‘Eagle is going to suffer if Avimor has its way:’ Idaho developer makes big request

No less than the future of Eagle rests on what Eagle’s City Council does with an application just submitted by the developer of a neighboring subdivision.

After a long time coming, Avimor submitted its long-planned request to be included in Eagle city limits, Mayor Jason Pierce said Monday.

Avimor, a growing planned community in the Eagle Foothills, seeks over the next 30 years to grow to 10,000 homes dotting nearly 36 square miles in three counties.

Avimor had nearly 700 homes as of 2021, said Dan Richter, Avimor managing member, in a City Council meeting in November. Annexing the development from unincorporated Ada County would add more than 20,000 residents to Eagle, said a consulting firm Eagle hired last year to study the cost of annexing Avimor.

Colin McAweeney, a fiscal analyst with TischlerBise, the consulting firm, told the Eagle City Council last November that annexing Avimor would bring a 60% to 65% increase in the population of Eagle, which was 30,346 in the 2020 census.

The analysis projected that from the first year of annexation to year 10, Eagle would generate large tax revenues, but after that, city finances would suffer. The firm projected that revenues would roughly match costs in years 11-20 and would not keep up with costs in years 20-31.

McAweeney projected a total $9 million deficit over 30 years.

In November, Avimor presented its own financial analysis by David Eberle, an economist and former Boise City Council member. Eberle offered a more optimistic view of annexation. He said Eagle would roughly break even financially at the end of 30 years, and impact fees imposed on new development could pay for the growing need of services like police and fire.

Avimor was approved in the early 2000s by the Ada County Commission as a planned community. But since then, the county has tightened restrictions around planned communities to the point where they are nearly impossible to build, the Idaho Statesman previously reported. The county allows far sparser development than Avimor’s owners want, so Avimor is counting on annexation.

Avimor developers also have said that since Avimor spans three counties, it has to go through three sets of commissioners when it wants to build. The developers would rather have one entity, the city, in charge of building applications.

Annexation was an issue in Eagle’s 2019 mayoral election. Then-Mayor Stan Ridgeway opposed annexation, saying it would be too costly. Ridgeway lost to Pierce, whom Avimor’s owners, the McLeod family, backed with campaign contributions.

Residents question possible Avimor annexation

Since Pierce took office, the city has held a series of meetings with Avimor’s staff for council members to ask questions.

Pierce announced at a town hall meeting Monday night that Avimor had submitted its application and that the city’s staff was reviewing it. He said the Eagle Planning and Zoning Commission may hold a public hearing on it in September or October.

The commission would then make a recommendation to the City Council, and the council would hold another public hearing and vote.

During the town hall, Pierce addressed the TischlerBise study, saying that he believes if Eagle invests and saves the large returns expected in the first 10 years after annexing Avimor, the city could reduce the burden of expenses in years 20 to 30.

About a dozen people spoke about Avimor during the town hall meeting. All but two opposed annexation. Those two did not mention their position.

“I am one of the people that is absolutely appalled that the item was even on the agenda,” said Barry Betlock, an Eagle resident. “I can’t believe... that we are even kicking this around. Because Eagle is going to suffer if Avimor has its way.”

Floyd Stewart, an Eagle resident for 16 years, told the council that in all his time in the city “I haven’t met one person that has said, ‘I think we should incorporate Avimor.’ They say, ‘What in the world are they thinking about?’”

Pierce said he entertains the Avimor annexation because it as a way for Eagle to control the growth around it, rather than “sticking our head in the sand.”

“If we just let everybody else just encroach on what Eagle is doing, then you’re gonna have a 3-mile radius, you’re never gonna be able to leave,” Pierce said.

Water concerns — solved?

One of the concerns many Eagle residents have is a decline in the water in their wells. Over the last two years, residents throughout the Treasure Valley have complained about having their wells drying up or having to lower their pumps. One reason they think this is happening is the growth and number of homes being built that use the same aquifer.

Pierce said he thinks the city solved the water concern with an agreement with Avimor not to use the same aquifer that the city uses in the Valley. He said Avimor, through its contract with Veolia North America (formerly Suez Water), has been pumping water up to its Foothills development from the Valley, creating a strain on the water Eagle residents use.

Avimor owns rights to pump water from an aquifer in the Foothills that runs toward toward Horseshoe Bend, Pierce said.

As part of the agreement, Pierce said, Avimor will build its own system to pump water from its aquifer and hand the system to the city to maintain and operate. The city will use users’ dollars to operate it, he said.

“It’s not going to use any more Eagle taxpayer dollars, but what we did do is we stopped them from pumping water down here on the Valley floor and are going to force them to use the water they already have access to up in the Foothills,” Pierce said.

Pierce recommended residents attend the public hearing on Avimor to make their voices heard.

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