A popular parking lot with access to Boise Greenbelt, ponds will close to public
Locals have long enjoyed easy access to Quinn’s Pond by way of a large parking lot near the water. But that lot will soon be closed to the public.
Beginning June 15, the city will no longer be able to lease the 10-acre lot at the corner of West Main Street and North Whitewater Park Boulevard, said Doug Holloway, Boise Parks and Recreation Department director.
The College of Western Idaho has leased the space to the city for free since 2016 to allow public parking along the Boise River Greenbelt, though former businesses at the location allowed people to use it in a less-official capacity prior to that, Holloway said.
Located just south of Bernardine Quinn Riverside Park with an entrance leading directly into the park, the lot has provided free access to the popular water recreation spot. Parkgoers will have a farther distance to carry their kayaks, paddleboards and other items this summer.
The College of Western Idaho recently gave the city notice that it was ending its lease agreement and plans to close the area for development, according to a statement on the Parks and Recreation Department website. Holloway said the college plans to break ground on its development shortly after the parking lot’s closure.
“We just appreciate the generosity of the state and CWI in allowing us to have folks be able to park there with no restrictions,” Holloway told the Idaho Statesman by phone. “We totally understand that, (for) those who have been using it and continue to use it, that it might be an inconvenience for them. But at the end of the day, it was never something that was going to be a permanent solution.”
Holloway is hopeful that the developer will be open to providing a public drop-off spot in the future.
“It wouldn’t be a parking area,” Holloway said. “It would be potentially a roundabout or turnout area where someone could pull in there, drop off their kayak, or drop off their board, but then have to pull right out.
The Greenbelt will remain open during construction, and parking with pond access is available at Esther Simplot Park, according to the department.
While some social media commenters assumed Boise had sold the property, the parks department clarified that the city has never owned it.
CWI bought the lot in 2015 for $8.8 million from a former car dealership to develop a campus. Those plans were suspended the following year after voters rejected a $180 million bond measure to build it, the Statesman previously reported.
Eight years later, the idea was picked back up in 2024 when board trustee members unanimously approved a proposal to consolidate CWI into two primary locations in Nampa and Boise through a public-private partnership with Meridian developer Ahlquist and its development partners, the Statesman reported.
Plans include a four-story academic building, apartments, a hotel, a parking garage and space for businesses, restaurants and stores.
