City of Kuna backs off powerline ban

It looks like the city of Kuna is backing down from Idaho Power in its dispute over the placement of power lines along Meridian Road and Kuna-Mora Road.
City planning director Steve Hasson tells me that he sent an email to City Council members on Monday letting them know that he’s removing the language in a text amendment to an overlay district ordinance that would ban any new utility structures within 660 feet of the highways.
I applaud the city for making an effort to try to make the city look nice, but I think this is a wise retreat. Idaho Power was holding up a franchise fee agreement that could bring in $100,000 in new revenue to the cash-strapped city budget. Plus, it seemed to me that the city was going a little overboard on keeping power lines out of the Meridian Road corridor.

You can read more of this in my Editor's Notebook in this week's Kuna Melba News. I'm also writing about an Urban Land Institute study in Kuna, the Kuna Chamber of Commerce's economic development committee and an update on the city park ballfields.