RVs can be affordable housing, but Boise area has too few spots for them. This could help
As housing unaffordability persists in the Treasure Valley, the county government has approved at 310-space RV park in southwestern Ada County.
Located at 7680 W. Vallejo Road east of Kuna, the park on close to 40 acres would take the place of a gun range.
Rising rents in the Treasure Valley have led more people to rely on RVs for permanent housing, the Idaho Statesman previously reported. But there are few spots to park an RV in the county.
During two public hearings, the Ada County Commission received lots of testimony about the project, including from neighbors opposed to it because of concerns about safety on nearby roads, groundwater, and light and noise pollution.
The developer, Griffin Marketing, a Nampa public affairs firm, applied on behalf of property owners Justin and Jana Griffin. The developer has said the project would serve vacationers and people looking for short-term housing. Sebastian Griffin has told the County Commission at hearings that stays would be capped at several months, and that RVs visiting the park would have to be no more than 10 years old.
On Tuesday, Commissioner Ryan Davidson said he was in favor of approving the park, but noted that he had not wanted to impose further conditions — like requiring spots for low-income people — on the developer and instead hoped they would prioritize the region’s needs.
“I’m looking to approve this project with minimal restrictions in the hope that this can be developed into a great project that can serve the community,” Davidson said. He added that there could be tenants with RVs that are older than 10 years who could still be good residents.
He said the commission had debated whether the project would be affordable housing or a vacationers hub.
“I came to the conclusion that it can be both if it’s managed correctly,” he said.
At a previous hearing, Davidson said there is a one-to-two-year waiting list for RV spots at the county’s park by the Western Idaho Fairgrounds.
At a public hearing in December, Griffin said there would be affordable spaces at the park for “both ends of those spectrums.”
Griffin did not say what rents would be. At the Boise Riverside RV Park, near the Western Idaho Fairgrounds, the monthly rent is $675.
In a text message, Griffin told the Statesman that he plans to begin removing lead from the site — connected to decades of use as a gun range — in three months, with construction to follow.
