Reject Mayfield developments

Dear editor:

I am writing to warn the residents of Elmore County about the likely long-term "unintended consequences" of the two proposed new "planned communities," known as Mayfield Springs and Mayfield Townsite.

I am concerned that these two developments, with approximately 20,000 proposed homesites, will have substantial long-term negative effects on the social structure and cultural identity of Elmore County.

Elmore County's residents share a unique combination of rural, agricultural, and small-town values with a high appreciation of our military friends at Mountain Home Air Force Base.

With the highest percentage of military veterans of any county in the U.S., it would be fair to say that Elmore County's social values are those of "bedrock America." We live here, rather than in a city, because we are willing to trade urban conveniences for the small-town, rural and agricultural qualities of this county.

If these two Mayfield townsites are approved, in 20 to 25 years Elmore County will lose those rural, small-town values and become nothing more than a suburban appendage of metropolitan Boise.

Both of these Mayfield developments will be bedroom communities for Boise. Their proposed location on the interstate, in the western end of Elmore County, shows that these developments are intended to take advantage of Elmore County's cheaper land costs, lower tax rates and less-cumbersome permitting process, while at the same time appealing to people who want to work in Boise.

If the Mayfield developers believed there would be 10,000 new jobs available in Mountain Home to support their lot sales, they would be seeking to develop land closer to Mountain Home.

Instead, those townsites will be sold as providing residents with a much shorter commute into Boise than now exists from the west side of Ada County, plus convenient access to the interstate.

I very much doubt that these homesites will be marketed on the basis of how nice it is to live in rural Elmore County. They will most likely be promoted on the basis of cheaper home costs than living in Ada County, combined with quick and convenient access to the Boise urban area.

People who live in these new proposed townsites will work and shop in Boise, not in Mountain Home. They will go to Boise for entertainment, dining, and medical care and their workplace friends will live in Boise, not Elmore County.

They will think of themselves as suburban residents of Boise, not as rural residents of Elmore County. With a potential for up to 40,000-50,000 new residents, these Mayfield townsites will dominate the economic, cultural and political structures of Elmore County.

The residents of these Mayfield townsites will convert Elmore County from a rural, agricultural county into a suburban subsidiary of Boise. Their economic, social and cultural interests will be centered on Boise, not on Elmore County.

They will have city, not county values. They will expect to receive the kinds of city services available in Boise, including police and fire stations located in their neighborhoods.

They are unlikely to volunteer for a rural fire department, and will want paid professional firefighters stationed in their neighborhoods.

As residents of "suburban Boise," they will not understand why their tax dollars are used to provide road maintenance for Prairie, Pine, Glenn's Ferry and Mountain Home. They will get tired of sending their children to Mountain Home High School. They will be annoyed at having to drive "all the way out to Mountain Home" for their kids' after-school activities, and they will be annoyed at having to drive to Mountain Home to access the county seat.

They will not be interested in funding a county fair "all the way over there in Glenn'sFerry." They will probably complain about noise from the Air Force jets flown out of Mountain Home AFB.

They will definitely complain about dust, noise and odors coming from nearby farms and ranches, and they will not want to see any of their tax dollars go to maintenance of county roads for those farm and ranching areas.

They will probably want to move the county seat from Mountain Home to Mayfield, so they don't have to drive 20 miles to serve on juries or conduct business at the courthouse.

And with 20,000 new voters, the residents of suburban Mayfield will be able to elect enough county commissioners to dominate the board and run Elmore County the way they want it run.

Approval of these two densely-populated residential townsites will, within 20 to 25 years, turn Elmore County into a suburban appendage of Boise. Our current small-town, rural, agricultural and military lifestyles will be swallowed up in the "greater Boise metropolitan area."

If I had wanted to live in a city, I would have moved to Boise.

As an individual who vastly prefers to live in a rural county with conservative values and a country lifestyle, I strongly urge Elmore County residents to consider the long-term changes these proposed Mayfield townsites will cause in our county.

If you agree with me, please ask your county commissioners to limit subdivisions in the western end of Elmore County to the current lot sizes now in effect in that area.

Peter Humm