50 years from now, we’ll be glad Boise preserved Murgoitio Park land as open space

Turning over 160 acres of proposed parkland in Southwest Boise to a developer would be a mistake.

We urge Boise City Council members to preserve the so-called Murgoitio Park site, a parcel of land on Victory Road between South Cole and South Maple Grove roads, which the city has envisioned as a park since the 1990s.

Council members should reject a land swap proposed by Harris Ranch developers, who approached the city with a deal that would allow them to build houses on the Murgoitio Park site in exchange for land that would connect the Boise Wildlife Management Area with Table Rock.

During an interview with the Idaho Statesman editorial board last week, Boise Mayor Lauren McLean and Boise City Council President Elaine Clegg expressed their desire to address affordable housing as a main motivator in considering this deal. The developers have said the new homes would be priced below median Boise and Ada County market rates.

“We are in a full-blown housing crisis,” McLean said. “We have been doing a full assessment of all the land that we own and hold already, to see what we can do for housing.”

But using this land in a rush to provide affordable housing — while a noble goal — is short-sighted.

Once open space is developed, it is gone forever. There is no going back; you can’t “undevelop” land and turn it back into open space.

Fifty years from now, we have no doubt that we would regret a decision to allow this land to be developed. Long after our affordable housing problem is solved, we will wish we had this land back.

This is especially true in a city like Boise, whose residents place such high value on open space, and it will be especially true in Southwest Boise, where there aren’t a lot of parks like in other parts of the city.

We’re sure there were areas in what is now Foothills open space that developers eyed back in the day, and thankfully, those areas stayed open space.

Connection to Table Rock

We recognize and appreciate that a big incentive in this deal is a promised trail linking the Boise River Wildlife Management Area to Table Rock. The Harris Ranch developers have offered up a corridor of land that would give Foothills recreationists something they’ve long wanted.

But even though the trail connection is tempting, the city should not take this deal.

Instead, the Harris Ranch developers should donate this corridor to the city. They have done very well financially building houses in Boise, and it would be a sign of goodwill and a thank you to the city of Boise and its people for being given the opportunity to develop in our booming real estate market.

Further, a connection between Table Rock and the management area would be a benefit to Harris Ranch homebuyers, so the developers should be motivated by the amenity that they could provide to their customers.

In the end, giving up 160 acres of open space for this link is not worth it.

Consider the value of recent land deals. Last month, 34.5 acres of parkland owned by the city of Eagle sold for $9.1 million at auction. That’s nearly $264,000 per acre. The Boise School District has a deal in place to sell a 15-acre piece of land near the Murgoitio Park site for $12 million, according to BoiseDev. That’s $800,000 per acre. At that price, the Murgoitio Park site is valued at $128 million. A recent article by BoiseDev showed that an appraisal of the Harris Ranch foothills land offered to trade was valued at $15 million. Hardly an even swap.

If the city were to simply auction the Murgoitio Park site, that would pay for a lot more Foothills property that could be preserved than what’s being offered.

Keeping a promise

Finally, a promise is a promise, and Boise city officials made a commitment to preserve this land as a park. It’s important to stick to promises made.

Boise City Council members in the 1990s passed a resolution declaring their intent to develop the land as a park, and a covenant with the Boise Airport promised the land would be a park. Breaking that covenant would trigger a $620,000 payment to the airport, yet another reason to stick with the original plan.

Boise city officials today are making promises to preserve open space, particularly in the Foothills; we wouldn’t expect those promises to be broken 20 years from now, simply because the promise was made “so long ago.”

We understand city officials’ desire to “just do something” to address the affordable housing crisis, which Mayor McLean correctly described. But they should resist the temptation to do something they’ll regret later on.

It’s not too long ago that city officials decided it would be a good idea to tear down historic buildings in downtown, the results of which we now regret.

The best thing city officials can do to address affordable housing is to make it as quick and easy, while still being responsible and smart, to build houses on developable land — not giving up open space that we’ll never get back.