Boise is rewriting its 60-year-old zoning code. Here’s why one group wants to stop it
The first substantial zoning code rewrite in nearly 60 years is underway. It will add hundreds of new laws, remove others and ultimately decide what the city looks like for decades to come.
But one group is urging Boise residents to reject the current draft of the new code.
“Many who promote upzoning call those who oppose it NIMBYs, which stands for ‘not in my backyard,’” Fred Fritchman, who serves on the board of Boise Working Together, said in a speech in front of City Hall. “I’d like to ask them: ‘What’s wrong with keeping the area you call home a nice place to live?’”
The “Reject Boise Upzoning” group is a coalition of several local citizen groups that have fought development in the past, including Boise Working Together, Old Hill Road, Protect Boise Neighborhoods and Vanishing Boise. About 15 people came together to protest the newest zoning code draft on Tuesday morning.
The group has been concerned with “upzoning,” meaning to rezone an area in a way that allows for more development. The movement’s leaders say this will encourage “demolition of existing homes to build higher density for larger profits,” according to its website.
Chris Rayon, who lives in the East End neighborhood, said he worries developers will tear down single-family homes and replace them with condos.
“After this code goes into place, 212 or 94% of the lots in my neighborhood will be available to be split and redeveloped,” Rayon said. “To say this would drastically changed my 1950s-era neighborhood is an understatement.”
Boise city planners have not been shy about their desire for increased density. An earlier draft of the rewrite proposed density maximums to be increased to four units on any residential parcel without any additional requirements. After pushback, that was changed. Now, developers can still build up to four units on a residential parcel, but only if two of them are set aside as affordable housing and fulfill sustainability requirements.
The anti-upzone group is also concerned that the rewrite will allow more developers to build without a public hearing, which will take away the neighborhood’s say in what happens.
“It reduces public involvement and the checks and balances currently (needed) under a conditional use permit,” Rayon said.
The group wants approval of the zoning code draft to be delayed until after the next City Council election in 2023, when all council members will be chosen by district, not at large, for the first time. Fritchman believes that, because the new council will be made of a more geographically diverse leadership, it will be better equipped to make a final decision on the new zoning code.
“I propose if this zoning code is good for Boise, we can wait and pass it then,” Fritchman said.
Zoning code to continue in new year
City planner Lindsay Moser told the Idaho Statesman that the city it still working to finalize zoning-code process dates, but that officials have a tentative schedule in mind:
February: The city will submit an application to amend the code to the Planning and Zoning Commission. The newest consolidated draft and conversion map will be made public.
April: Planning and Zoning Commission public hearing on the proposed changes.
June: City Council public hearing.
The final date for adoption of the code has not yet been decided.
This story was originally published December 13, 2022 at 7:22 PM.
