City of Kuna, ACHD at odds over Park N Ride lot

The city of Kuna and the Ada County Highway District are at odds over a proposed Park N Ride lot in Kuna.
Despite having six items to cover in a pre-council workshop last week, the two sides spent all 90 minutes discussing just the one topic of the parking lot.
With nine ACHD Commuteride vans traveling out of Kuna every day, ACHD is looking for a 1- or 2-acre site to build a single parking lot to congregate vehicles. Currently, Commuteride vans meet passengers in four locations around Kuna, including the parking lots at Paul’s Market and the LDS church on Avalon Street.
Last year, ACHD identified Federal Transit Administration money to build a parking lot. ACHD began studying the issue in October and narrowed the list of potential sites to the following:
• Deer Flat Road, west of Hwy 69.
• Deer Flat Road, at School Avenue.
• Ten Mile Road, at Ardell Road.
• Ten Mile Road, north of Lake Hazel Road.
Last month, ACHD held an open house unveiling the four sites and soliciting feedback.
As was obvious at last week’s workshop, ACHD staff members and project team members favor the site at Deer Flat and Meridian roads. They cited interest among commuters who use Commuteride as well as a survey to which 29 people responded. In addition, ACHD owns a small portion of land at the site, and neighboring landowners expressed an eager willingness to sell to ACHD for the parking lot. Finally, ACHD staff members said this stretch of Deer Flat Road is a “poster child” for receiving funds from FTA, which is looking for projects to get cars off the road. They pointed to a photo of the traffic congestion at Deer Flat and Linder roads as an example of how a commuter parking lot would help alleviate such traffic.
Seems to all make sense, right? But city planning director Steve Hasson, Mayor Scott Dowdy and council members Lisa Bachman and Jeff Lang poked holes all over ACHD’s proposal.
First off, the city expressed disappointment that ACHD had not contacted the city right off the bat, back in October but waited until just a few weeks ago. After all, this is the city’s jurisdiction. Why not work closely with the city from the start?
Had they done that, Point No. 2, they would have learned that the site at Deer Flat and Meridian had already been planned, platted and approved by the city, bringing with it land use encumbrances, an LID assessment and a collector road running right through the middle of it.
Third, much — if not most — of the problem traffic at Deer Flat and Linder is caused by people going to the high school, which wouldn’t be alleviated by a park n ride lot, Lang pointed out.
Another point that wasn’t brought up is that by putting a parking lot at Deer Flat and Meridian, you’d actually be adding as many as 100 cars to the area from the Commuteride passengers who are now driving to Avalon Street.
The city, rightly in my mind, favors Ten Mile Road for the parking lot. City Council members voted for Ten Mile and Ardell as their first preference, Ten Mile and Lake Hazel as their second choice.
Personally, I favor Ten Mile and Lake Hazel. For starters, the city of Kuna already owns the land, so no money would have to be used to purchase or lease any land. Next, the city has already planned for a park n ride lot on this land. Also, once the Ten Mile interchange with I-84 is completed this summer, Ten Mile will become a major thoroughfare in the future for Kuna, likely a route for many commuters. Finally, it likely will be much easier for Valley Regional Transit to divert a bus a couple of miles down Ten Mile Road and back up to its usual route than it would be to drive some six miles to Deer Flat Road and back up to Overland.
ACHD staff did make some valid points that shouldn’t be overlooked. One is that a parking lot can be an economic stimulus to the immediate area, as commuters will tend to pick up dry cleaning or dinner near where they park their car. If the city is interested in getting the so-called Profile Ridge development jumpstarted, their ears should perk up at that argument.

Kuna supplemental levy election will be May 17

Did you read the letter to the editor in the Press-Tribune, saying the Vallivue supplemental levy passed because no one knew about it and that the local newspaper was complicit by not informing readers about it?
Well, the paper did publish stories about it, but I never want anyone accusing the Kuna Melba News of not providing enough coverage of an important issue.
At the last supplemental levy election, in May 2009, someone came into our office saying that the election was kept a secret — even though we had put it on the front page multiple times and wrote several stories about it leading up to the election.
Well, we're doing it again. It was on our front page March 9, just one day after school board members decided to put the measure on the May 17 ballot. We ran another version of the story this week, and we'll keep providing information leading up to the election. Don't say we didn't warn you.
Voters in the Kuna school district will vote May 17 on a two-year $1.5 million per year supplemental levy.
Voting will take place from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Tuesday, May 17. Polling places have not yet been finalized.
A simple majority is required for passage.
Kuna school board members voted unanimously to put the measure on the ballot. District officials have said the money is needed to help plug projected funding shortfalls from the state. District officials have estimated next year’s shortfall to be about $1.95 million.
If approved, the $1.5 million levy would cost a property owner within the Kuna school district about $156 per $100,000 of taxable value.
The Kuna school district currently operates with a $1.1 million supplemental levy that was approved by voters two years ago and expires this year. The estimated cost of continuing the $1.1 million levy is $114 per $100,000 of taxable value.

Kuna Boys & Girls Club hearing is delayed

A Kuna Planning & Zoning Commission hearing on a Kuna Boys & Girls Club originally scheduled for March 23 has been delayed.
According to local organizers, Ada County Highway District staff were not able to finish their internal report in time to present it to the ACHD governing board on March 16, and so the city is postponing the public hearing until sometime after ACHD meets again on April 6.
ACHD has notified the Boys & Girls Club that its policy is to require extension of all stub streets, and it found that the Boys & Girls Club plan did not include the extension of Hyssop Street. In response, the Boys & Girls Club has submitted a request for a waiver of that policy regarding Hyssop Street for safety, cost and land use reasons.
Local organizers are anticipating that the waiver request will be heard at the April 6 ACHD meeting.
The Boys & Girls Clubs of Ada County is requesting a zone change and development agreement for a site at the east end of West Mendi Place in Kuna, where local organizers are planning to build a permanent 15,000-square-foot facility.

Northwest Vocal Project is coming to the Kuna Performing Arts Center

The KPAC Events Council is pleased to present Northwest Vocal Project at the Kuna Performing Arts Center on Friday, April 22, at 7:30 p.m.
Northwest Vocal Project, based in Bellevue, Wash., is an ever-growing group of young men between the ages of 18 and 29 who have made it their mission to instill in their audiences a love for a cappella harmonizing. They sing all genres of music, from gospel to jazz, to barbershop and contemporary. Northwest Vocal Project has won numerous awards since their inception in 2007 and, most recently, placed 1st at the International Youth Chorus Festival held in Las Vegas in January.
General seating tickets go on sale beginning April 1 and are only $10 per adult, $8 for students and will be available online and at area businesses beginning April 1. All net proceeds go directly back to the school district to the benefit of Kuna’s students! Keep reading the Kuna Melba News each week to receive additional details about this exciting upcoming visit from Northwest Vocal Project. It’s a show you don’t want to miss! Details also available at www.kunaperformingartscenter.org.

Jackals take league championship

Congratulations to the Jackals of the mites division, who won their league championship this morning. Luke looked particularly handsome with his medal and the trophy. Great season, and a big thanks to all the coaches who helped the boys this year, particularly to head coach Cal Ingraham, who did a great job steering the ship. Up the boards, spread out, and pass. A successful recipe. Looking forward to three-on-three this summer.

Kuna's Bernie Fisher helps sign Medal of Honor Highway bill

Bernie Fisher is alive and well. A couple of weeks ago, a gentleman by the name of Bernard "Bernie" Fischer, a military veteran, passed away. Several people contacted me about it, thinking was the same Bernie Fisher who is Kuna's very own Medal of Honor recipient, a true American hero. The Bernie Fischer who passed away is a different person.
Our Bernie Fisher, after whom the Kuna city park is named, was on hand with Gov. Butch Otter and state Sen. John Goedde last week for the signing of Senate Bill 1050, which designates Idaho Highway 3 as the Medal of Honor Highway.
The ceremony took place on Thursday, March 10, at the Governor’s Ceremonial Office at the state Capitol.
Fisher earned the Medal of Honor for personal action above and beyond the call of duty by risking his life to save a fellow pilot who was shot down during action in the A Shau Valley of Vietnam in 1966.
During the battle, then-Maj. Fisher landed his Douglas A-1E Skyraider on an airfield controlled by the enemy under intense ground fire, pulled the downed pilot from the wreckage and took him aboard his aircraft, successfully escaping despite several bullets striking the plane. The aircraft that Fisher was flying that day is displayed at the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio. He also had experience in such fighters as the F-80 Shooting Star, F-86 Sabre, and F-101 Voodoo, along with hundreds of close-air-support missions in the A-1E.
March 25 is also national Medal of Honor Day, another great opportunity to honor Fisher. Thank you, Bernie Fisher, for your service to our country.

Kuna Melba News will host after-hours party along with Idaho Power

The Kuna Melba News and Idaho Power will co-host “First Tuesday” for the Kuna Chamber of Commerce starting at 6 p.m. Tuesday, April 5, at the Kuna Melba News office, 326 Avenue D, downtown Kuna.
The public is invited to attend. Don’t miss the the “early bird” drawing, plus other prizes. Refreshments will be provided.
Nicola and I will be on hand as well as Idaho Power’s Melanie Willer, customer representative, Customer Relations & Energy Efficiency. Melanie’s territory includes all of Kuna.
Also attending will be Blake Watson, community relations representative, Customer Relations & Energy Efficiency for Idaho Power.
This is a really good, fun way to get together and network in a relaxed atmosphere. You'll also get a rare chance to see the palatial offices of the Kuna Melba News.
As you can see from the photo above, we had a pretty good turnout the last time we hosted this event. Put it on your calendar and come on down.

Back when I was an editor at the Democrat & Chronicle in Rochester, N.Y., our music critic, Jeff Spevak, wrote a column raving about this up-and-coming singer-songwriter who was coming to a small club in Rochester. He went on and on about how this was a once-in-a-lifetime chance to see this performer in a small setting, because her shows from now on were sure to be in larger concerts and arenas. Yeah, right, I thought. How many times have we heard about an up-and-coming sure-to-be star? Well, that performer's name was Norah Jones, and as usual, Spevak was dead-on right.
The reason I think of that is because of the growing momentum behind our very own MacKayla Hunter, of Nampa, who will be appearing on a national show in June. I'm no Jeff Spevak, but it seems to me that MacKayla Hunter is the real deal.
MacKayla will be a guest along with Taylor Swift on the first national airing of The Ed Davis Show, according to MacKayla’s manager Duke VanCampen.
The show will be taped on June 14 and will air on the ION network on June 17. (The exact time is still not confirmed but will be provided at a later date).
In addition, Swift has asked Hunter to be her guest at her live concert on the night of June 14 in St. Paul, Minn., VanCampen said.
I, for one, am hoping MacKayla makes it big and we can all say we knew her back when.

Is Kuna ready to move up to 5A

The Idaho High School Activities Association is preparing a new set of classifications, and it appears Kuna will be moving up to 5A starting with the 2012-13 school year. And in a couple of scenarios, Melba would move up to 3A.
A classification committee of the IHSAA has created three proposals, dividing the state’s high schools into the five classifications based on student enrollment. Under all three scenarios, Kuna would move up to 5A. Under two of the scenarios, Melba would move up to 3A. Kuna is currently in 4A, and Melba is currently in 2A. Both schools are in District III.
The classification committee has sent out the proposals to all of the schools along with a survey seeking input, according to Gerry Nutt, activities director at Middleton High and the committee’s chairman. In an ideal world, there will be a strong leading contender that the committee can agree on and forward to the full IHSAA board, Nutt said. He hopes the committee can make a decision at its April meeting, so that the IHSAA board can vote in June. At that point, the schools and conferences can spend 2011-12 figuring out schedules and tournaments.
You can see all the proposals on Page 4 of this week's Kuna Melba News.

Kuna kicks off varsity baseball season

After Luke's hockey game this morning (Luke's team won 10-2), I headed over to Middleton for the Kuna varsity baseball team's opening game. Kuna looked solid, but Middleton pulled out a come-from-behind 5-4 win. Hopes are high for the Kuna boys this season, as we lost only one player from last year's squad, which made it to the district championship game against BK and went three games into the state tournament. The roster looks pretty similar to last year's roster. The boys made a few defensive errors that I suspect will get cleaned up as we move further into the season. Looking forward to a fun season.