Valuing what Midvale doesn’t have

Dear Editor:

 I attended the P&Z meeting on Aug. 15, 2023. When the proposal was made to rezone land at the base of Midvale Hill, there were citizens for and against. All who spoke in favor of rezoning and truck stop were NOT adjacent landowners. Many in the “against” camp live within feet of the proposed truck stop. It is ALL they own.

 The landowner will sell the rezoned land to a developer. In a comment favorable of the development, someone mentioned how it’s “a right” given to us by the Constitution, to do with our land as we please. Using that premise, I ask you: does the right of one landowner with hundreds of acres trump the right of seven resident landowners who own small parcels of land, living on them 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year; families with young children, elderly folks, and dependent livelihoods, all people who will reside hundreds of feet from this proposed development? Do these souls stand a chance against those who will profit immediately and not bear the consequences of their actions every single day, after they make their money and go away? 

 One hundred and five locals signed a petition against this development.

 The concerns of residents about the general peril that come with such a proposal were called “hypothetical and conjecture” at the meeting by the developers council. Every crime, every action, every lawyer, was, at one time, hypothetical and conjecture. Then they became reality. Those neighbor folks who spoke were unanimously AGAINST a backyard gas station, C-store, truck stop/wash, tire store, hardware/ranch store, RV storage, 80 room motel and dog park. Not one was in favor of this proposal.

 In this day and age, progress is not so much about infrastructure going up, as it is keeping land free of the infestation of basically every other hardscape in America; the freedom to live purposefully in a place with no easy amenities. We know what we have here, and we know what we don’t have here. And…most of us are just fine with what we don’t have here.

Sarah Mikek

Midvale, Idaho