HomeMy WebLinkAboutPatty & John Soran_2024_11_25November 24, 2024
To Caldwell City Council members
Regarding Case Number: CPM24-000001
Soterra LLC subdivision request for a comprehensive plan amendment
We would like to express our concerns regarding the proposed changes to the Soterra subdivision and
their request before you today.
One of the major concerns is the traffic volume as well as the traffic flow. Ustick road is now a major
thorough fare with increasing traffic each passing year. It will continue to get worse with all the current
and proposed subdivisions that are planned for the Ustick area.
Ustick is currently not able to handle the additional traffic and there are no safe walkways that go down
Ustick toward the store areas vast majority of cars go east towards Walmart and Maverick to downtown.
In order to handle the additional traffic, a stop light should be placed at the corner of Kimball and Ustick
otherwise cars will be trying to beat the car coming toward out of frustration to get off of Kimball.
Cars heading south on Kimball will have a difficult time turning onto Ustick in either direction and there
will be an increase in accidents on this corner without some adjustments.
The developers state that this plan integrates the townhomes and commercial into the surrounding area
however most of the area is now large lots and homes that will be immediately adjacent or close to the
new subdivision. We will now be surrounded and our homes will look into commercial lights, 2 and 3
story apartments/townhomes as well as the traffic and noise that come with a condensed number of
people in a small space and commercial business with trucks loading .
What plans are there to mitigate this ?
The best plan is to drop the Townhomes and Duplexes and 4-plexes and go back to the original drawing
of strictly commercial property which the south end of Caldwell needs. The current vacancy rate for
townhomes, apartments etc in Caldwell remains high and we need to keep in mind the balance needed
for single family and multi family units. We currently have too many multi family dwellings and do not
need any more in this area which is predominately single-family dwellings.
The open space has decreased from the original proposed 3 acres as with park, picnic area, pickleball to
now a 1 acre soccer field that is next to homes and the canal. Having an open irrigation canal next to
townhomes, and Duplexes, 4- plex’s which have children living in them is a huge safety concern. There is
no barrier planned to close off the pathway to ensure it is safe.
We are concerned about the number of commercial spaces that are proposed, it has gone from 8 to now
34 spaces. That is too many spaces and likely many will sit empty. There is commercial proposed for
every intersection along Ustick now. We understand that Ustick is a commercial corridor but it should
still be a livable area for those who have lived her for a long time and those new to the area.
Is it not our goal to develop a sense of community within a neighborhood, the current density, loss of
open space and the additional larger number of commercial spaces will have a detrimental effect on the
current neighborhood that surround this area.
We request that you deny the rezone request as did the City Planning and Zoning commission for the
above reasons.
Patty and John Soran
522 Keogh Lane
Caldwell Idaho 83607