‘This gives us control’: City of Eagle makes final decision on massive annexation

In an unprecedented move, the city of Eagle on Thursday approved a proposal that eventually could nearly double its population.

After hours of public testimony, years of planning, dozens of business meetings, an election and thousands in campaign donations, Avimor is now part of Eagle.

The 8,761-home planned community in the Eagle Foothills will add nearly the population of Kuna to Eagle’s city limits at full build-out. Avimor also plans to build 860,000 square feet, or nearly 20 acres, of commercial and retail buildings, and bring its 25 miles of hiking trails into the city.

The four-member council voted 3-1 to annex Avimor into the city. Council member Brad Pike was the single no vote.

“This gives us control and it gives us the predictability,” said Charlie Baun, an Eagle City Council member.

The decision came after a majority of people who testified were opposed to annexation. The public testimony took two full evenings, with one meeting going until midnight.

Residents worried about a variety of impacts, including to Eagle’s population, water availability and financial burden on taxpayers.

Jeff Kimpson, an Eagle resident, worried about Eagle taxpayers footing the bill for city services for Avimor.

“The proposed annexation of Avimor is a bad idea and will ultimately create a significant tax burden on the current residents of Eagle, by increasing taxes that will be required to cover significant deficiencies and infrastructure,” Kimpson told the council Monday.

But City Council members said their desire to control the growth and design of Avimor outweighed the public’s worries. The council voted on the annexation Thursday evening, which marked the fifth public meeting the city has had in the last few months about the application.

Avimor fits into Eagle’s growth plan

Before their vote, the council members discussed a list of resident concerns. Some of the top concerns were density, growth and taxes.

The bottom line for most of the council members was that growth and new homes are going to come to Eagle, regardless of Avimor. Annexing Avimor today ensures the council will be in control of how it grows and how many homes are built, they said.

Council Member Helen Russell said the city’s comprehensive plan is the guiding document for land-use decisions. She read a paragraph from the plan, which includes Avimor in Eagle’s growth plan.

“The intent of our north Eagle Foothills sub area plan is to be a guide for future development as it is integrated into the Eagle community and incorporated into the city of Eagle,” Russell read from the document.

Eagle Mayor Jason Pierce said annexing Avimor now is the city’s best move to ensure Eagle is not forced to approve a project with more density — homes per acre — than residents would like.

“If we wait for 15 or 20 years to decide what the densities are going to be, they’re going to be a lot more than they are today,” he said.

Pierce also addressed some of the concern with taxes, saying the Avimor annexation would add to the city’s tax base. Avimor developers agreed to pay for the needed police officers to cover the added residents. Avimor also donated its trails, parks and open space to the city, which prevents the need to add open space as part of annexation.

Is there enough water for Eagle residents?

Many Eagle residents said they were worried that adding more homes to the city’s water supply could dwindle what is available to existing Eagle residents.

They said some Eagle residents have had to drill deeper or dig new wells after theirs went dry.

Council members and Avimor attorney Deborah Nelson, of Boise law firm Givens Pursley, said Avimor’s agreement with the city requires Avimor to build and fund all of the water infrastructure in its Foothills development.

“The water service agreement requires Avimor to implement a well-monitoring plan and to continue to fund any improvements that are needed to ensure the water meets (Idaho Department of Environmental Quality) standards,” Nelson said.

Public safety concerns

Thursday night’s discussion came on the heels of a fatal stabbing Wednesday morning outside of the entrance to Avimor. The incident and council member Pike’s experience in public safety — he is a fire commissioner for the Eagle Fire District — led to concerns with the city’s level of police service.

Eagle contracts police services from the Ada County Sheriff’s Office, which supplies the city with a police chief, administrative assistant, three sergeants, 12 patrol officers, two traffic officers, five detectives and two code enforcement officers.

Pike worried that Avimor’s eventual addition of over 8,000 homes and 22,000 residents would crush the department’s ability to respond to resident safety needs.

The council approved over 8,800 homes this year, Pike said. Avimor’s annexation would add another 8,700 homes.

“It is no secret to this group that my feelings on levels of service are just continually being diminished,” Pike said.

Pike told the council that he agrees with all other points about why Avimor should be annexed, but his concerns with police services trump all else.

“I’m just a little concerned with the rapidness of the overall responsibility that would be put on the city and on service levels,” he said.

In a written statement provided to the Statesman, Dan Richter, managing partner for Avimor, said he was pleased with the outcome and grateful to the City Council.

“This is obviously exciting news for Avimor. … But we believe this is also good news for the city of Eagle and its residents, and we look forward to becoming a strong partner and trusted neighbor in the future,” he said.

A group of residents, called SOS Eagle, mobilized against the annexation of Avimor and surveyed 235 Eagle residents about their desire for Avimor annexation. The group found 94% of respondents were opposed to annexation.

Many SOS Eagle members spoke against annexation during the public hearings. Former Eagle Mayor Stan Ridgeway, who is a member of the group, said he believes the council members had already made up their minds on annexation before they heard public testimony.

“It’s just really unfortunate that they didn’t listen to us,” Ridgeway said in a phone interview.

Dozens of Eagle, Avimor residents testify at hearing. Here’s what happened 6 hours later

Police: Suspect in fatal Ada County stabbing was avenging mother’s killing in Nampa