‘Don’t want to support this.’ How a controversial housing project near Boise State won approval
Neighbors testified against it. Council members had concerns. But a new apartment building that would house hundreds of people near Boise State University is one step closer to reality.
Subtext, the St. Louis-based company formerly known as Collegiate Development Group, won approval Tuesday for a rezone of about 3.3 acres at the southwest corner of West Boise Avenue and South Protest Road.
The decision, approved unanimously by the Boise City Council, helps pave the way for the developer to tear down two dozen aging-but-affordable apartments to replace them with 175 apartments with 547 bedrooms largely targeted at Boise State students and young professionals.
Many residents of the Ridenbaugh Place apartments, which stand to be torn down, and the surrounding neighborhood considered it to be the wrong choice.
Neighbors have protested the development for more than a year. During an in-person rally during February of last year, residents talked about how they wouldn’t be able to find an apartment anywhere else in the city. Many took that protest to public hearings before the city. During a meeting of Boise’s Planning and Zoning Commission last year, commissioners voted to recommend that the Boise City Council reject the proposal, which at that point offered 194 units with 537 bedrooms.
When the development went before the council, members were split, leaving Mayor Lauren McLean to break a tie. She voted against the development because of concerns about the different uses for the property and transportation. She said then that if the developer addressed some of those concerns, she may vote differently.
Then the project came back. The new version changed the number of units and shrank the building from five stories to three. It also included 2,375 square feet of retail space that wasn’t there before, addressing McLean’s concern about the potential mixed use for the property. This time, the Planning and Zoning Commission recommended the project be approved.
But the changes didn’t address many neighbors’ concerns. The developer offered a relocation package to neighbors that include affordable rental options after the new apartments are built, but it still requires the people who live on the property now — many of whom are older — to move. The development was still diagonally across from Identity Boise, another large development aimed primarily at students.
“This project has not changed in any significant way from what was previously rejected, and in some ways, the diversity of housing has actually gotten worse,” Erik Berg, speaking for the South East Neighborhood Association, told the council.
Other neighbors testified the same way: The proposal seemed similar to the one that went before the council just over a year ago, with small changes but largely the same outcome. Some worried that the proposal violated a city rule that a denied project cannot be resubmitted until a year has passed; city staff members later clarified that it was OK for the development to move forward again as the original submission was in October 2019 and the new submission came December of last year.
Council Member Holli Woodings thanked the developer for “coming back with a project that reflected so many of our concerns,” while Council Member TJ Thomson said he was “extremely impressed with the level of redesign.”
“It’ll turn into a great meeting location and serve as a real asset,” Thomson said. “We’ll look back at this as a good decision if it’s approved tonight.”
Elaine Clegg, president of the City Council, noted that the new development “isn’t a perfect project” but said she was comfortable with many of the changes.
Council Member Lisa Sánchez said her vote was a hard choice to make.
“It’s painful that we have to say goodbye to some of the features that are so meaningful to our city and to our neighbors,” she said. “It’s especially painful to see 25 units, affordable units, lost. I don’t want to support this, but I’m going to.”
This story was originally published March 30, 2021 at 11:17 PM.
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