City of Boise, ID plans zoning code rewrite next week

Next week, the Boise City Council will consider perhaps the biggest change to the physical future of Idaho's capitol city ever: a rewrite of the city's zoning code. In March, we produced this story for you to help bring a baseline of understanding to what's in the code. Since this story was first published, the Boise Planning & Zoning Commission recommend the plan for approval to the Boise City Council, and suggested no changes. Here is our original story, with a few small updates, in case you missed it.

The City of Boise is set for a significant overhaul of its zoning code – the rules that underpin how citizens, developers, and businesses can use property within the city limits.

The project, which first launched under former Mayor Dave Bieter in 2019, and was relaunched in 2020 shortly after Boise Mayor Lauren McLean took office, involved a long process with a group of stakeholders from across the city — and ended with a dense 611-page document that runs nearly 200,000 words (about the length of the novel Moby Dick).

The proposal has already sparked public conversation – including from some people who have planted signs in their yards, which read "Zoned Up, Sold Out & Shut Up." A group largely in favor of the proposal has also started putting out signs that read "Legalize Homes."

More on the rewrite from BoiseDev:

The code vastly reworks the current set of rules, first adopted in 1966 and changed bit-by-bit over the intervening 57 years. Significant changes are proposed for the majority of the city's residential neighborhoods, transit corridors, downtown areas, and others. At the same time, the code provides new side rails that would curtail some of the types of development that conjure feelings of the Pixar movie Up.

BoiseDev spent the last two weeks reviewing the zoning code document, asking questions of city staff, reviewing the existing comprehensive plan known as Blueprint Boise and viewing meetings of the zoning code rewrite committee to help form a holistic view of what is – and isn't in the code.

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When the city launched the effort in 2019, BoiseDev reported the aim was to better match the zoning code – the actual rules for development — with the comprehensive plan, the document that lays out the overall vision for the city's growth.

The city under Bieter hand-picked a group of 12 individuals to sit on the zoning code rewrite advisory panel. The group was made up almost entirely of individuals with a direct link to development, many of whom were also donors to Bieter.

When McLean took office, she decided to drop the 12-member panel picked by Bieter, and instead opened up applications. That led to a 20-member advisory panel. Four of the members of Bieter were held over, while the other 16 names were different.

Over the past three years, the committee met more than two dozen times, with each of the meetings streamed live and archived on YouTube.

The city split the code into three modules, and after the draft of each one was complete, the city held a mix of in-person and online open houses, surveys, and outreach to groups like neighborhood associations.

The 611 pages of the code rewrite are often highly technical, and the document doesn't provide even an executive summary to help citizens understand what's in the plan. (Two months after we first published this story, the city finally produced an executive summary of the code.) It gets into the weeds you’d expect from legal city ordinance language, redefining the city's zoning districts, the uses allowed in each area, the process for public input (or in some cases, not), design standards, parking, lighting, water, and more.

Tim Keane, the city's Director of Planning & Development, who started last year after the city was several years into the process, said that he hoped in ten years, if the code is adopted, citizens look back and say it did several key things.

"One is that the ordinance has really resulted in a variety of housing that we weren't getting before and it's sustainably helping with the affordable housing issue," he said. "The potential is for so many different kinds of people to participate in the growth of this city. (Currently) we have big apartment buildings and single homes, and we don't have enough in between."

He said the code could provide a path for individuals who own a home to benefit, as well as "individuals doing much smaller types of housing," versus just a group of larger developers who can afford the cost, risk and time of building subdivisions or multi-family projects.

He said another key thing that he hopes the code sparks is better transportation connectivity and use.

"This city and this region are facing difficulties and challenges with how we tackle transportation," he said. "(In ten years) people would say ‘now I see how if we grow in a certain way, we can invest in something other than highways.’ We can invest in people and have an impact in more people being able to walk and ride their bikes and invest in transit."

And he sounded a note of caution, from where he sits.

"As we make decisions – if we don't make different decisions – we’re really in trouble."

Currently, the city's zones are broken into 20 categories across five buckets: open land, residential, commercial, office and industrial. (There are also three specialty zones, for healthcare, Boise State University and a ‘pedestrian commercial’ zone).

The code rewrite would consolidate those twenty classifications to 17 – and, importantly, blur or revamp the buckets, meaning a previously ‘residential’ zone could allow some commercial uses, and most of the formerly ‘commercial’ and ‘office’ zones could allow some residential uses.

The new main buckets are residential and a new-to-the-code term: mixed-use.

The open land and industrial zones remain mostly distinct as they do now. The specialty pedestrian commercial zone is pulled into the mixed-use zoning, while the Boise State and healthcare zones remain.

Drilling into the code, a series of changes to a particular zone stand out.

It's known as R-1C. The zone exists in the current code, as well as the new one. If a resident of a single-family home goes to the city's online map tool and punches in their address, they are likely to see they live in the R-1C zoning now, and would if the code is adopted.

But the code proposes significant changes to the zoning.

It's key, as 25% of all land in Boise is in this R-1C category, which the city currently calls "traditional residential." It's the largest residential zone, with 58% of land zoned residential falling in this category. Looking at a map of the city, most of the city's neighborhoods are lit up in the bright yellow color – including most of the Bench, West Boise, Southeast Boise, and even portions of the north and east ends.

The new code proposes a significant change to the zoning. First, the name would change from "Single Family Residential, Urban" to "Residential: Traditional." The types of use in the zones would expand from single-family detached homes and duplexes to additional housing types, including single-family attached homes, triplexes, and fourplexes.

Next, the density allowed in the zone would increase by more than 50% – from 8 units per acre now to 12.4 units in the proposal. The minimum size of a lot would shrink by 30% from 5,000 square feet to 3,500 square feet. (The current code calls for corner lots to be 7,000 square feet. The new code does not delineate between in-line and corner lots.)

The minimum frontage for homes in the zone would decrease by a third from 30 feet to 20 feet. Setbacks would also change slightly, and the maximum allowed height of buildings would go up by five feet, though the city is changing the way it measures height which would make the maximum height largely the same.

The changes also tweak the allowed uses, expanding from primarily only allowing single-family homes and duplexes to also allowing a few commercial uses – including neighborhood cafes, retail sales under 2,000 square feet, art galleries, museums, and a few others.

Looking at the changes, it's easy to imagine a neighborhood rapidly increasing in density, with homes being torn down and replaced with a series of fourplexes on lot after lot. But Keane pointed out a key piece of the code that's not immediately apparent: If a resident wants to build more than two units of housing on a lot, they have to make a concession:

"One of the things we changed last summer, is that if you go beyond two units (that are permitted now), if you do three or four — they have to be affordable at a certain level. Additional units are required to be for people making 80% of the AMI," Keane said. "I can tear down a house, but I can only go to four total, and two of them have to be affordable."

He said he went to a meeting last year, and citizens were concerned that a single house would be replaced by four, newer, more expensive homes – which if true, negates the city's stated goal of providing more affordable housing.

"We felt that was legitimate. The shift was if you’re going to do more than two, the others have to be affordable. We’ve got to make sure that's affordable because it's so important to us."

The 80% AMI standards apply if the units are for rent.

But if the units are made available for sale, the units would be restricted by deed to people making 120% of AMI.

The city alerted us to the 120% AMI standard after our initial interview – and while this is listed under the heading of "affordability," homes sold at this level do not meet the city's owned established guidelines for income and affordable rent, which tops out at 100% AMI.

Affordable housing refers to housing set aside specifically for residents making at or below income levels established by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Based on area median income, family size, and rents in the area, the agency sets rent levels for affordable housing projects with the goal of housing costs not exceeding 30% of household income. Housing affordability is relative for everyone depending on their circumstances, but there are legal definitions of what qualifies as affordable housing and how it has to operate in government.

The city, from the outset, has said that it wants to bring the zoning code in alignment with the comprehensive plan, which was adopted in 2010. The plan calls for the city to update its zoning rules, but the process didn't start for nearly a decade, in 2019.

On the summary page of Blueprint Boise, it lists seven principles – ranging from "Environmental stewardship" to "A safe, healthy and caring community."

One of the principles stands out when it comes to zoning: "Stable neighborhoods and mixed-use activity centers."

With such significant changes to the rules that underpin the bulk of the city's neighborhoods, will the code actually produce the stated goal of stable neighborhoods?

Andrea Tuning, the city's Senior Urban and Regional Planner, who has worked on the rewrite since its inception, pointed us to the definition of stable neighborhoods and vibrant mixed-use activity centers in the comprehensive plan document.

But both of the passages in the document are silent on changes to existing neighborhoods. The plan says to "ensure neighborhoods are served by a hierarchy of mixed-use activity centers,including schools…" and "encourage a variety of housing choices." But it again notes that the city should "protect stable neighborhoods."

Whether the code does that is perhaps subjective.

"I think people do assume stable means no change," Tuning said. "And it's good perspective, but that's not how things develop. The comprehensive plan is our map for the future. It's the city's desire for how it will look in the future."

Keane pointed out that many of the neighborhoods are changing – but in a way in which he doesn't think most residents want to see.

"How is it more stable to lose an individual modest size home to be replaced by a larger less-modest single-family home? Boise hasn't substantially seen that (so far) – we’re seeing some, but it's likely to accelerate."

He noted, again, that if people want to tear down their house and put in four houses, two have to be affordable, if rented.

The city's current setup of commercial and office zoning designations would go away under the new code. Instead, the city would add in MX zoning – short for "mixed-use."

The MX bucket is divided into five main segments, as well as the specialty hospital and university zones.

A significant change from the current code is the complete elimination of density limits. All zones, from MX1 through MX5 have no maximum density. The current commercial districts each have a cap of 43.5 housing units for acre, except for the C-5 zoning which covers most of Downtown Boise and has no cap.

The city says this district is to "provide opportunities for a mix of neighborhood-serving small-scale commercial, institutional and residential uses. It is intended to facilitate convenient, walkable access to these services while fostering pedestrian-oriented design and the creation of neighborhood districts."

The Bown Crossing area, for example, is zoned MX-1.

Buildings are limited to 45 feet in height, and the code calls for "active use," which the code defines as being open to and intended for users of the development or general public. It does not allow for surface parking between the buildings and street.

Called Mixed-Use: General, this district "is intended to provide opportunities for a mix of office, commercial, institutional, and residential at a scale designed to serve community needs broader than those of nearby neighborhoods."

The development containing Walmart and Lowe's on Overland Rd. in Boise is zoned MX-2.

Buildings here are also limited to 45 feet tall, and the city says parking shouldn't exist between the buildings and the street. (Existing developments, of course, can remain in place if they don't meet zoning standards – but a redevelopment would either have to meet the new rules "to the maximum extent possible," or get a variance from the city).

Called Mixed-Use: Active, the code describes this as "intended to provide opportunities for office, commercial, institutional and residential uses to support active modes of transportation." The code says these areas will require transit and pathway-oriented development along key transit routes.

Many Commercial zones along Vista Ave., State St., Fairview Ave., Federal Way, and Boise Towne Square are proposed for MX-3 zoning.

Building heights step up to 70 feet tall (six to seven stories). The zone requires an active use, landscape amenities, pedestrian walkways, pedestrian connectivity and more. Residential, commercial, and public uses "shall be located in a building at least four stories in height."

Known as Mixed-Use: Transit Oriented Development node, this area is very limited and covers just 116 acres of the city, or 0.2%.

This is designed for future State St. transit modes.

It's similar to the MX-3 zoning, but contains features to orient to the envisioned transit hubs. The city said it could expand this in the future as it works to build on its transit network.

The sky's literally the limit. Called Mixed-Use: Downtown, this zone replaces the former C-5 district and largely mimics its current policies. There is no height limit and this largely mimics the current downtown development pattern. The code does make more nominal changes to items like patios.

The code looks to rewire how public input is gathered on projects. It adds a new decision-making layer, and in a number of cases pulls back decisions from a public hearing process to an administrative decision.

Also, because the code in many cases could decrease the need for developers to ask for variances to the rules or to negotiate a development agreement with the city, more projects could slip under the radar without giving notice to neighbors, requiring signs to be posted or holding neighborhood meetings.

Keane said the city wants to make it easier – and thus less expensive – to develop the types of projects they’ve outlined as kosher in the zoning code.

"Part of what we want to do is ensure the things we want as a city are relatively easy to accomplish," he said. " "It even gets to this issue of — can those that are individuals.. or have less resources participate in this growth process. Plenty of other cities have proven if it's long and hard to get anything approved, you will ensure that only people with resources will do development."

To develop projects in Boise now, he said, requires capital, architects and lawyers.

"The point of this whole process is to get what we want as a city and make it as simple as possible to achieve," he said.

Not everything skips a public process – and everything has an appeal process that triggers a public hearing.

"We’re trying to align the whole process with the types of development we want to see, and make what we want simpler to do and hedge against requiring that public hearing and discussion," Keane said.

Currently, the city relies heavily on development agreements to get to its goals. Developers negotiate with planning staff to meet city goals and procedures in order to gain approval and sign a binding document that goes with their entitlement for the project.

The DA process would largely go away, but Tuning said she thinks the city has supplanted the need through the code.

"We feel comfortable in our standards," she said. "A DA will most of the time require you to do connectivity and traffic calming and restrict uses. We’re hoping we’ve gotten it right in this code. We’re making everyone equal, whether it's a vocal group or non-vocal. You get a pathway, or streetscape standards. Everything that is needed for a vibrant city."

If the city takes some of the friction out of the process and decreased the number of projects subject to neighborhood meetings, public hearings, mailed notices, and the like – how will a neighbor know of a project before seeing a bulldozer or construction crew move in?

Residents will have to rely on taking a proactive step – or living in a neighborhood association that's active and communicates with residents.

Tuning said that neighborhood associations will be notified on all projects. The private associations, which are recognized by the city, run with volunteer boards of directors and vary in engagement across the city.

The city is also launching a development tracker, that's akin to BoiseDev's Project Tracker, but promises to be more granular. For now, the tracker consists of a map with overlays of projects around the city. (Meridian has long had a similar feature.)

But a future phase will allow folks to get alerts.

"The development tracker will have the tool to put in your email and your address and you can choose to be notified," Tuning said.

Tuning, Keane and Lindsay Moser, the city's planning spokesperson, initially gave differing answers on if the feature would be live in time for the code to launch, but Keane said that it's a priority.

"One of the things we have to decide on is the effective date (for the code rewrite)," he said. "One of the requirements is that it has this."

The city hopes to bring back a role that's in the current code but not used: the hearing examiner. This individual would report to the city's planning director and hold public hearings and make decisions on a variety of projects – and hear appeals.

Similar to the planning & zoning commission, with a few key differences. First, the examiner would be a paid contractor (P&Z is made up of volunteers), and instead of a panel of seven or more people – it would be a single person.

The hearing examiner would hold public hearings, as was the case before. Unlike P&Z, Design Review, or the Historic Preservation Commission, the mayor would not appoint the examiner — instead, Keane or his successors would.

"We had… a hearing examiner… he was a retired judge," Tuning said. "Ultimately (they do) the same thing that a review body does, but it's just a single person. It's essentially a judicial review."

She said they use the same code and guidelines. One reason is the caseload at planning and zoning, she said.

"Planning and zoning has a very heavy load. We’ve had multiple meetings and they’ve been going very late and would like to alleviate some of that."

The city last year limited public hearings and warned that the pace of approvals would slow due to workload.

Tuning said the process is "a way to get an objective, thoughtful opinion. It's a way if an administrative decision is made, and it's appealed (there's someone to hear it)."

Keane noted that in a few places, the code increases public input.

"We did say that if you’re in a mixed-use zone and the property has been used over the last three years for assisted living, nursing home, mobile home park, or subdividing naturally occurring housing at 60% of less of AMI, it has to be a conditional use permit."

A number of recent projects fall into that category, including a project approved last month on River St. that would replace 16 affordable apartments with a 130-unit apartment complex and an assisted living facility on the Boise Bench that developers aim to convert to traditional apartments.

Some of these types of projects are not in an existing commercial or future MX zone. They would need to go through a public process now — and in the future, meaning for some of the examples Keane listed, there's no real change in the public process.

Another is student housing.

"in this version of the ordinance, we identify student housing specifically as co-housing. We’re only going to permit that by right in the Boise State zoning U District."

This means that a recent boom in student apartments around the university – if built with many bedrooms opening onto a common space, would need to also get a conditional use permit. If student housing is built as a traditional apartment complex, the normal standards would apply.

If you spend time reading Moby Dick, it's easy to key in on the key idea (Ahab wants vengeance against Moby. Things go awry.), but the details are often as important as the main theme.

While the city hopes to make changes to existing residential zones to meet its goals, the code won't generally supersede private covenants, conditions, and restrictions.

"This code is not intended to impair or interfere with other regulations of private restrictions on the use of land improvements and structures," the code reads, emphasizing that the code is additive to other regulations or CCR&s, but don't repeal or impair them.

The city officials say they don't know how many homes or properties are subject to CC&Rs that may not allow the uses contemplated in the code, like increased density or fourplexes.

The code adds new regulations that would require a developer to prove that they have adequate water for any proposed development, in what it calls an "assured water supply."

Most developments must "demonstrate that adequate water delivery, storage and treatment works will be available to or be constructed for the project or existing certificated service are for at least 50 years."

Tuning said the city is working with municipal water provider Veoila to ensure the city can meet its water needs – which Veoila has told BoiseDev it has the capacity to handle.

"We’re working with Veoila," Tuning said. " … "We want to ensure we have the ability to have the services that people deserve to have throughout the city."

The city requires, in most instances, a detached sidewalk. That means that between the road and the sidewalk, there must be a landscaped buffer. But the new code specifically says the buffer should not include turf.

Older neighborhoods, like the North End, often have these landscaped buffers, filled with trees and grass. Even newer neighborhoods, like Harris Ranch, have mow strips.

But if the code is OK’ed, future detached sidewalks wouldn't be offset by grass.

"We want to make sure we’re using our water in valuable ways," Tuning said. "It's also very hard to maintain mow strips, partially when you have subdivisions or … finding a place for maintenance to park."

Tuning said that no grass doesn't mean any landscaping — or even no water use.

"They can include groundcover, shrubs, trees. Don't think of no irrigation – but more of a drip system."

This is the second longest story BoiseDev has produced in our nearly seven years in operation. But there are still elements in the code this story doesn't include. You can see the full-length code document draft in PDF form, here. The city also tells BoiseDev it is working to make hard copies available at each of the city's library branches.

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