Garden City Council rejected a proposed 18-story building. Now it has the green light
It’s been a confusing odyssey for a proposed 18-story building in Garden City. First it was approved, then denied and then approved once more.
The project ultimately squeaked through the approval process after it was found the council made its original vote based on faulty information. The decision sets in motion the construction of one of the city’s grandest and most controversial buildings.
Garden City Council members voted 2-1 on Dec. 13 to reverse their previous decision to deny Vida Properties’ application for an 18-story, 111-unit condominium building at 510 E. 41st St. That means the building — which will be one of the tallest in Idaho — has now been given the green light.
Council members originally denied the project in October after community advocate Wendy Carver-Herbert appealed the Design Review Committee’s approval. She said the building lacked sufficient parking and was incompatible with the surrounding area, which is mostly residential.
But attorneys for Vida Properties said Carver-Herbert and the City Council had a flawed understanding of Garden City’s code and that the denial was made in error.
Carver-Herbert had argued the building’s parking plan violated the city’s residential parking requirements. However, the building has a mixed-used designation because it will contain multiple commercial businesses and therefore is not subject to residential zoning requirements, attorney JoAnn Butler said in a legal memo sent to the council.
Garden City Attorney Charles Wadams said in a Nov. 18 memo that Vida Properties had a right to challenge the City Council’s previous decision based on the evidence and that there was a risk that the matter could be taken to court.
“(Vida Properties) provides significant argument and analysis to support the allegations,” Wadams said. “By granting the reconsideration request, it would give the council an opportunity to correct any errors before the applicant might otherwise proceed to file a petition for judicial review in court.”
The scope of the project has significantly changed over time. Originally, it was to be a nine-story hotel building, which the city approved in 2020. Vida Properties, though, came back in 2021 with a proposal doubling the height and changing the units to high-end condominiums instead of hotel rooms.
Some residents opposed the proposal, arguing it would lead to traffic congestion on nearby roadways and that it didn’t fit the residential layout of the surrounding area.
Council Member Jeff Souza, the only councilor to vote against reversing the decision, reiterated his position against the proposal, arguing that it differed too greatly from the original proposal, both in terms of size and use.
“That is not the project that went through the original process and that was not the project that was approved,” Souza said in the meeting. “I don’t like what’s happened here. I don’t like the optics.”
However, the other two council members, Jim Page and Teresa Jorgensen, voted in favor of reversing the decision after saying they had misunderstood the project.
“Now that I see my error and my misunderstanding, I’m not sure that I can find concern with health and safety, either,” Page said during the meeting.
Mayor John Evans told the Idaho Statesman on Wednesday the project will not go before the council again and the proposal is considered settled.
This story was originally published December 22, 2021 at 1:11 PM.
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