Planned community will bring significant benefits to Foothills
The following Reader's View, authored by M3 Company's Bill Brownlee, ran in today's edition of the Idaho Statesman.
http://www.idahostatesman.com/readersopinion/
Planned community will bring significant benefits to Foothills
Reader’s view: Eagle development
By Bill Brownlee - Special to the Idaho Statesman
I wanted to thank the Idaho Statesman for running the Q&A piece Nov. 8 about the future of Eagle Foothills development. With inaccurate information being disseminated lately about the future growth in the Foothills north of Eagle, it was heartening to see some better factual information about the process.
As the Q&A pointed out, M3 Eagle (a community name will be chosen after entitlements are completed) purchased more than 17,000 acres of beautiful land in the Eagle Foothills several years ago.
We have proposed the development of a high-quality master-planned community on 6,000 acres of that land in an area that spans across the Eagle Foothills from Idaho 16 to Willow Creek Road.
If the Eagle City Council votes to adopt our proposal, we see a number of positive benefits that will accrue to the Treasure Valley:
Up to 40 percent of M3 Eagle, totaling more than 2,400 acres, would be dedicated to community and regional open space.
The property is currently zoned for 10- and 40-acre lots. If developed under current zoning, little or no open space would be available for the general public.
M3 is studying the feasibility of vineyards; some within the wine industry have touted our lands as having some of the best soil and climate conditions in the area for growing grapes.
A master-planned community provides:
- Centralized services (water and sewer) vs. wells and septic under a 10- and 40-acre plan.
- Organized open space over a larger area vs. fractured open space or no open space in smaller developments.
- Long-term planning commitments for schools and public infrastructure.
- Significant economic benefits.
During the prelude to the Eagle city elections, during the comprehensive planning process over the past 18 months, we have had a lot of discussion about open space, density, adequate public facilities, trails and growth in general. A large focus has been on losing open space in the Foothills to growth. Bear in mind that 85 percent of the lands in the Foothills are private lands. There are basically two options to achieving large contiguous open space in the Foothills:
Acquire the lands with public funds, which would require tens of millions of dollars to acquire the same amount of land as the city of Eagle will require through its planning process, or
Allow for master-planned community development in the Foothills and require open space dedications in exchange for increased density. The overall density being proposed by the city is an average of one unit per 2 acres.
So today, the best hope of preserving open space in the Eagle Foothills is for the city of Eagle to work with M3 Eagle and others through the comprehensive planning process to shape everyone's development plans in a way that will preserve trails and up to 14,000 acres of open space, if all goes according to the city of Eagle's comprehensive plan. This would create the largest city regional park system in the state of Idaho.
The M3 Eagle master- planned community (see www.m3eagle.com) reflects significant changes as a result of public input.
The comprehensive plan and approvals that we are seeking today only provide us with the foundation upon which to begin an approximate two-year process to work with public agencies, the city of Eagle and others to obtain approvals to commence construction of the first phase and embark upon a 20-year journey.
http://www.idahostatesman.com/readersopinion/
Planned community will bring significant benefits to Foothills
Reader’s view: Eagle development
By Bill Brownlee - Special to the Idaho Statesman
I wanted to thank the Idaho Statesman for running the Q&A piece Nov. 8 about the future of Eagle Foothills development. With inaccurate information being disseminated lately about the future growth in the Foothills north of Eagle, it was heartening to see some better factual information about the process.
As the Q&A pointed out, M3 Eagle (a community name will be chosen after entitlements are completed) purchased more than 17,000 acres of beautiful land in the Eagle Foothills several years ago.
We have proposed the development of a high-quality master-planned community on 6,000 acres of that land in an area that spans across the Eagle Foothills from Idaho 16 to Willow Creek Road.
If the Eagle City Council votes to adopt our proposal, we see a number of positive benefits that will accrue to the Treasure Valley:
Up to 40 percent of M3 Eagle, totaling more than 2,400 acres, would be dedicated to community and regional open space.
The property is currently zoned for 10- and 40-acre lots. If developed under current zoning, little or no open space would be available for the general public.
M3 is studying the feasibility of vineyards; some within the wine industry have touted our lands as having some of the best soil and climate conditions in the area for growing grapes.
A master-planned community provides:
- Centralized services (water and sewer) vs. wells and septic under a 10- and 40-acre plan.
- Organized open space over a larger area vs. fractured open space or no open space in smaller developments.
- Long-term planning commitments for schools and public infrastructure.
- Significant economic benefits.
During the prelude to the Eagle city elections, during the comprehensive planning process over the past 18 months, we have had a lot of discussion about open space, density, adequate public facilities, trails and growth in general. A large focus has been on losing open space in the Foothills to growth. Bear in mind that 85 percent of the lands in the Foothills are private lands. There are basically two options to achieving large contiguous open space in the Foothills:
Acquire the lands with public funds, which would require tens of millions of dollars to acquire the same amount of land as the city of Eagle will require through its planning process, or
Allow for master-planned community development in the Foothills and require open space dedications in exchange for increased density. The overall density being proposed by the city is an average of one unit per 2 acres.
So today, the best hope of preserving open space in the Eagle Foothills is for the city of Eagle to work with M3 Eagle and others through the comprehensive planning process to shape everyone's development plans in a way that will preserve trails and up to 14,000 acres of open space, if all goes according to the city of Eagle's comprehensive plan. This would create the largest city regional park system in the state of Idaho.
The M3 Eagle master- planned community (see www.m3eagle.com) reflects significant changes as a result of public input.
The comprehensive plan and approvals that we are seeking today only provide us with the foundation upon which to begin an approximate two-year process to work with public agencies, the city of Eagle and others to obtain approvals to commence construction of the first phase and embark upon a 20-year journey.
# @ 9:49 AM 
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