Boise moves to stall Foothills growth, but the decision comes with risks

The Boise City Council vowed to stem growth in one of the city’s richest neighborhoods Tuesday, unanimously resolving to limit housing in the northern Foothills to prioritize open space, wildfire management and city services.

The council instructed planners to release acreage currently earmarked for annexation back to Ada County, preempting future requests to incorporate the land into Boise for development.

The resolution comes with a risk: In abandoning its claim, the city cedes control of some of the Boise Foothills to the county. Council members hope they can work with the county commissioners to curb building on the edge of the wilderness.

The decision will take months to enact. The city will have to amend its comprehensive plan, a six-month process centered on a public hearing, according to City Planning Director Maureen Brewer. Then, the city will need to ask the county to adjust its map of Boise’s area of city impact — a public process with its own timeline.

In a Tuesday work session, Brewer told the council there has been “interest and inquiries” from landowners looking to bring parcels into the city limits for development, though no formal requests are on the table. Council members felt compelled to launch the process as quickly as they could to set a course for the popular outdoor recreation area.

“Whether it’s our city and our citizens’ value of the Foothills, whether it’s fire mitigation, whether it’s about our ability to provide city services to the area … I think this makes a lot of sense,” Councilman Jimmy Hallyburton said.

Hallyburton emphasized the mounting threat of wildfires, which fire managers have found to be particularly dangerous where development meets wilderness. And, he reiterated the high cost of extending city services as developers pitch plans deeper in the hillsides.

The change will lock in the city’s northern boundary, capping buildable land in what’s become its most expensive neighborhoods. And, as part of the deal, city planners aim to update development protocols to meet the challenges of a more ruthless wildfire regime.

That leaves room for about 400 more homes in the area, Brewer said — 236 already permitted, and space for an additional 165 or so that might be developed on vacant land already inside the city’s boundaries.

The area above downtown tends to attract large, single-family homes. While the area isn’t a standard area for home statistics, as of Tuesday, the median list price for a house in the Foothills was $1.2 million, according to Eagle-based Waypoint Real Estate Group.

Removing the land from the city’s plans doesn’t mean homes won’t come to the hills. They’ll just rise according to the county’s process and code, not the city’s. County planning would take over — and likely approve more traditionally rural uses, Boise City Planning and Design Manager Deanna Dupuy said Tuesday.

Relinquishing control caused considerable heartburn for some council members, a concern Brewer acknowledged.

“Certainly,” she said, “we’re forgoing some leverage that we may have to influence the type of development that we may see in the Foothills, should the Foothills be developed.”

That concerned Council Member Colin Nash, who worried the goal could be “circumvented” by Ada County.

“I want to maximize our ability to protect the Foothills, and not give up any hypothetical leverage we may have,” he said.

But if the council wanted to keep the land open, its hands would be largely tied by state law, Dupuy said. Per Idaho code, areas of city impact “signal an intent to develop” and can’t be used for conservation, she said.

The city doesn’t have immediate plans to use any public funds to buy land for preservation in the Foothills, Brewer said. Council Member Luci Willits asked Brewer if the city intended to use voter-appproved open-space levy money to buy county land to protect it from development, and Brewer said no.

“I think we’ve seen what happens when Foothills development moves too quickly,” said Council President Meredith Stead. “What we know is that Foothills development can’t be undone once it’s done.”