Zoning Laws

Caldwell wants residents to chime in about what they want their city to look like by participating in the first stage of its urban planning revamp.

Plans to build a hotel, apartment complex and a Hindu temple on Vista Ave. are moving forward despite neighbors’ concerns over traffic safety.

The Boise City Council voted Thursday night to approve the draft resolution that updates the city's zoning code. The last time the zoning code was updated was in 1966.

As Boise citizens weigh in on a once-in-a-generation rewrite of the city’s zoning code, there are a select few issues that make the shortlist of concerns: density, movability, and parking. This is why the New York Times bestseller, Paved Paradise: How Parking Explains the World, is such a must-read.

“Perfect is the enemy of good,” Commission Vice Chair Chris Danley said of the first major update of the city's zoning code in 60 years.

March promises to be a busier than usual month at Boise City Hall. Near the top of the to-do list is filling one empty and another soon-to-be empty seat of the City Council. Over 50 Boise residents submitted their names as possible replacements.

When the City of Boise began the once-in-a-generation massive effort to recraft its zoning code, officials knew that some fresh ideas for public outreach were key.

The city of Boise is re-writing its zoning codes, using a unique form of outreach to get a more diverse representation of the Idaho residents that live in the area.

The development standards seek to increase density in certain districts and to prevent the loss of housing units when buildings are torn down and re-constructed.

Boise, like most American cities, has been trying to design a community, project-by-project, for quite some time. But that was then.