BOISE, Idaho — Boise might look very different in the next few years, thanks to the city's zoning code rewrite.
Although the rewrite is in its final stages, the city is still gathering public input. The Planning and Zoning Commission starts its hearings on the new code Monday.
People can testify at the hearings, which wrap up Thursday.
"We get lots of different opinions about whether this ordinance has accomplished what residents want," said Tim Keane, planning and development services director. "The Planning and Zoning Commission meetings next week are a chance to let us know what people think."
Planning and Zoning will likely send its recommendation to city council later this week. Councilmembers will hold their own series of hearings in June, Keane said.
City councilmembers will take planning and zoning's recommendation into consideration, although they don't have to follow it.
Keane said updating the zoning code has been a long process, one they started in 2019.
"I think people really care about Boise and want the right decisions to be made," he said. "The issue is, no matter what your position is on this, you're advocating for a certain kind of change because we're going to change; that's just life in a city or a neighborhood."
One group in particular, "Reject Boise Upzone," has been very vocal about its concerns with the zoning rewrite. City officials say the rewrite addresses housing affordability issues, two claims Dave Kangas, realtor and Reject Boise Upzone spokesperson, disagrees with.
Kangas said the rewrite is discriminatory because it targets certain areas of the city more than others.
"This is a very aggressive upzone," he said. "It's not focused on home ownership. It's really focused on rentals and making Boise become a city of renters, and it excludes or exempts certain parts of town."
Keane says the zoning rewrite maps out the future design and development of the entire city, which includes increasing density. Neighborhood residents would see more apartments, duplexes and triplexes on their streets.
Although density would increase, Keane said it would be "neighborhood appropriate."
"It's not proposed to be big apartment buildings that you'd see on a commercial street," he said.
Keane said rewriting the zoning code allows Boise to get ahead of some of its major housing issues, hopefully increasing affordability and the options available.
"It's a city that because of where it is and the good decisions that have been made in the past about Boise, we can grow in ways that address big problems that so many cities have not been able to," he said.
Kangas doesn't agree. He thinks the city should take its time and not rush into a zoning rewrite with such big potential impacts.
Rewriting the code also won't make housing cheaper or more available, he said.
"There is a belief that as long as we build more, somehow we're going to build less expensive homes," Kangas said. "That just defies what has happened."
There will likely be many changes to the zoning rewrite throughout the next couple of months. Kanagas said he hopes the city meets them in the middle and makes some compromises.
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