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Council approves Black Cat East annexation, allows lower fenestration in DA
Summary
The Meridian City Council approved an annexation and development agreement modification for Black Cat East to add a 74,365 sq ft industrial building and accepted applicant language reducing required facade fenestration from 20% (SIP) to 10% in the DA; road improvements remain tied to occupied square-foot triggers in the DA.
The Meridian City Council on Dec. 3 voted to approve an annexation and development agreement modification for Black Cat East (H2024-0047), adding a 3.62-acre parcel at 935 S. Black Cat Road and permitting an approximately 74,365-square-foot industrial building.
Staff told the council the change under consideration would alter a development agreement provision so fenestration on the eastern façade could be reduced to 10% rather than the 20% stated in the interchange-specific plan or the 30% in the architectural standards manual. "Really, the only change is to reduce the fenestration from 20% to 10%," staff said during the presentation. The applicant said the revised elevations include metal screening and a false storefront that, in the applicant's view, meet the design intent while enabling the lower fenestration percentage.
Council members pressed staff and the applicant on traffic and the timing of required infrastructure. Staff noted a 2022 traffic impact study for the broader Black Cat Industrial area already included the site and that the DA ties certain roadway improvements to occupied square-foot thresholds: when occupied space reaches 960,000 sq ft, Black Cat must be widened to five lanes between the East and West Collector in Franklin and the Black Cat–Franklin intersection must be improved per ACHD recommendations; additional improvements are required at higher thresholds up to 1,500,000 sq ft. "That's exactly right," the applicant's representative said, stressing the parcel is part of the previously approved phasing and threshold system.
Council members voiced mixed views: some said the request was a logical completion of an earlier approval and consistent with the established DA; others worried about cumulative traffic on Black Cat Road and the timing of ACHD improvements. "I don't want this to be the fly that breaks the camel's back," one councilmember said, urging caution on additional annexations that add vehicle trips.
Councilman Desmond Taylor moved to approve file H2024-0047 and include the applicant's DA language reducing fenestration to 10%; the motion passed by voice/roll call with five ayes and one nay. The approval was accompanied by staff conditions on elevations, design review submittals and the DA's existing occupancy thresholds for required roadwork.
The council closed the public hearing without testimony. The decision leaves the parcel subject to the DA's occupancy-based infrastructure triggers and to future certificate-of-zoning-compliance and design-review steps for final elevations and landscape plans.
