Dilemma: Eagle annex crosses lines

The city of Eagle wants to lay claim to the upcoming Eagle Island Marketplace, with its multi-department Fred Meyer and its hundreds of potential jobs.

The development is at the northeast corner of Linder Road and Chinden Boulevard, outside of city limits. Eagle and the developer, Phoenix-based Eisenberg Co., have signed a pre-annexation agreement, but there’s a problem: The land isn’t connected to the city.

So to bring Eagle Island Marketplace into the city’s tax base, a couple of other properties have to be annexed first. If these properties aren’t annexed, there’s a chance that Meridian could annex the Eagle Island land at some point.

Enter Wilson Properties and Capital Development, both local developers.

Wilson Properties, headed by Charles H. Wilson, former chairman of Boise/Meridian St. Luke’s, owns 84 acres on the northwest corner of N. Fox Run Avenue and Chinden, the current location of the Foxtail golf course. Wilson wants to someday build 270,000 square feet of commercial space on the land.

Capital Development, a Boise-based subdivision developer, wants to eventually put 107 acres of residential development and 3 acres of commercial development on the west of the intersection of Meridian Road and Chinden, to the east of the Wilson property.

Both property owners are applying for annexation and rezoning as precursor to submitting development plans.

The city council heard testimony on both these proposals at a meeting on Dec. 15, but did not make a ruling. The proposals will next be discussed on Feb. 9.

Neighbors to the properties are fighting the plans, saying the proposed projects will bring too much density and traffic to the area.

“I understand there’s definitely going to be some development going on – I never anticipated it all being farmland forever – but I want to make sure it’s responsible development,” said Daniel Rozsa, who lives in the neighborhood sandwiched between the two proposed projects. “[The developers] came in understanding it was one-acre residential property; they purchased it under those circumstances, and they should develop it under those circumstances.”

But he said he blames the city more than he blames the developers – when Eagle approved the Fred Meyer project on the corner of Chinden and Linder, it changed the game. One-acre residential lots don’t make as much sense when they’re butting up against a major commercial center, so the developers have to make some allowances for a transition zone between commercial and residential areas.

Rozsa said the developers, especially Wilson Properties, have leaned too far into commercial and high-density residential plans.

And he said he’s worried the City Council will approve anything, regardless of quality, in order to get the Fred Meyer property annexed.

“Everyone is entitled to their opinion,” Mayor Phil Bandy responded. “I’ll let the city’s long-term planning record and quality of development speak for itself. There is a reason why the city is a desirable place to live in the Treasure Valley.”

CSHQA’s Gene Shaffer, who has represented Wilson in the application process, said even though he knows the city wants to see his property annexed so the Eisenberg development can be annexed (he even said numerous high-up officials in the city asked Wilson to consider applying for annexation, though the city denies such an interaction), so far the annexation request process has been difficult for the developer.

“We’ve put in two years of trying to work out something that is beneficial for the city as well as for [Wilson], so it has not been an easy road,” he said. “It would be hard to imagine how difficult it might have been if the city hadn’t wanted this path of annexation.”

Shaffer said Wilson has no plans to develop the land any time soon – he’s not interested in speculative building, so the developer will hold off on building until a major tenant (they’ve talked about trying to lure California-based specialty grocer Trader Joe’s) comes along. The current application is merely about providing a pathway of annexation, Shaffer said.

“If that zoning and annexation comes with conditions that make the site undevelopable, or don’t allow its highest and best use, then Mr. Wilson does not want to pursue anything further than that,” he said. “If they take away some of the rights of development, then that is not a smart move.”

He said too-restrictive zoning could scare away prospective businesses that want to set up shop on the Wilson property.

Eagle city planner Jeff Lowe said the commercial density proposed in that area is too intense – 1.7 million square feet total, to be specific. The planning and zoning staff has recommended putting a cap of just 96,000 square feet on the commercial element of the Wilson property.

The other applicant, Capital Development, did not respond to a request for comment.