Developer proposes changes to denied student housing. What a Boise commission said
Neighbors hated it when a St. Louis development company first proposed apartments for Boise State University students at the southwest corner of West Boise Avenue and South Protest Road in Boise.
The project would get rid of an aging complex of about two dozen affordable apartments and replace them with nearly 200 student apartments. Those living in the old complex, known as Ridenbaugh Place, rallied with state legislators and local activists against the new project. Boise’s Planning and Zoning Commission recommended that the City Council deny the rezoning required for it. The City Council split 3-3, forcing Mayor Lauren McLean to break the tie and decide to deny it.
Now the developer, Subtext, formerly known as Collegiate Development Group, has brought the proposal back again.
This time, the proposed building is shorter — three stories instead of five — and parking has been moved underground. The number of bedrooms has changed too: Original plans had 196 units with 541 bedrooms, while thenew plans have only 175 units but with 547 bedrooms.
The revised plan includes 2,375 square feet of retail space that wasn’t there before — something McLean said in September could sway her on future versions of the project.
But neighbors still have concerns. Several people who testified before the Planning and Zoning Commission on Monday said the project is effectively the same as the original.
Erik Berg, speaking for the South East Neighborhood Association, said the new proposal still lacks diversity in types of housing and does not support a “healthy mix of uses.”
“The city made the right decision in rejecting the previous project,” Berg testified. “This project does not address the original reasons for denial. We urge you to reject this project, and afterward, we look forward to working with everyone to figure out a way to get a project that fulfills standards and goals.”
Lori Dicaire, an affordable housing activist, told the commission that it is the city’s responsibility “to drive a hard bargain in the public’s best interest” when pushing projects forward.
“We should make sure that the new building is equitable and mixed-income, while helping Boise’s affordability crisis by requiring the owners to accept Section 8 vouchers,” Dicaire said, speaking of a federal Department of Housing and Urban Development program that provides subsidies to landlords to allow families to be able to afford rent. “The city needs to put its fingers on the scale for housing that is chronically underproduced.”
Neighbors also cited concerns about parking, which they say can be hard to come by since the nearby Identity Boise apartments opened in 2018.
The proposed apartments would have 274 parking spaces but would offer scooter charging hubs and 550 bike spaces to encourage people to take different forms of transportation, filings show.
Commissioner Milt Gillespie, who last year voted to recommend denial of the rezoning, said limited parking spaces would encourage people to use mass transit or bikes. He said he hoped that when the council considered the project next that it would require a more detailed traffic study to address concerns, and while he was concerned about whether the project was truly “mixed-use,” the proposal met the qualification for a zoning change.
Meredith Stead, chair of the commission, said she favors the revised density but is concerned that “there’s work to be done here.”
“I would like to see some more activation in this big, impactful project that’s going in that could really have a hand in defining this neighborhood,” she said.
The commission voted unanimously to recommend approval to the City Council. It was not immediately clear when the project would go before the council.
This story was originally published February 8, 2021 at 11:07 PM.
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