Ridenbaugh Press

Michael Huffaker, Saundra McDavid, Al Shoushtarian

The Idaho elections of note Tuesday were in Eagle, where the key local issue - or what should be - of rapid growth was squarely on the table. And the voters there did something remarkable, shifting direction and even attitude sharply; whether sharply enough to invoke major change in the short haul, we’ll know soon.

Growth really is the only serious issue in Eagle, a city just northwest of Boise. As recently as 1990, its population was 3,327; now, it is somewhere north of 25,000. And about to grow dramatically again, since the city is involved in annexing some mass chunks of the foothills to the north, and if it succeeds eventually could add maybe another 10,000 people to its population base. (Some of those people from the foothills apparently showed up at Eagle City Hall intending to vote, not realizing they weren’t city residents. Yet, at least.)

The city’s policy generally, as you might expect, has been open doors to development, in dizzying amount. This year, Mayor Nancy Merrill is opting out, and after a good many years of a mostly-stable crowd in place, newcomers are scrambling for the mayoralty and council seats. The key point distinguishing them is their positioning on growth.

First takeaway from Tuesday’s election is that the candidates favoring least growth came out ahead. But the point will be revisited when the city holds a runoff on December 4 between its top two mayoral contenders.

Of the candidates for mayor, three - attorney Saundra McDavid running for mayor, and attorney Michael Huffaker and investor Al Shoushtarian running for the council - stood out because they ran united under the slate “Preserve Eagle.” Their statements were nuanced (you can get a flavor from our earlier post on this) but they were positioned as growth critics or at least skeptics - either anti-growth or very slow growth, depending on how you view them. Ten years ago, their positioning would have gotten them dismissed in Eagle, and in most of southwest Idaho, as fringe cranks. But no more.

Dan Popkey’s Idaho Statesman column today neatly gets at why, containing quotes and viewpoints from people around Eagle whose tolerance for growth (or change, depending on how you see it) is reaching a limit: “I spoke with about three dozen voters . . . My impressions are anecdotal, but there’s no question the slow-growth agenda is gaining traction. People who chose Eagle for its Western storefronts, Rocky Mountain Oyster Feed, open spaces, large lots and roaming livestock lament the transformation to a place where every other vehicle is a tricked-out SUV driven by a pushy driver on a cell phone.”

He didn’t have vote totals in hand when he wrote that, but the numbers out now back him up. In Eagle, both Preserve Eagle Council candidates, Huffaker and Shoushtarian, won easily, swamping the other two candidates. In the four-way mayoral, McDavid took 1,532 votes, and second-place Phil Bandy got 1,201; the other two were way behind. Bandy’s view may be a somewhat stronger take on planning than Eagle generally has had, but his positioning would be that of a mayor who sees the growth as inevitable, simply to be managed as best as possible. McDavid would see it as not inevitable and, if not entirely stoppable, then to be blocked where practical.

The December 4 runoff, likely to be hard fought and no kind of foregone conclusion, will say a lot about where Eagle goes over the next few years. And if Eagle does decide to change course, and its attitude toward growth along the way, that may become a sea change with a much broader ripple effect.