City Responds to 92 Questions at Feb. 8 Special Meeting on Stone Creek North
Mayor Scott Forrsell spent more than an hour reading and responding to questions at the special meeting
Meeting Overview
The City of Hayden City Council chambers held more than 70 people in attendance at the special meeting on Wednesday, February 8, 2023, to respond to questions from the public about the Stone Creek North subdivision. City Attorney Fonda Jovick and Mayor Scott Forssell did most of the talking for the City at this meeting. City Planner Donna Phillips also gave a brief presentation.
In the course of the meeting, Mayor Forssell responded to 92 pre-submitted questions from Hayden residents. He responded to every question the City received — even duplicates and very similar questions.
The Mayor and City Attorney then took questions from the audience. The Mayor and City Attorney kept tight limits and prevented statements from the public. To get around this, a few citizens re-worded their statements as questions.
A note on the U.S. Constitution and due process limitations
The Constitution and its amendments exist to protect the rights of the citizens of the United States. This includes property owners, developers, and city residents (for example, neighbors in the area of the planned Stone Creek North subdivision). At times, the rules may seem unfair if they give an advantage to another party in a dispute, but one must keep in mind that the Constitution and its amendments exist to protect the rights of all Americans — and these rights include property rights.
Due process is a larger topic of constitutional law and case law. To give an overview of the City’s perspective on it, Jovick talked for about 10 minutes on the topic near the start of the Feb. 8 meeting which you can watch in the City’s video recording.
As it relates to the Stone Creek North subdivision, due process means that there are defined processes in Idaho law for receiving approval for a preliminary plat and subdivision. The Stone Creek North approval happened in 2020 with the previous City Council. Current City Council members Roger Saterfiel and Matt Roetter were on City Council at that time; Ed DePriest and Sandy White were elected in November 2021.
After the City Council approved the preliminary plat in 2020, state law allowed for affected parties (considered to be those who live within 300 feet of the property) to appeal the decision within 14 days. Nobody appealed the Stone Creek North decision within the timeframe allowed by state law. Because of our U.S. Constitution, amendments, and state laws that pertain to zoning and subdivision processes, that means approval of the subdivision cannot be arbitrarily rescinded by the City Council.
Construction phase
The Stone Creek North project moved into the construction phase after approval of the preliminary plat in 2020. Construction phase does not mean construction of the homes intended in Stone Creek North, but involves the developer creating infrastructure (roads, etc.) which the City Council reviews at final plat. Final plat gives the City Council the final chance to determine whether the developer meets the conditions of the Master Development Agreement.
City Council unable to comment
During this special meeting, the City Council remained largely quiet. Because of the meeting being outside of a public hearing on the matter and outside of due process for an appeal, City Council could not comment on the matter. Jovick allowed questions from DePriest and Roetter. In response to one question from Roetter, Jovick said, “… the whole purpose of keeping this contained is to try to protect you …”, and then prevented the Mayor or staff from responding to a specific question from Roetter.
Typically there is no public forum during the construction phase — hence the limitations the City Attorney placed on the meeting.
Concerns and some clarifications
The following are a few highlighted answers and clarifications made by the City in the responses from the Mayor and City Attorney, and related citizen concerns. The Mayor indicated that the City’s answers to the 92 questions would be consolidated in an FAQ on the City website, but this has not yet been made available when this article was published.
Dwelling Units
72 dwelling units were approved as part of written approval for the subdivision at preliminary plat. The number in the Master Development Agreement was recorded incorrectly.
Through-Road to the North
The Hayden Planning & Zoning commission requested the road to the north to be a through-road. According to the Mayor, this has been in place since the original approval by City Council in 2020.
Several citizens asked questions on this and expressed their disapproval due to traffic concerns. The Mayor said that traffic controls will be considered to limit impact, but indicated that the City has no plans or ability (due to due process) to reverse the decision about the through-road.
Park Location
The park location changed as part of updates to the road to the north. Making it a through-road changed the grade requirements and placement. The Park is considered a “specialty park” in the terminology of the Parks Master Plan for the City.
Citizens are concerned about accessibility of the park due to its elevation and location related to the proposed subdivision and existing neighborhoods.
Project Phase
The Stone Creek North project was created from the start as a multi-phase project with a 5-year term.
Wetlands
Wetlands remain a concern for many residents of Rocking R and Stone Creek neighborhoods. Jovick stated that these are considered non-jurisdictional wetlands and that no agency has made a requirement to protect them. No agency identified this area to be in the flood zone (e.g., the FEMA map has no properties in the flood zone map in Stone Creek North).
Some residents argued that the City should go “above and beyond” to protect the wetlands and the wildlife that live in the area.
Without an agency having jurisdiction over the protection of these particular wetlands, and with no city code relevant to protecting wetlands, the city’s stance is that there is nothing they can do about it (or, at least not this time, because of due process considerations).
Noise Concerns
City code sets noise standards that limit unnecessary noise such such as construction noises from 9pm to 6am, Monday through Friday, and 9pm to 7am on weekends. This concerns neighbors of the area due to the potential for up to 15 hours of noise during the day on weekdays, and 14 hours per day on the weekend, and the impacts that will have on people and pets.
On civil matters
Of the 92 questions asked, a few of them asked things like “Who do we sue if…?” The Mayor answered these questions by saying that “this is a civil matter” and the city will not comment.
Wrap-up
The special meeting was a long meeting, and some Hayden citizens were not happy with the answers or the outcome. Various attendees vocally scoffed at statements or stated “that’s not true” in response to some of the answers.
For citizens that have something to say about Stone Creek North, you can leave a comment on this post on the website or in the Substack app. You can also reach out with questions, requests for corrections, or feedback to editor at haydencitizen dot com.
Related Content
Watch the special City Council meeting on the City of Hayden’s YouTube channel.
For social media updates, follow The Hayden Citizen on Instagram and Twitter.
2/3/24 Construction Dirt fill piles are destroying our wetlands. The very Wetlands supply water to our Aquifer. All for the sake of MONEY to housing developers. That specialty Park, they raised the land 4 1/2 feet? City Hall has stated, they have no plans, until the developer files one. The wild life have been displaced, while deer and wild turkey's have come into housing looking for food. It's Hayden's natural assets being destroyed in the name on MONEY. One day, we will turn on our faucets for wafer and there will be none.
It's destruction of the natural caprock with the rock, boulders, & dirt being transported as fill to the wetlands site. Also your Specialty Park they raised the land over 4 1/2 feet with a dirt pad that butts up to my fence line. Have inquired for a plan, to be told by Hayden City there is none. All the trees
in the dirt pad area have been removed there is no privacy. This has been thru 7 changes. And it is still a mess, you need to listen to your citizens, instead of letting the developers do as they please.