What happens when you build houses, but no stores? This Boise neighborhood is finding out

A proposal to turn vacant commercial land into 118 homes and 20,000 square feet of stores is up in the air after the Ada County Commission heard staunch neighborhood opposition for nearly three hours.

The meeting Wednesday turned raucous as it stretched late into the night, with commissioners choosing to cut public testimony time from two minutes per person to one minute. At 10:30 p.m., there were still over 50 people signed up to speak.

The shorter time limit mostly affected people in favor of the project who had signed up last. Many of them received jeers from the gathered crowd

Single-family, duplex houses in Southwest Boise

The proposed development, from Utah investment firm Peg Cos., calls for turning a 10-acre piece of land set aside for commercial uses only — such as retail stores and offices — into a residential neighborhood called Alante Homes at Hazelwood Village.

Alante Homes at Hazelwood Village would be on the northeast corner of the Hazelwood Village neighborhood in Southwest Boise at 6381 S. Five Mile Road. Lake Hazel Middle School sits to the northwest while the Christine Donnell School of Arts sits to the south.

The village would include 20 one-bedroom, 37 two-bedroom, and 61 three-bedroom rental homes in a mix of single-family and duplex houses. The homes would range in size from about 700 square feet to 1,500 square feet, which is a bit bigger than an average apartment and run from $1,700 to $2,500 per month.

Proposed amenities include a private park, clubhouse, pool, multiple pickleball courts and a play area for small children.

This was the project’s second time in front of the Ada County Commissioners. The board in 2022 rejected Peg’s first proposal, which called for turning the entire property into housing, and asked Peg to include commercial elements.

The plan shown Wednesday includes about 21,000 square feet of commercial space facing the homes on the eastern side of the property. That space could fit six to 12 businesses, according to David Bourne, director of investments for Peg. That was not enough for neighbors.

“We don’t need any more housing — we need a place for us to shop,” said Barbara Bernie, who lives within walking distance of the site.

Bernie and other neighbors said it can take over 30 minutes to drive to any nearby shopping center, and they have limited options for dining, entertainment and retail.

“There is nowhere to go to take (my kids) out to eat,” said Nick Nettles. “We are prisoners in our home unless we want to sit in traffic for 25-30 minutes.”

According to Carlos Vidales, a neighbor who led the charge for much of the opposition, there are about 540 residents per business within a two-mile radius of the site. In other parts of the city, such as in the West Bench, that number is about 59 residents per business, he said.

“There’s really no other commercial lot that is right next to other businesses in the area,” Vidales testified. “I am taking the position that it can be 100% commercial.”

Vidales’ stance matched that of many other neighbors, who disputed market research from several local and out-of-state businesses that said it would be impossible to attract enough business on the site, as many of the stores would be hidden from view from Five Mile Road.

Bourne said he cold-called other business-owners that neighbors wanted such as CenterCal Properties, which developed the Village at Meridian, and owners of two local Trader Joe’s stores. They all agreed that a fully commercial development would not work, he said.

He also reached out to several other businesses including The Houston Office Co., an owner of a local Crumbl Cookies franchise and Massachusetts investment firm Rhapsody Ventures, whose portfolio includes two Wendy’s in Nampa along with medical and office spaces.

“The lack of visibility and access from any type of high traffic road would make a successful office space almost impossible, and retail or restaurant would be completely out of the question,” wrote Mark Fenton, managing director of Rhapsody Ventures, in a letter to the county commission. “Industrial or warehouse space might be a potential use in that site, but the traffic generated from delivery trucks and other associate traffic may cause angst for the neighbors who live next to or adjacent to the site.”

The most pessimistic assessment of the site came from Andrew Smith, managing partner and co-founder of Savory Fund, a restaurant investment firm based in the Provo area.

“The interior of this site lacks visibility, adequate parking and easy access,” Smith wrote in a letter to the commission. “I would never take any of those sites.”

Smith wrote that if someone gave him a restaurant at no cost and built to his exact specifications in the interior of the site, he would still not open any brands there.

“It would be impossible to operate, and I would lose on the labor costs alone,” Smith wrote. “It would be a waste of a great development.”

The owner of the property, Stephen Gibson, said the only offer he’s received since buying the property in 2012 was from Peg. Gibson lives in Provo, Utah, where Peg is based.

“The problem is, desire for services doesn’t actually always equal enough demand,” testified Tucker Johnson, president of Eagle-based Skyline/Green Village Development. “There needs to be more and more people for that kind of demand.”

Johnson was the original developer of Hazelwood Village and wrote in a letter to the commission that the interior of the Alante site was a “D+” for commercial uses at best.

But many of the neighbors did not care what kind of commercial went into the site, as long as it was commercial.

Commissioner Ryan Davidson said that if the commission denied the application and kept the site for only commercial use, a developer could use the entire site for a self-storage business rather than providing the restaurants, entertainment or shopping the neighbors hoped to see.

A cheer of support went up at Davidson’s comment anyway.

“On one way we lose the lot forever,” Vidales said. “On the other way we have a chance.”

Fingers point towards Boise City Hall

Opponents, board members and those in favor all blamed the city of Boise, in part, for the situation for crafting a sewer policy about 10 years ago that banned sewer line extensions for properties outside city limits unless they had previous rights.

“The city’s sewer policy has limited development in the southwest Boise community, as not all properties can hook up to the city’s sewer system,” according to an Ada County summary on the project.

The city of Boise opposed the 2022 plan as it had no commercial elements. The city supports the new project, as the added stores and retail opportunities on the eastern side fit within the city’s goals of keeping the site mixed-use.

Faced with unattractive commercial options and one of the few sites left in the area attached to the city’s sewer system, Peg hoped to turn the property into mostly residential uses that it said would help combat the local housing shortage.

“There is a need for housing,” Bourne said during an October county Planning and Zoning Commission meeting. “The shortage of housing has caused home prices to increase more than 73% over the last five years.”

Chad Scott, commissioner of the county Planning and Zoning Commission, said during the October meeting that the lack of businesses in the area while piling on residential would significantly overload current businesses.

“What we have here is an island in a sea of houses that runs from Cole to Eagle Road, down to Overland,” Scott said.

While he understood the need for more affordable housing in the region, Scott said there were more opportunities to build housing across the area than commercial.

“We’re looking to chew up the last potential bit of commercial attachment for Boise sewer in favor of more residential,” Scott said. “There’s no opportunity to reverse that whatsoever.”

The Planning and Zoning Commission recommended denial of the project. County staff members recommended approving it.

Concerns over water, traffic, school enrollment

Other concerns neighbors voiced had to do with clogged traffic, lack of water access, and overflowing schools.

The Community Planning Association of Southwest Idaho, or COMPASS, argued that the project would push the area outside of its forecasted growth and that the roads may not support the new demand.

But the Ada County Highway District, which controls the roads, studied the area and said the local roads could support the additional traffic.

County staff also looked into enrollment numbers within the West Ada School District, which Alante Homes at Hazelwood Village would be within, and said the “residential component of the project would have minimal impact on school enrollment numbers.”

Johnson, the developer of Hazelwood Village, said there was ample irrigation water to serve the project.

Bourne said, “We’ve addressed every one of these issues.”

County staff received over 600 pages of letters and comments in opposition to the project after the October Planning and Zoning Commission meeting. The commissioners tabled their vote on the project until their meeting at 10 a.m. Tuesday, Jan. 16. They will not hear more public testimony.

Huge planned community south of Boise leaps forward with construction nearing

The look and feel of Village at Meridian? This is new plan for CWI’s coming Boise campus

Been to the Boise Factory Outlets lately? They may soon be history. What’s in the works

Boise’s contentious new zoning code went live. Here’s what that could mean for you