Boise, Kuna opposed proposals for this 3,000-home community. Ada County just approved it
Kuna is one step closer to getting a large neighbor: a planned community with nearly 3,000 homes across 761 acres.
The Ada County Commission approved the development, called Spring Rock, which is the second-to-last step before the development has the green light to be built.
The planned community, which could bring in around 7,000 new residents to Ada County, would be located along Tenmile Creek Road, south of Hubbard Road and north of Kuna Road. It would be next to the Falcon Crest Golf Course, which is within Kuna city limits, and the Valor master planned community, which was incorporated into the golf course community.
The application, which includes a plan to have schools, parks, open spaces and 362,000 square feet of commercial development in the development, may look familiar to Kuna residents. They have seen it before.
The Kuna City Council in 2020, faced with the Spring Rock application, denied the project, saying it would put an immediate strain on Kuna city resources and it was too much growth too fast.
According to the Ada County application, Spring Rock developers, David Yorgason, Patt Duynslager and Chris Findlay, of Spring Rock Development LLC, worked with the city to remove the land the community would occupy from the city’s area of impact. This allowed the developers to seek an application through Ada County and not rely on Kuna services.
All three Ada County Commissioners voted in favor of the application, which put the development on the county’s land use planning map. Next, the developers are required to bring the commissioners a more detailed plan, with zoning requests and community design details for their approval. The county requires a two-phase process for planned community developments.
Neighbors, city of Boise opposed to development
Two neighbors to the proposed community voiced their opposition to it in the public hearing on Wednesday night.
Kim Briggs, who lives 8 miles from Spring Rock, said she was concerned with water issues. She said she had to spend $90,000 to drill a new well after hers went dry.
“They are right below the hill from us,” Briggs said. “So if our well goes dry again, who pays for it?”
Briggs’ concerns were echoed by another Kuna resident who was concerned with water issues.
Yorgason, who presented to the commissioners during the hearing, said Spring Rock will not be drilling any wells. Instead they will be piping water to the development. Veolia will service the residents, Yorgason said. The application said Veolia plans to provide the water from a deeper aquifer than was used for the Valor development.
The city of Boise was also opposed to the development. In a letter from Tim Kane, Boise planning and development services director, he said the city opposed the development in 2020 when it was before the city of Kuna because of service capacity concerns. The city opposed the Ada County application over its service needs, which would cost county taxpayers, and an “unplanned investment in transportation infrastructure.”
Kane also said the community is an “inefficient use of limited water resources” and represents “the conversion of critical farmland.”
Yorgason said Kane misunderstood some of the application and had since had a conversation with him.
“This is not prime farmland as mentioned, there’s a lot of floodplain area in the middle,” he said. “That is not prime farm ground.”
The commissioners assured residents that they understand the water concerns. Commissioner Tom Dayley said the county is trying to collect data to better understand the water resources in the valley.
A mix of apartments, town houses could make up Spring Rock
The zoning portion of the Spring Rock application is planned for a later date, but for now the development plan includes 95.7 acres of homes, 51 acres of town houses and 36 acres of apartments. It would also have 73 acres of commercial development, two schools — one West Ada school and one Kuna school—and 53 acres of open space like parks and trails, similar to Avimor and Hidden Springs planned communities.
Spring Rock would rely on the Kuna Rural Fire District and schools in the Kuna and West Ada school districts but would be “a self-sufficient planned community,” the developer said in a letter.
Without being connected to city sewer, Spring Rock would have to rely on its own wastewater treatment plant. The developers propose a centralized sewage treatment and wastewater reuse development. It would be built in phases as the community is constructed, the application said.
Affordable housing. A 3,000-home development. Storefronts at an Idaho ski resort. Coming near you
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