This Boise church building may hold services once again. Some neighbors offer no praise
The Treasure Valley Institute for Children’s Arts occupies a former church building at the corner of Eastman and 14th streets in Boise’s North End.
Soon, that building may function as a church once again.
Jon Swarthout, the founder and CEO of TRICA, has applied to modify the conditional use permit on the building to allow for the space to also be used as a church and private event space.
The building, built in 1907 as the Immanuel Methodist Episcopal Church, would continue to host students in its art classes. Under the permit, the building could also serve as a new location for the North End Collective Church, which was previously housed at 18th and Eastman streets and now rents a former Ridley’s Family Market space in the Highlands Village shopping center on Bogus Basin Road.
Those church services would, twice each Sunday, bring as many as 180 people to an area of the North End that residents argue already has limited parking. Other large events, potentially including weddings or parties, would do the same throughout the year. That’s in addition to art programs hosted by TRICA, which would sometimes have dozens of students.
“I will sell this house if this condition is approved,” Christina Lequerica, who lives about a half-block from the building, told the Boise Planning and Zoning Commission on Monday. “I will not raise my kids across the street from a venue that will house that many people. I just won’t do it. I don’t feel that it’s safe.”
About 20 people testified, roughtly two-thirds against and one-third in favor.
Some neighbors, including Lequerica, were concerned about the level of activity. One woman testified that her children went to bed at 8 p.m., and potential events running later than that would “affect our quality of life in a negative manner.”
“It’s a beautiful idea,” she told the commission, “but not for this building. Not for this neighborhood.”
Others expressed concern over what would happen with parking. Several argued that the traffic count for the building, taken in early June while Idaho was in Stage 3 of the state’s COVID-19 reopening plan, did not accurately reflect typical traffic levels in the area.
Carlos Coto, who owns a property across the street from the building, testified that his car has been hit multiple times. Kelly Olson, who lives about three blocks away, said that the North End is “a very traditional historic neighborhood” and that events requiring a lot of parking would disrupt it.
But the reasons some neighbors hated the new permit were the same reasons others loved it.
“If you have a concern about parking and population density, the North End probably isn’t a great place to be living,” testified Heather Harper, who lives less than a block from the building. “It is the way of life that we have here.”
Harper complimented Swarthout on what TRICA has accomplished with the building, which had both lead paint and traces of methamphetamine in its walls when originally purchased.
“It’s certainly a far cry from the meth lab we had right before I bought my property,” Harper said.
Alexis Davis, another North End resident, said that “you will never find a more pedestrian-friendly use” for the building. She said Swarthout and his team would do “everything they humanly can to fit it beautifully into your neighborhood.”
The Planning and Zoning Commission voted unanimously to approve the permit with several conditions, allowing the church to open.
The conditions require TRICA to limit activities to between 8 a.m. and 9 p.m. Monday through Saturday and the Collective Church to limit activities to between 6 a.m. and 5 p.m. weekdays and 6 a.m. and 4 p.m. Sundays. The conditions also limit special events to a maximum of 20 annually, subject to those same hours.
Church services may have up to 180 people per service, and special school or church activities may have up to 120 people, including up to 108 students. Special events hosted by outside groups may have up to 350 people who must park off-site in accordance with a parking agreement.
The permit grants TRICA one year to carry out the conditions and meet with neighbors, the city planning staff, the church and other stakeholders to see if the other uses would be feasible in the long term.
Leon Letson, senior planner for the city, said that if problems are identified, the conditional use permit could be modified to address them.
Some commissioners worried that a year wasn’t enough time to know for sure whether the conditions were effective. Commissioners Christopher Blanchard and Jim Bratnober both questioned how much would actually be done when the year was up.
Ultimately, however, it was that year-long condition that helped some commissioners feel comfortable approving the permit.
“I think the conditions for this (permit) have created multiple safety nets to make sure this plan is working and realistic for this community to the extent that if there are issues that arise, it can easily be addressed by the city,” Commissioner Janelle Finfrock said. “I think the benefit this project will provide the community will far outweigh the inconvenience that may come with having to monitor the parking situation.”
This story was originally published August 4, 2020 at 12:44 AM.
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