Remarks by David De Groot
47 remarks on the record, newest first · Page 1 of 2
- Play at 8:41
“My question is these alterations of land use map The comp plan, do those have to go to the city council for approval?”
Planning Commission · Sep 9, 2026
- Play at 10:38
“I'd like to ask if you could give us a complete definition or description of what is allowed in the MEBP zone. Yes, exactly what businesses are allowed, what kinds of businesses are allowed in that zone.”
Planning Commission · Sep 9, 2026
- Play at 11:16
“Some of these things have not yet made it into the city's definitions page.”
Planning Commission · Sep 9, 2026
- Play at 12:24
“Yeah, I remember. So a couple of meetings ago, we had discussions about what would be, excuse me, in that mixed employment part of it. And apparently we gave some opinions about what we liked or didn't like in that. And one of those things that had come up a few times is warehouses. And warehouses seem, although they're in the definition, seems not very appropriate for that particular area. And so I'd like to see if we can go back as a commission and review some of these uses. Yeah.”
Planning Commission · Sep 9, 2026
- Play at 27:30
“My suggestion originally, and I think I would go back to it, is that is to differentiate car dealerships on River, actually on River Road, from the mostly empty lots that occupy Meridian. So going up Meridian for a couple blocks are, you know, apart from the Ford dealership on the corner, all these other smaller lots basically just sit empty. And to our chair's comments about this is the major entry point to our city. And it is not trying to get rid of the car dealerships. Obviously, as Commissioner Landon pointed out, the whole River Road is being used and is available for use, and that's…”
Planning Commission · Sep 9, 2026
- Play at 31:19
“So that would not include partial redraw boundaries.”
Planning Commission · Sep 9, 2026
- Play at 33:09
“Yeah, so could you please give... I noticed that one of the prohibitions was major recreational uses, major commercial recreational uses. Could you tell me what those are?”
Planning Commission · Sep 9, 2026
- Play at 33:54
“Okay, thank you. Because, you know, I had to look for some of these things online and major recreational uses are, Online included things like bowling alleys, movie theaters, things that would seem to be perfectly fine. So you're specifying that this is like outdoor activities.”
Planning Commission · Sep 9, 2026
- Play at 34:33
“I'm sorry, one more. This has come up in the discussion of UCX and so on. I am, and I apologize if this is just me, but I am not clear when you give examples of either eight dwelling units per acre or 22 dwelling units per acre. And you say, for instance, in the UCX zone, you can have a building up to 75 feet tall, which would be like seven stories. And if I had a seven-story building on a quarter acre lot, I could assume, I think, at least 10 units per floor. And I'm having a lot of trouble understanding If we can have a building that large, what's in it?”
Planning Commission · Sep 9, 2026
- Play at 35:54
“but a quarter acre is probably large enough. I mean, that's the question in my mind is how are these things resolved?”
Planning Commission · Sep 9, 2026
- Play at 37:39
“But one of these things has to be an absolute, I assume. So is it 22 units per acre? Is that an absolute as will not exceed? Correct.”
Planning Commission · Sep 9, 2026
- Play at 38:52
“And speaking of which, I noticed that you did eliminate the height bonus for parking. It looks like that's been crossed out.”
Planning Commission · Sep 9, 2026
- Play at 39:16
“So, yeah, I'd like to make sure that it's a CMX and not a UCX because I Pretty sure I saw it under UC exit. In other words, what I'm trying to determine is whether that bonus is in play or not in play.”
Planning Commission · Sep 9, 2026
- Play at 48:25
“When this first came up, the idea of converting the non-conforming properties to LMX, there was some discussion about that these might form the core of a, like adjoining properties might end up also becoming part of that. Uh, neighborhood at first they were called nodes. Uh, then they, they were called something else, but anyway, uh, neighborhood commercial and so on and so forth. So I guess my question is, uh, what is the philosophy? behind this, and I've said this months ago, but I'll say it again, in other large cities, well, large cities in which I've lived, these nodal points were…”
Planning Commission · Sep 9, 2026
- Play at 53:03
“Yeah, my thought is just that in many cases next to a business, you're going to find that the residential value of the property declines. Not as many people want to live next to a business where there are customers coming in and out or whatever. And so due to that, I've seen this other places. Then the neighbor says, I'm going to lose money on this, you know, selling it as a house. So I'd like to turn it into apartments or I'd like to turn this into my own hair salon. or something like that. So when you have these scattered sites, it tends to degrade the neighborhood, the street as a…”
Planning Commission · Sep 9, 2026
- Play at 57:44
“I would just say that regardless of what happens in the Shaw Pioneer Development District, we, I think, need to hold someone's feet to the fire in terms of doing something meaningful with transportation, which is particularly bad on the east side. There's a difference between the west side of Meridian and the east side of Meridian. in terms of access. And one reason why Shaw Road is the mess it is, is because there are no alternatives, period. I mean, there could be, but there aren't. And I know we're going to get resistance from the person who will give the presentation, as well as some…”
Planning Commission · Sep 9, 2026
- Play at 5:37
Not quoted here: it may name a member of the public. Hear it at the meeting.
Planning Commission · Aug 12, 2026
- Play at 5:57
“So my question is, if parking is allowed, would it be Only for events that are sort of under the fair sponsorship or you mentioned, for instance, Good Sam Hospital. What happens if you have a certain number of parking spaces taken up, not related to a fair event, and then a fair event comes along and you suddenly need more parking spaces than that lot can handle? Then what do you do then?”
Planning Commission · Aug 12, 2026
- Play at 7:38
“Well, then I guess what I'm assuming is then you would perhaps block out, if you've got the spring fair coming, as for instance, for the dates of the spring fair, would you then block out the anticipated number of RV spaces for the fair so that those spaces would not be preoccupied by something else?”
Planning Commission · Aug 12, 2026
- Play at 8:36
“So the grassy field that's right next to the RV parking lot, that's fair property as well, isn't that?”
Planning Commission · Aug 12, 2026
- Play at 8:45
“Except for that one property out in the corner. So maybe even in advance, if the council approves this and so on and so forth, You might even give us a heads up maybe on if there would happen to be overflow parking, where would that be specifically rather than in just any other spot?”
Planning Commission · Aug 12, 2026
- Play at 12:23
“Okay. If I could ask just one more question. I noticed that in the proposed changes, we have, and given that we're talking about that orange lot there, there are references in terms of both length of stay. And in terms of where's the other I'm looking for its length of say a number of vehicles. And it refers to the overlay for RS or RM. And I'm wondering, since that orange lot or the RV lot right now is entirely within an RS8. I mean, why do we have this or that?”
Planning Commission · Aug 12, 2026
- Play at 21:03
“So this is for my clarification. So I understand that this is, we're talking about two kinds of parking. One is general vehicle parking. Okay. So and that's where when we mentioned the hospital, I think we're talking about like the blue lot or something like that, that could be used, I'm assuming for that kind of thing.”
Planning Commission · Aug 12, 2026
- Play at 21:29
“No, I'm talking about if it's non RV parking that that that would be allowed. not connected to an event in some of these other lots. That's what it looked like during your presentation. Am I correct?”
Planning Commission · Aug 12, 2026
- Play at 22:12
“Okay, yeah, I'm a big fan of not having those lots at empty. The other issue that comes to mind is the silver lot and the idea of using that for things other than parking, like for events or something. And I think that the residents living around that property should get fair warning about of what can be coming down the pike, because that's like a zoning change. And that could have a significant effect on some people's quality of life, let's say. So I would strongly urge that before that kind of step is taken, that there is a real communication with the community about that. Thank you.”
Planning Commission · Aug 12, 2026