NAMPA, Idaho — This story originally appear in the Idaho Press.
Dust has yet to settle at the In-N-Out construction site in Nampa as crews are working to bring the highly anticipated project to completion.
The December opening of In-N-Out in Meridian, the first in Idaho, attracted hundreds of customers and cars who got in line for an hours-long wait. Next up are In-N-Out locations in Nampa and Boise.
WHEN WILL IN-N-OUT OPEN IN NAMPA, BOISE?
While many have speculated on the opening date of the Nampa location, there has not been an official announcement, as is the same with Boise’s incoming location at 140 N. Milwaukee St. near Boise Towne Square.
Mike Abbate, vice president of store development, said that In-N-Out is unable to provide a date at this time.
“We look forward to serving our customers in Nampa and its surrounding area and are grateful for the opportunity to be a part of this special community,” Abbate wrote in an email.
Meanwhile, the buzz of intrigue remains. Despite the lack of an opening date, an “In-N-Out Nampa Idaho Wait Time Tracker” Facebook page already has over 500 followers.
The incoming In-N-Out will be located near the Treasure Valley Marketplace on the former lot of TGI Fridays at 16225 N Marketplace Blvd.
SMOOTH PROCESS FOR HIGH-TRAFFIC PROJECT
As In-N-Out’s construction continues, the city has worked with the corporation as they would with any business coming to Nampa. Director of Economic Development Robyn Sellers said that In-N-Out came to the city with the former TGI Fridays location in mind.
“When a large corporation is coming in, we talk to them about what areas they are entitled to be in,” Sellers said. “And so that’s usually a starting point.”
The TGI Fridays property was already entitled for use as a restaurant.
Building a business on the site of a former, similar business makes the overall process smoother. Rather than Nampa having to evaluate the site to see if the project fits the area’s zoning, it already has a prior history of a similar use.
According to city documents, the structure of the Nampa restaurant is under 0.1 acres, leaving over an acre for the drive-thru and parking lot, a similar acreage and building size as the Meridian In-N-Out. However, cars at the Meridian location often overflowed into adjacent empty lots at the time of its opening.
The Nampa In-N-Out will be located in a lot that connects to the busy Karcher Bypass and Marketplace Boulevard intersection. On the restaurant’s west side is less-busy Merchant Way, where In-N-Out will have an added entrance to the lot.
Typically, a high-traffic project like this would trigger the need for a traffic impact study, but In-N-Out’s proposed location met the criteria to proceed without one. Nampa Civil Engineer Daniel Badger explained this was largely due to the previous entitlement of TGI Fridays as a restaurant.
“There’s no traffic impact study required if it has a certain threshold of trips per day, or trips in the peak hour,” Badger said.
Nampa’s policy states that a study can be required for developments that generate 100 new trips during any peak hour or 1,000 new daily trips. But, the study can be waived if the city determines that it would not help solve traffic issues.
“If this were at a different location that did not have existing entitlements, then yes, it would have triggered a traffic impact study,” Badger said.
While In-N-Out meets requirements and code, it doesn’t mean that there will not be an impact on congestion. Since the establishment meets Nampa’s criteria, Badger said that In-N-Out will not be on the hook for added traffic.
Instead, the city is collaborating with the corporation to prepare for a smooth opening.
“The opening of In-N-Out will likely have some challenges,” Badger said. “We are actively working with them to identify how best to address those issues, plan for how things will be routed, and work with them to make it as streamlined as we possibly can.”
THE NAMPA PERMIT PROCESS
When businesses are interested in opening in Nampa, Sellers said city staff have conversations to answer questions about required permits, impact fees and more.
Planning & Zoning Director Rodney Ashby said that Nampa has a pre-application process to help those undertaking a project understand what permits they will need.
“We sit down with an applicant and we say, ‘OK, what are you wanting to accomplish?’ And then we outline the processes that we think they’ll need to go through,” Ashby said. “That gives them a heads up really early on in the process.”
These preliminary discussions lay out a checklist for developers and make sure requirements are clear from the get go. It can help developers avoid overlooking a permit they actually need.
“We invite several different departments to that meeting, depending on the complexity of the project,” Ashby said. “They get a one-stop shop, and they can move forward with all of their permitting.”
As Nampa has grown, the city’s internal structure has shifted to meet new demand. Sellers said that Nampa’s overarching Development Services department was created in 2021. Around that time, the economic, planning, safety and engineering offices were relocated to one building.
“Being able to streamline that underneath one umbrella … all of us work together,” Sellers said. “(Mayor Debbie Kling) saw that need and then changed how we organizationally work together, and that really was in response to how much development was happening.”
Idaho code leaves much of the land planning process up to local municipalities.
“On a local level, you can create your own zones,” Ashby said. “You can determine which zones require designer review, certain studies or conditions that you can place.”
As for estimated project timelines — Ashby said it really depends.
“That is truly the challenge, right? People ask that all the time, but if you have to go through an annexation process, that could be four to six months,” he said. “... The amount of time is really dependent on all of the different permits they need, if they need a conditional use permit, or if they need a variance.”
In the case of In-N-Out, the project did not require annexation or rezoning. This allowed the restaurant to go straight to a design-review process.
Nampa’s annexation process is one of the fastest in the Treasure Valley, Ashby said. Sellers noted that developers are often surprised by the short timeline.
“We have a lot of national users and developers who are usually very impressed with our application, our timing, our ability to move quickly,” Sellers said. “They’re used to other states where it takes like double the amount of time.”
According to city records, In-N-Out submitted for the design review process in June 2023 and had plans approved within a month.
For In-N-Out lovers on the edge of their seats, the Nampa opening date unfortunately remains a mystery.
Those interested in learning more about Nampa’s planning and development process can visit the city’s website to read “A Citizen’s Guide to Planning.”
