Higher density, more mixed-use. Will ‘upzone’ changes be good or bad for Boise? | Opinion

One visit to Phoenix and its sprawling suburbs should tell you all you need to know about poor land use planning.

Without changing what we’re doing in the Treasure Valley, that’s what we’re destined to look like.

Population in Ada and Canyon counties has increased by about 75,000 people since 2020, or 10%, to just more than 800,000 people, according to new estimates from the Community Planning Association of Southwest Idaho, or COMPASS.

With tens of thousands of new residents being added to the Treasure Valley every year, providing housing for everyone continues to be a challenge. Demand had been outstripping supply in recent years, leading to escalating housing prices.

Paying for infrastructure, such as roads, sewer and water, and services such as police and fire, is not penciling out, as sprawling medium-density, single-family subdivisions splash out across Idaho’s high desert landscape.

Boise’s zoning code rewrite, which some are calling “upzoning,” is a reasonable effort to change that status quo.

It will modernize the code and bring it into agreement with the city’s comprehensive plan, which sets the vision for what we want the city to look like. Having a zoning code that reflects that vision is important.

The rewrite aims to do that by increasing density and diversity of housing types throughout the city.

Developers could build up to four units in residential zones, according to previous Idaho Statesman reporting. Lot sizes would be reduced, and developers could build up to 12 units near mixed-use districts. Denser development would be allowed along public transit corridors and in “activity centers,” leading to larger apartment complexes and a mix of retail, commercial and residential.

The city is also using the zoning code rewrite to incentivize developers to set aside a certain number of units for affordable housing and to get builders to use sustainable materials and building practices.

We have our misgivings about affordable housing requirements, especially ones that last for 50 years, as the rewrite requires. We believe the path to affordable housing is abundance, not government mandates that could serve to have the opposite effect by putting bureaucratic hurdles in the way of construction, thus slowing it down. At the very least, city officials should have a robust discussion about whether those mandates will actually be effective and whether the time period should be shortened.

But overall, these changes move the city in the right direction. Children who are being raised here today are going to have a hard time living here as adults if we don’t diversify the housing options available to them.

We are convinced that this has not been a rushed process, as some opponents have suggested.

Work on the zoning code rewrite has been going on for at least three years and has included a diverse citizens advisory committee that held dozens of meetings over two years.

And the city has been listening.

Recall that last year, city officials toned down the rewrite in response to criticism that the plan was too aggressive.

The city of Boise also has been learning the lessons of other cities that have come before in their efforts at “upzoning”: Portland, Houston, Minneapolis, Austin, Texas, and Atlanta.

Boise’s zoning code rewrite recognizes individual property rights and provides a smoother, more predictable path with fewer obstacles for property owners who want to increase density on their property.

This provides at least some certainty for redevelopment and infill development.

And the work on the rewrite is not done.

Planning and Zoning commissioners are scheduled to hold a series of four meetings in the upcoming week, starting at 4 p.m. Monday and then at 5 p.m. Tuesday-Thursday.

Each meeting is scheduled to be five hours. There will be ample opportunity for the public to weigh in on the final product. Even after P&Z, the zoning code changes are scheduled to go to the City Council, where the people will have yet another opportunity to weigh in.

In the end, some Boise neighborhoods might look a little different, but neighborhoods with higher densities and a mix of uses will be improvements — not downgrades.

These changes will be more conducive to public transportation, more amenities within walking and biking distance, meaning fewer vehicle trips, and more diversity of housing — and residents — within all areas of Boise, all good things for a vibrant, growing city.

While some oppose this rewrite on the grounds that it goes too far, some feel it doesn’t go far enough. The rewrite as written is a reasonable, targeted compromise.

We recognize this represents a change, but we believe these changes will benefit all of Boise, and the Treasure Valley, in the long run.

Maintaining the status quo is not acceptable or sustainable.

Statesman editorials are the unsigned opinion of the Idaho Statesman’s editorial board. Board members are opinion editor Scott McIntosh, opinion writer Bryan Clark, editor Chadd Cripe and newsroom editors Dana Oland and Jim Keyser.