2 unusual Boise houses will be torn down to make way for 67 new ones. Neighbors object
Two uniquely shaped homes will come down in Southwest Boise to make way for a subdivision that nearby residents worry will bring small lot sizes and too much traffic.
The Music Subdivision, so named because it will be on property owned by Mark Dunkley, the owner of Meridian-based Dunkley Music, will bring 67 new homes to two lots at 9933 and 1051 W. Victory Road.
For decades, the largely open lots have been the site of two atypically shaped houses. One is a heptagon (seven-sided) built by Elaine Allen in 1964. The other is an octagon built by Eileen Shrier, Allen’s twin sister, nine years later.
The developer is Southpoint LLC, whose members are listed in state filings as Hugh Blue, of Sun Valley, and Tom Lingo, of Elkton, Oregon. Southpoint said the houses could not be saved, because they violate safety codes, so they will be torn down.
T. Hethe Clark, a Boise lawyer representing Southpoint, said they would be memorialized with a plaque at a pond on the property. Clark said the developer was inviting the Idaho Historic Preservation Office to document the property.
Southwest Ada County Alliance President Marisa Keith told the Statesman in June that the houses are a piece of history. At a public hearing Tuesday, though, neighbors focused most of their comments on traffic and loss of the neighborhood’s semirural character.
“I observed last night, there was a pickup full of teenage boys driving 45 miles per hour up and down Mitchell,” Keith testified before the Boise City Council. “Those sorts of things happen on a regular basis for these people.”
Neighbors worried about what more traffic would mean for students who walk to nearby schools. Council Member Jimmy Hallyburton, an cyclist who is cofounder and executive director the nonprofit Boise Bicycle Project, said even he had felt uncomfortable riding his bike along busy Victory Road.
“It doesn’t feel rural when there’s that many cars going by,” he said.
Boise does not control most of the city’s roads — that’s the job of the Ada County Highway District — but council members often discuss traffic concerns when considering projects.
Neighbors seek larger lots, developer seeks infill
Neighbors also worried about what the smaller lot sizes would mean for the neighborhood, although several said they were not opposed to development outright.
Southpoint’s plans include lots that slowly segue from smaller lot sizes near Victory Road to larger ones away from the street.
Misty Daniels, whose house would back up to the subdivision, said many of her neighbors moved to the neighborhood because they wanted more land. Some neighbors have lots that range from a half-acre to nearly two acres large.
“They have room for trampolines, swings and gardens,” she told the council. The smaller lots in the Music Subdivision, which would be around 5,500 square feet, or about an eighth of an acre, would not help preserve the character of the area, she said.
Keith asked the council to approve 9,000-square-foot lots along Victory Road that lead into half-acre lots toward the neighborhood to the south. “We think that will be more compatible there,” she said.
Clark argued that the lot sizes allowed for infill along a transportation corridor.
The council voted unanimously to annex the subdivision’s 19.6 acres and approved the subdivision on the condition that the pond remain open to the public.
Council Member T.J. Thomson, who lives on the western side of the city, said he understood the “growing pains” of the neighborhood but felt that the proposed subdivision is appropriate in the location, especially with the protection of the pond and several mature trees.
Council Member Patrick Bageant said he did not believe the development authentically protected the semirural character of the neighborhood. Hallyburton agreed. But they also agreed that approving the subdivision would help achieve was what Bageant called “a balancing” of the city’s needs.
Council President Elaine Clegg said that while concerns about needed improvements were valid, approval is the right decision.
This story was originally published August 26, 2020 at 12:02 AM.
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