BOISE -- From a foothills land purchase to a unique land exchange in the city of trees, Boise City Council members covered a lot of ground at their Tuesday night meeting.
First, council members unanimously voted to move forward with a 160-acre land purchase in the Boise foothills that will increase trail connectivity.
Boise city officials say the purchase price is $650,000. That money will come from 2001 foothills levy funds. The two-year levy generated $10 million for the protection of open space in the Boise foothills.
Doug Holloway, Boise's director of parks and recreation, says the purchase is expected to be finalized after a due-diligence period.
"We're very, very fortunate to be able to acquire a 160-acre piece like this. It goes really on the heels of two other major purchases that we've made in the last year," said Holloway.
The 160-acre acquisition connects to BLM and Forest Service property to the north and provides access to Daniels Ceek Trail easements to the south and west, while also providing access to Stack Rock Reserve.
Once this latest purchase is finalized, Holloway says there will be about $600,000 left in the original foothills fund. A second was approved by voters in November that will generate another $10 million.
Next up on the agenda, Boise City Council members approved an amended agreement to exchange about six acres of land the city owns near Whitewater Park Boulevard for about 20 acres of a historic farmstead known as Spaulding Ranch.
Council members praised the exchange, saying this step is the culmination of six months of hard work.
As part of the agreement, developer LocalConstruct will get the west end property. City leaders say they plan to revitalize the now empty area.
"The city is going to be recording a development agreement on their property whereby we ensure we get some development we'd like to see in the west end. Mixed use development. We're going to see housing, we're going to see increased connectivity with the street grid," said Jay Story, west end project coordinator.
We're told that plan will also include some affordable housing. City leaders told KTVB the exchange is a "win-win."
As part of the deal, the city of Boise will acquire the Spaulding Ranch site located on the Bench with plans to preserve it for public use.
"It does have a historical designation on the property so there's a number of outbuildings that are there that we're looking at the possibility of doing some sort of preservation with," said Holloway. "To take a piece of land that large and be able to preserve it and conserve it inside the core of the downtown and then use that land to actually tell a story of early 19th century agricultural farming is quite compelling."
The city hopes to have a master plan for the Spaulding Ranch property done within a year. That process will involve public input before the plan is brought back to the City Council for approval.