Proposed development unites West Ada neighbors

Katy Moeller
Idaho Statesman

The Idaho Statesman | Edition Date: 07-05-2006

The death of a farmer and the sale of his 1,400-acre farm to a developer who wants to turn the West Ada property into a 4,500-home planned community have united residents in the Foothills near Dry Creek.

They've come together — forming the Dry Creek Rural Neighborhood Association in June — to push for a scaled-down version of the proposed Dry Creek Ranch planned community.

"We know that development is coming. People are quite realistic," said Dr. Leslie Nona, a Boise internist who is president of the 50-member neighborhood group. "However, the density proposed by this planned development is four times that of Eagle."

Most members of the Dry Creek Rural Neighborhood Association live in unincorporated Ada County, east of Idaho 55 to Hidden Springs and from Dry Creek Road north to Spring Creek.

Their mission is to preserve the rural feel that drew them to the area — the quiet, the wildlife and country vistas.

Nona and her husband, Jeff, a Boise attorney, live on 6 acres. They have five horses, four dogs, three cats and two goats.

"People who live here feel very passionately about the land and the open space, and the wildlife we see migrate through the valley season after season," Leslie Nona said.

"It is so quiet out here," said Pence, an author who is penning the 14th in her Angie Amalfi mystery series. "It feels like I'm perpetually on vacation."

David Pence raved about seeing hawks and eagles in the area.

"It's absolutely fabulous, the natural beauty," he said.

For more information on Dry Creek Rural Neighborhood Association, call Joanne Pence, 938-5996, visit www.savedrycreek.com or e-mail info@savedrycreek.com.