Avimor developer maintains planned community continues to be a great fit for Eagle | Opinion

In the early 2000s, during the height of the Treasure Valley’s first big real estate boom, our team worked closely with leaders at the city of Eagle on a new comprehensive plan. In fact, Avimor was integrated into that visionary planning document through future annexation.

Today, nothing has changed. Commitments we made nearly 20 years ago remain the same. Construction and design standards we adopted as part of Eagle’s comprehensive plan are evident in every new home we build. Our promise to protect open spaces and trails remains true. Assurances we made to build Avimor’s water and sewer systems in a way that meshes with municipal standards are evident across our footprint.

At the time, leaders in Eagle believed collaborating with Avimor and other developers would protect the city’s wish to control and shape its own destiny. Avimor’s intent to be annexed reinforces Eagle’s ability to make decisions in its own best interests. In other words, annexation gives Eagle ultimate control of the way development unfolds across a broad swath of our prized foothills, the ability to sign off on a thoughtfully planned out project — as opposed to being locked out of that process if three separate counties with different standards get involved.

Our annexation proposal is now subject to a series of public reviews and hearings. We welcome the scrutiny and look forward to a robust exchange of thoughts and ideas.

We know there are opponents and a heavy dose of misinformation about our plans and the impact it could have on a community that has grown by more than 50% since 2010. We encourage anyone interested in learning more about our proposal — the steps we’ve taken and the potential impacts we’re committed to mitigating — to visit our website.

One of the biggest criticisms we hear is the impact we could have on water in Eagle. It’s a fair question. The fact is, at Avimor’s inception we built the infrastructure for Veolia North America Company to supply water to our current homes. Earlier this year we entered into a water services agreement with Eagle, which included Avimor providing the water for all our future needs.

We have agreed to build our own water infrastructure system, and once built, Avimor will turn over this system to the city at no cost to Eagle taxpayers. Avimor is already served by a wastewater treatment facility built more than a decade ago – meaning no impact whatsoever on that Eagle’s wastewater services.

Our annexation plan also features our commitment to protecting and preserving thousands of acres of public foothills open space and 100 miles of trails for all uses. We are partnering with organizations like the Treasure Valley Land Trust to expand public land for new trail connections and to protect wildlife habitat.

We are working closely with local, county and state officials to address traffic impacts, to donate land for future law enforcement, fire and emergency service facilities. We’ve identified acreage within Avimor to donate to three different school districts.

We understand that opponents think Avimor is approaching growth and connection to Eagle in haphazard fashion.

Honestly, we can’t afford that kind of approach – it’s not in our DNA. We’ve been planning thoughtfully for years to get to this point, to make our case to elected decision makers and the public that annexation is a positive step.

Our pitch is simple. Take some time to check us out, learn about our plans to grow and manage the impacts. Ask one important question: Would you prefer planned community growth in the hands of Eagle or governing bodies that don’t put Eagle’s interests first?

Dan Richter is the managing partner at Avimor Development and has served in that role since 2007. Dan has spent nearly 40 years in real estate development in Idaho and Arizona, where he served as division president for a 10,000-acre planned community in west Maricopa County. He has been involved with the Building Contractors Association and will assume the role of state president of the organization in February.