to many animal groups and I'm sure you may be hearing from some of them!

What are the developers stand on this issue? It’s an important one to everyone, dog owners and non-dog owners alike. We want all dogs leashed - its dangerous to animals and humans and children also.”

I want to assure everyone that when The Cliffs is built no dogs will be permitted in any public areas without a leash. All house pets – including dogs and cats – will be required to be confined at all times. We will have a fenced dog park at The Cliffs to allow people to exercise with their pets. We will also have a strong educational component to instill environmental responsibility.

In the meantime, however, the land is posted for no trespassing. I wished we didn’t have to do this, but given the continuing abuse of the land, we have little choice. Under Ada County code, it is legal for dogs to run off-leash on private property. So, to stop off-leash dogs, we must post the land for no trespassing.

In a field as complicated as land development, you’re only as good as the experts on your team. For that reason, we’re proud to announce we have hired SWCA to assist us in environmental planning.

With offices throughout the West, SWCA has more than 25 years in the environmental consulting field. We expect to use their expertise in ecological research, environmental planning and archaeology to help us apply the best practices possible to creating The Cliffs. SWCA has a track record of providing a high level of expertise to complex projects. SWCA will complement the work of Accipiter Consulting, which has detailed knowledge of local wildlife and habitats.

The plateau is a very special place and we are committed to responsible, sustainable development there. To that end, we want only the best consultants to assist us and we look forward to working with SWCA to make The Cliffs a reality.