A new state law passed in 2024 could significantly impact how homes, commercial buildings and roads develop around McCall.
A city’s area of impact is a buffer zone between the city limits and the county. The area usually carries the same or similar zoning requirements as the city. At a meeting in May this year, Valley County commissioner Neal Thompson said residents don’t like having to comply with codes from a city they don’t have representation in.
"The biggest thing I've heard from constituents out there is that they're tired of confusion in the impact area. They want a building permit, want to do whatever on their property. They want one governing entity to handle it," said Thompson.
State lawmakers last year overwhelmingly approved new limits and criteria on where on how far impact areas can extend. The law also specified counties get the final say as the governing body.
"Areas of impact are where growth is anticipated and planned to occur, where the city expects to annex in the near future," said the bill's sponsor Sen. Todd Lakey (R-Nampa) in a 2024 committee hearing. "And then with that expectation, the cities have the opportunity for more notice and input on county decisions that occur in that area of impact."
The City of McCall said it worked proactively with Valley County for decades to manage its area of impact with a joint city-county planning and zoning commission.
"McCall's been very intentional about its planning over the last several decades. It's been intentional about that community character," said Michelle Groenevelt, who's been with the city for 20 years and is now the Director of Community and Economic Development. "And so you don't really know when you're in the county versus the city when we refer to the impact area, because that development style is going to be similar."
McCall this spring sent a map to Valley County, proposing new boundaries that comply with the new state law. The map was nearly identical to the existing area of impact. The county in May debuted its own version, shrinking the area of impact around McCall 97%. The county would make McCall's AOI just three small sections of land; around the airport and on the southeast and northeast corners of the current city limits.
"The county has also indicated that they would like to take over the administration of the [current] impact area and apply unincorporated Valley County codes to those areas," said Groenevelt. "So basically repeal all of the planning work that has happened to date."
City council member Mike Maciaszek said the county plans were disappointing.
"It is a dramatic change that is proposed by the county, and it's not driven by data that I'm aware of. It's driven by county commissioners saying, 'I think this should be in or I think this should be out.' So it appears to be subjective."
In public meetings, Valley County commissioners appeared to let some landowners decide if they wanted to be in the area of impact or not, down to contacting some people directly.
Maciaszek prioritizes areas of impact differently.
"Managing Growth says that we have industrial zones, we have commercial zones, we have residential zones, and that we're going to keep the auto wrecking facility or the the hotel or whatever it might be, any commercial use, in an area where there's other compatible uses."
Right now, Valley County code doesn't specify different zones. Projects are typically managed by issuing conditional use permits. Maciaszek has other concerns, like a lack of requirements for how far away developments and landscapes should be from waterways, so runoff from lawn or garden care doesn’t go into Payette Lake, for example. Or how private driveways intersect with roads, like Idaho Highway 55.
"The benefit of having [the code] is that the landowners have predictability," he said. "When you remove this code that has been developed by a community within the city [and] the county, and it's been what everybody else has adhered to, now you're undoing that and you're saying, 'hey, have at it?' There's no guarantee that your nextdoor neighbor is going to be building something that you consider to be compatible."
"I've been working at the city for 20 years. This is by far the biggest issue that will have the most impact on this community in the long run." - Michelle Groenevelt, McCall Community and Economic Development Director
Valley County Commission Chair Sherry Maupin said the county’s proposed boundaries comply with the new state law. The county’s map also factors in the lack of any planned growth for the McCall Sewer District.
The district says it needs a new wastewater pond and other repairs to handle the growing population. If the sewer district can't expand, that means the city limits can't significantly grow either.
"Sewer planning is going to be key and critical," said Maupin. "Unfortunately, we're behind the eight ball in McCall and need an opportunity to manage that before growth occurs."
Maupin said the county will add some restrictions to the code to address concerns. Fifty-foot setbacks from waterways is one, landscape and other specialty requirements along the scenic byway are another. She says changes should be consistent across the county to limit confusion.
But city officials are concerned the changes could lead to a patchwork of building types and land use the city will then have to grow into over the coming decades. Maciaszek questions whether county officials will always be the best choice for making decisions that can be hyper-local.
“Let's at least try to look at the big picture and try to collectively make the best decisions for our community. For those of us that live here, for our children, for the future."
On Monday, July 7, Valley County will hear public comment on proposed changes to McCall’s area of impact boundary and governance. Maupin said the county will also present a timeline for updating its building codes to address concerns.
That hearing begins at 2 p.m. at the county courthouse in Cascade.
