Can you picture a San Antonio-style River Walk in tiny Star? Its mayor does
It may be difficult to imagine today: a San Antonio-style River Walk on what is now ranch land, with cows grazing on browning grass near the Boise River. But that is what the Star City Council and mayor have in mind for their small but growing city.
The city will first have to wait for two longtime cattle ranching families, who own 550 acres, to sell land to execute its plan.
Star Mayor Trevor Chadwick pictures a network of walking paths along the Boise River, with boutiques, restaurants and coffee shops for pedestrians and bike riders to visit on their treks across town. The riverfront would feature apartments on the second floor of stores and restaurants. Renters could finally live in Star, a city known mostly for its subdivisions of single-family houses.
The River Walk is planned for the land between the Boise River and Idaho 20/26 from Idaho 16 to Can-Ada Road, in south Star. There, city officials hope to add higher-density housing and commercial businesses, all with riverfront views.
“We want it to be San Antonio River Walk-style, where you can walk, bike and paddle-board through a canal,” Chadwick said in an interview with the Idaho Statesman.
The plan also calls for the Riverfront Center, “a civic and recreational activity hub along the south bank of the Boise River.”
.jpg "Screenshot (198).jpg")
Most of the area is owned by the Stillwell and Phillips families, longtime cattle ranchers who say they don’t plan to sell their land anytime soon. But if they did, city officials want to have an idea in place for developers.
Chadwick said he would like the Stillwell and Phillips families to keep their cattle ranching in operation.
“But with development and the way things are going, someone is going to offer them a lot of money for that, and we want to make sure we have an opportunity to make it a plan,” he said. “It is a blank canvas, and we have the opportunity to design how we want this area to look for our community.”
Chadwick wants to plan for Star’s growth, rather than just approving a 50-acre subdivision here and a 75-subdivision there. The plan would entail developing more than the River Walk. It also includes land farther south of the river. The Stillwell and Phillips families own most of the land in the plan. The plan indicated most of the ranch land would be homes.
Star is not the city it was a decade ago. The city, founded in 1997, grew by nearly 92% in the last 10 years, according to the 2020 census. The city that was home to under 6,000 residents in 2010 grew to over 11,000 last year. It is the smallest city in Ada County.
“Cities need to get more proactive in the vision for their communities, instead of reacting to development pressures,” Chadwick said. “People who want to develop it can come in and truly understand what the community wants.”
The plan would take place if developers buy the land. The outline would be part of the comprehensive plan, which developers are required to follow.
The River Walk would also allow for swimming, fishing and paddle boarding on the Boise River, Chadwick said.
The Phillips family has run its cattle ranch in Star since the mid-1920s, Patxi Larrocea-Phillips, who is the family’s attorney, said in a letter to the city.
The family owns nearly 200 of the 1,870 acres included in the South of the River plan. On its land, off Joplin Road and Idaho 16, the city plans to have single-family homes and neighborhoods mixed with apartments and townhomes.
The Stillwell family owns nearly 350 acres, according to the Ada County Assessor map.
The Phillips family sent a letter in August to the City Council and Chadwick opposing the plan. They said it needs more time to be vetted.
The family worried that its property would be designated park land, “further (hamstringing) our ability to sell the property for the highest value due to the constricting land use designation,” they said.
“These land use designations threaten the true economic value of our property,” the family wrote. “We are realistic; change is coming, but there are things that you can do to help us maintain our way of life for a little longer if you want production agriculture to stay near Star.”
.jpg "Screenshot (202).jpg")
But Chadwick said the city does not want to designate the Phillipses’ property as parkland. Officials want it to be mixed use, with commercial development and homes.
The land up against the Boise River would be designated park space with trails looping through it and connecting to the Riverfront Center.
Though the plan has different zoning for neighborhood density, a slight majority of the acreage is devoted to larger suburban homes that are most common in Star, according to the plan.
The plan said moderately priced homes are “the sweet spot of millennial housing demand,” but it also designates the Riverfront Center and the Star Road and Chinden Boulevard intersection areas to include apartment complexes, including some with ground-floor retail.
Chadwick also said the city could also move Star’s downtown core south of the Boise River. Today, Star City Hall and the police station are right off State Street, with bumper-to-bumper traffic and semi-trucks rumbling by most of the day.
.jpg "Screenshot (199).jpg")
After Middleton gave up its Idaho 44 bypass option that would have helped reduce traffic through its downtown, Chadwick said Star is going to have to come up with another traffic solution.
He said the city would consider moving Star’s city center to the River Walk.
The South of the River plan has been a long time coming, Chadwick said. The city started working with a consultant team in August 2020. The public can comment at the last hearing at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 21 at City Hall. The council is scheduled to vote on whether to accept the plan after the hearing.
It will take at least five or six years to develop the properties outlined in the plan, Chadwick said, because it depends on whether developers buy the acreage.
The city has not purchased any of the property south of the Boise River, he said. He insists that the city “is not forcing anyone to do anything with their land.”
Other than the ranch land, most of land south of the river is a residential subdivision, Stonebriar Subdivision.
“Instead of being a bedroom community where you have to leave to get anything done, you can take care of your business here if you wanted to,” Chadwick said. “You can work, live, shop and recreate here.”
