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Traffic, budgets and housing developments

by MADISON HARDY
Staff Writer | August 3, 2021 1:00 AM

Traffic, budgets, and the Hayden Canyon development are primary topics for today's Hayden City Council meeting, beginning at 5 p.m. 

Following the mixed-use zone code workshop on July 13, Community Development Director Melissa Cleveland gathered information to ease council members' worries that multifamily developments generate more traffic than commercial uses. 

Using the Institute of Transportation Engineers' "Trip Generation Manual," Cleveland compared the average number of trips in Hayden for multifamily, single-family, senior housing and commercial units that sit on a "typical 1-acre lot." 

A chart in the analysis shows that services like drive-in banks, a "high turnover sit down restaurant," medical/dental offices and small office buildings produce the most weekday trips on average — a collective total of 1,802 in Hayden. 

The analysis, available online in the council meeting packet, states the ITE Trip generation "manually suggests" multifamily housing — 20 dwelling units per acre — generate fewer trips because occupants "typically have fewer licensed drivers or access to multiple vehicles." 

However, since multifamily dwellings can be home to several individuals, Cleveland noted in the analysis that they could generate the same rate of traffic as single-family developments. 

ITE states the rate for average single-family weekday trips is 9.44. Calculated by 20 dwelling units, the approximate total is 188.8, or the rounded average of 189, Cleveland said. 

"The assumption that multifamily developments generate more traffic than commercial uses is false," the analysis concludes. 

BUDGET

Council is also set to tentatively adopt a $39.5 million budget for fiscal year 2022. 

Up about $13 million from last year, the biggest budgetary changes from fiscal year 2021 include approximately:

• General line items + $2.22 million 

• Circulation Impact Fees + $1.2 million 

• Parks Impact Fees + $840,000   

• Law Enforcement Impact Fees + $60,500

• Capital Projects + $1.9 million 

• Sewer Capitalization, Operation and Maintenance + $6.7 million 

• Sewer Asset Replacement + $180,000

Property taxes levied by the city are about $1.76 million, only slightly more than $1.67 million in 2021.

HAYDEN CANYON DEVELOPMENT

According to staff reports, the Hayden Canyon housing subdivision has been in the works for nearly two decades. The 610-acre annexation was initially discussed in 2005 and completed in 2009. A final Planned Unit Development permit was issued in 2014 and amended in 2019, the staff report states. 

According to city documents, the subdivision will consist of 162 residential lots ranging from 2,200 square feet to 13,290 square feet. Currently, in phase 1E, the property discussed tonight is located on 49.52 acres — 12.52 open space and 37 residential — around East Lancaster Road and Government Way. 

"The Planned Unit Development has been already approved in the past," Cleveland explained. "But each phase of the development has to go through preliminary plat approval. It's just the way code is written, and we are following the process." 

Info: www.cityofhaydenid.us