City P&Z Meeting February 22

Kristopher Wallart, Commission Chairman, established the quorum. Mark Sauerwald, Nancy Brietic, William Roeder and Travis Eikeness making up the entire board, were in attendance.

The first hearing of the evening was for a Conditional Use Permit, for a daycare facility for Ambre English and Daryl Hinton. The daycare, if approved would be centrally located and near two of the elementary schools. English is an elementary teacher. She stated that “I was born and raised in Mountain Home and children are very important to me.” She has a Masters degree in early childhood development and she will be integrating her Pre-K Montessori experience into daycare education. Daryl Hinton, her partner is a journeyman electrician, and Veteran.

Brock Cherry, Community Development Director stated that “in order to get a childcare license for the property they will need a conditional use permit first.” Cherry also said “the facility would be harmonious with the land use map.” The daycare facility is expected to have a maximum of 25 kids according to English. Loading, unloading and traffic was a concern of the Commission and the recommendations were to reserve 1-2 spaces for this and pave the gravel section of the driveway. There will also need to be a traffic impact study, according to Cherry and additional signage needed because of the congestion in the mornings and afternoons.

The motion was created by Nancy Brietic to recommend approval on the conditions of paving two off-street spots and signage. The decision was unanimous and approved.

Ambrose Property Group, a logistics and Real Estate Development services provider for commercial businesses who are looking to expand into new cities and markets for their clients. They represent Love’s Travel Stops, a privately held retail and fuel network based in Oklahoma City. Love’s is looking to purchase 46 acres east of Highway 20 (Sun Valley Highway) They are proposing to build a travel stop and tire retreading center to open in 2023. Ambrose and Jeff McNickle (Operations Manager For Love’s) stated that they are planning to add 65 jobs at approximately $17.00/hour average. The project will cost Love’s $12 million and it’s a condition with the county that they include local contractors in the bidding process.

The location, if the Idaho Transportation Department approves it, the traffic study is completed and will be across the street from the Pilot, backing up to the Hampton Suites.

A representative from Hampton Suites made a statement to the board, voicing their concerns about excessive noise and having their customers unhappy due to the drive in/retreading center.

The Annexation originally was an I-1 and a motion was created to make it an I-2. Brock Cherry explained. There are questions of sustainable environmental concerns, traffic and noise levels In the I-1 annexation “smokestacks are permitted in I-2” stated Cherry.

Hampton Inns and Suites is owned by Hilton and according to PR Newswire, Business Wire & Milehigh CRE in the timeframe of 2019 -2021, there have been about 5 of them sold to various investment bankers. This is a good time to talk about the acquisitions between all companies involved. Accoring to the magazine C-Store Decisions, on June 30, 2010, Love’s acquired 20 Pilot Travel Centers locations and six Flying J locations out of antitrust (Monopoly) concerns in order for the Federal Trade Commission to approve the Pilot/Flying J merger. These locations are still branded as Pilot.

Love’s annual revenue is $20.6B and have 35,000 employees. Listed on their website the subsidiaries are Gemini Transport, they have a fleet of 750 trucks. Trillium is their alternative fuel company (Natural Gas and Bio Diesel) Musket Corporation is the crude transport and commodity trading and transport from the companies that purchase from US Oil producers. Speedco offers mechanical, lube, tire services for semi-trailer trucks. Love’s Hospitality, LLC according to hospitality online. This new venture started approximately 5 years ago according to the website, they are in 11 states and offer professional drivers hotel accommodations at Love’s owned hotels.

There was a condition on approval of the annexation of Love’s. It had to remain Category A (Idaho Code 50-222 (3)(a). Which is “All landowners have consented to annexation. Annexation where all landowners have consented may extend beyond the city area of impact provided that the land is contiguous to the city and that the comprehensive plan includes the area of annexation;Any residential enclaved lands of less than one hundred (100) privately owned parcels, irrespective of surface area, which are surrounded on all sides by land within a city or which are bounded on all sides by lands within a city and by the boundary of the city’s area of impact” The motion was unanimously approved.

Brock Cherry stated toward the end of the meeting “Smokestacks are not harmonious.”