July 19, 2021

From Sara M. Baker:

Councilman Bageant,

It has been reported recently that you excoriated former Mayor Coles regarding buying the Murgoitio property and leaving you with poor planning and poor infrastructure (impact) fees.

While I have no love for Brent Coles, you are dead wrong in your accusations.  He and the City Council at that time, of which I was a member, purchased that property for two reasons – to keep homes out of the flight path and to provide for a regional park at some time in the future.

We didn’t expect that the park would be developed immediately or even within a foreseeable future, but that the land would be banked for the future, in other words, we did indeed plan for the future. And as I’m sure you know, they don’t make any more land –  when it’s developed, it’s gone.

It seems from your remarks that you feel blindsided in some way.  But you are misdirecting your anger.  You should be upset with your Parks department that as long ago as 2016 was trying to off load the property in the most untransparent way possible. Why has it taken over four years for the public to know about this scheme?

Not only has your staff been untransparent, but they have also appeared to collude with the developer.  There are communications between Parks and Mr Fowler going back at least to the beginning of 2020 if not earlier. I understand that staff now wants to take a pause to get an updated appraisal.

Of course they do, now that they have been found out using an incredibly outdated and clearly lopsided valuation. It is astonishing that anyone could say the two properties are comparable.  One might have more acreage but it’s development potential is extremely limited to less than 100 homes v an acreage that could have 2400 homes constructed.

Regarding the “poor infrastructure fees”, there has been nothing stopping the Boise City Council from changing your impact fee structure over the last twenty plus years or even the last two years that you have been a council member. Again, look to your staff and ask them that question.

This issue is now a real conundrum now for you all.  However, it is a result of your staff, and perhaps your executive, trying to make a bad deal in an untransparent and hasty way that does not redound at all to the benefit of the citizens of Boise.

Should you wish to have more background on the Murgoitio issue, please don’t hesitate to contact me.

Sincerely

Sara M Baker

Former Boise City Councilmember (1986-2002)