Proposed Boise Foothills homes could hurt views and curb trail access, neighbors say

A Boise developer is arousing opposition with his proposal to expand one Boise Foothills housing development and begin building another. Neighbors say they’re worried about traffic, the possible loss of trail access and damage to Foothills views.

In late September, Central Foothills residents received letters from developer Colin Connell. He proposed expanding his Eyrie Canyon subdivision north of Hill Road near 36th Street and creating a new subdivision nearby, BoiseDev reported. It would go up next to Hillside Junior High School and the Quail Hollow Golf Course.

Connell has yet to file an application for either project or set pre-application meetings with the city, though he did meet Oct. 9 with the Boise Central Foothills Neighborhood Association.

“There were neighbors that were very emotional. It got a little contentious at times,” said Michelle Cooper, the association’s vice president.

Connell developed the nearby Eyrie Canyon subdivision. He told the Statesman he hopes to create 29 lots on 22 acres of a 77-acre parcel owned by retired Micron executive Kipp Bedard, west of the Hillside to Hollow Reserve.

The homes will be “a significant downgrade” to the Foothills view, and building on “extremely steep” land is risky, Cooper said. She worries more homes will add strain to traffic on Hill Road that’s already “absolutely horrible.”

There are also unnamed trails that snake across the property and connect to popular Hillside to Hollow paths including Full Sail, West Climb and Buena Vista.

“There’s a lot of trails on (the land), but it’s all part of the property. It’s private property. If we choose to shut it down, we can,” Connell said.

Cooper helped found the neighborhood association in 2006 when developers proposed building on the land that is now Hillside to Hollow. The city bought that land, where it now maintains several trails. Boise Planning Director Hal Simmons said Boiseans have asked the city to do the same with the Bedard property.

“The current owner would have to agree to sell, and past talks on that have not been successful,” Simmons said.

Connell said many Boiseans believe the land is owned by the city, when in fact it has been privately owned for nearly three decades. The trails on the land are not part of the Boise trail system.

“The trails up there, the connectivity is so important,” Cooper said.

Neighbors are concerned about fire safety, too, and whether a single road would be enough to evacuate the neighborhood in the event of an emergency.

Cooper said the neighborhood association will gather concerns and information before the proposal goes to the city.

“Mayor Bieter in his city address said we need to slow down on development in the Foothills,” Cooper said. “This is a perfect example of that.”

Bieter did urge saying “no more” to Foothills homes during his State of the City address last month. However, both the Bedard property and Connell’s land have long been annexed and zoned for residential development and are “grandfathered” in to existing plans, Connell said.

Connell could face obstacles from the city, though.

Simmons said Connell has proposed modifying the existing Eyrie Canyon plans to add a road leading to the landlocked Bedard property.

“He’s not shown us a plan for how he would do that. He’s got a high hurdle on (building there),” Simmons said, citing fire access issues and steep land grades.

Houses won’t be going up anytime soon. Connell said it will be two to three months before engineers finalize a grading plan that he plans to submit to the city. The application process could take nearly two years.

“It will be roughly 20 months before lots start to appear,” Connell said.

That’s if he’s able to win approval both of the modification to the Eyrie Canyon plan and the new subdivision. Connell said he anticipates it will be an easier process than he has faced in the past, since he is seeking approval for a subdivision rather than a planned unit development.

Simmons said the city will likely advise the developer to hold a second neighborhood meeting if an application is filed.

On social media and at the Oct. 9 meeting, neighbors lamented the “destruction” of the trails, Foothills and scenery, worrying that if Connell’s plans are approved, it may not be the last development.

“He just keeps going and going and mowing down hillsides,” Cooper said.

This story was originally published October 19, 2018 at 2:34 PM.