Boise City Council moves to regain its power; could Interfaith shelter get approved again?
Idaho’s Supreme Court in January said Boise’s City Council had wrongly approved the construction of a new building for Interfaith Sanctuary on State Street. The decision came as a blow to the homeless shelter, which began construction on the new site months ago, and it highlighted a flaw — from the City Council’s perspective — in the city’s zoning code.
The court took issue with the council’s decision to overturn, on appeal, an earlier denial by the city’s Planning and Zoning Commission of the shelter’s application for a conditional use permit. The city’s code, the court said, doesn’t allow the City Council to overturn a P&Z decision unless it can prove that the commission made a mistake. That was news to the City Council and to P&Z commissioners, the Idaho Statesman previously reported.
“What the court said is, ‘You’ve got to show your work when you do overturn P&Z. And by the way, P&Z has a lot more power than what you think they have,’ ” Council Member Luci Willits said at a Jan. 28 town hall for her constituents. “So there is going to have to be an ordinance change.”
On Thursday, Boise announced its intent to change its approval process and take back power from the unelected P&Z Commission. Under a proposed amendment to the city’s zoning code, the council would be able to hear appeals of P&Z decisions on conditional use permits — with an open record and the ability to consider new evidence — even if it hasn’t found that P&Z’s decision was a mistake, according to a Thursday news release from the city.
Planning and zoning commissioners are appointed by the mayor with council approval.
“The recent Supreme Court decision highlighted the need to amend the modern zoning code’s process of review and approval for conditional use permits to increase transparency and accountability, and avoid any potential confusion in the future,” Deputy Chief of Staff Hannah Brass Greer said in the release.
That amendment could help the Interfaith Sanctuary project gain a new approval. Once a new process is finalized, Interfaith can submit a new application for a conditional use permit, the release said.
P&Z will hear the proposed changes first and can recommend them for City Council consideration, according to the release. There will be an opportunity for the public to weigh in on the proposed process, the release said, though it did not provide details on the timing.
“In the weeks ahead, the city will address the procedural issues that arise from the court’s decision,” Mayor Lauren McLean said in a separate news release.
Maria Weeg, a spokesperson for the city, told the Idaho Statesman on Jan. 23 that it was “too soon to say” what implications the court’s decision would have on previous City Council decisions that overturned P&Z decisions.
This story was originally published February 6, 2025 at 1:35 PM.
