Five Year Work Plan and the Shamrock Decision

Last night we had a very large public hearing on Shamrock and the Ustick Corridor Concept Plan. Too bad the media wasn't there, but then they very, very rarely are.

Shamrock will not be punched through. Sherry Huber proposed a compromise that was agreeable to everyone. Shamrock will not go through until Cloverdale and Five Mile are completed. However, during the construction of Ustick, conduit will be placed at the intersection of Shamrock and Ustick (Bryson was later included) to forestall the need to dig up the road if a signal is to go in sometime in the future. It is likely, however, that some type of pedestrian crossings including ped activated signals will go in along Ustick between Five Mile and Cloverdale and Cloverdale and Eagle Rd. In any event, the concept plan is just a concept providing the framework for more detailed drawings for construction. The public, on this part of Ustick, will be involved all the way through.

Congratulations to the neighborhood for getting the people out and involved. It makes a huge difference. If the East End/Harris Ranch had 1/4 the number of people at the roundabout hearing, it's likely the developer would be putting in the roundabout as we speak.

The Five Year Work Plan, sounds vaguely soviet no?, was passed last night. John Franden stated that this was a plan and not set in asphalt (road pun) and I absolutely concur. I voted for the FYWP even though I thought we should have paid more attention to the wishes of Meridian and Boise, the two largest cities in Ada County, and to Garden City.

Garden City's 36th St project was basically deleted which I didn't think was appropriate. And both Boise and Meridian had concerns about in what sequence Ustick Rd would be built, west to east, vs. east to west. We had a joint letter from the cities asking that we go from west to east as was envisioned for the past few years up until last week when we changed it. My fellow commisisoners were miffed that the letter showed up on the day of our hearing. However, since our meeting was on a Wednesday and Meridian and Boise meet on Tuesdays, there really was no other way of getting us a letter any earlier unless they invented a time machine. We really have a way to go before our relationships with other local governments are repaired and well functioning.

However, as I said, there is opportunity for the plan to be changed, the earliest being during the budget later this summer. We'll be having a joint meeting with Boise soon. Perhaps this could be a discussion topic.