Kuna edges toward Boise, annexes 1.7 square miles. Here’s what developer plans there

Kuna wants to attract industrial businesses to its east, the latest move in the gradual creep of Kuna and Boise toward each other as they expand into the desert south of the Boise Airport.

The Kuna City Council just annexed 1,088 acres, or 1.7 square miles, into the city’s eastern side and zoned them for light and heavy industrial projects.

The area is a 2-mile-long group of nine mostly agricultural properties southwest of the Idaho State Correctional Center. Its is bordered by Curtis Road on the east and two segments of Cole Road on the west. Its length runs from a parcel just north of Kuna Mora Road all the way south to the Union Pacific Railroad tracks, wrapping around the CS Beef Packers plant on the northeast corner of Cole and Pleasant Valley roads.

The developer, KC Gardner Co. LC, of Meridian does not yet have plans for individual businesses for industrial buildings on the property. Geoffrey Wardle, who presented the plan on behalf of KC Gardner, said the developer wants to get the zoning and annexation done before bringing individual development proposals to the City Council.

This is “so that they could work with potential users and interested parties to ensure each individual development was done in the correct zone and l10ocated in the appropriate location for their use,” Wardle said.

The land is currently agricultural, and a portion of the area has an abandoned Tyson poultry-processing plant.

Six miles still separate the newly annexed Kuna acreage from CBH Home’s big Locale subdivision (formerly Syringa Valley) that is going up on the east side of Cole just southwest of the airport. The distance is less, though, west of Cole between Kuna and populous but unincorporated Southwest Boise. Farther west, Kuna is butting up to Meridian.

Morgan Treasure, economic development director for Kuna, said in a memo that she had been working closely with Gardner and property owners in east Kuna.

“With freight access points at Orchard and Black’s Creek and the opportunity for rail service, these properties have prime attributes for industrial users, but are hard to market without entitlements,” Treasure said in the memo. “In the current climate, most businesses simply don’t have time and risk tolerance to go through the entitlement process and are only interested in properties that are already zoned appropriately for their projects. Removing the administrative and timeline burdens of annexation makes the City of Kuna more competitive when companies are evaluating where they would like to locate or expand their operations.”

Three neighbors were opposed to the development. One, Elver Miller, testified during an earlier Planning and Zoning Commission meeting. He lives on the property directly east of the proposed industrial area. He has open-range livestock and was concerned with the impact the development could have on wells in the area. Miller mentioned he has had to replace his well pump because of additional well-drilling in the area.

Wardle said the developer would be getting its own water rights, and the Idaho Department of Water Resources would analyze the area to ensure that additional well-drilling wouldn’t harm residents in the area.

In the Planning and Zoning hearing, Wardle said the developer was in talks with a variety of potential businesses, including an industrial user interested in the southwest corner of the property, where the former Tyson plant is.

At Tuesday’s City Council meeting, Jace Hellman, Kuna Planning and Zoning director said the commission was fully in support of the rezone, but reminded both the developer and the council that each business that wants to come into the area would be subject to a fiscal analysis by the city, because of the impacts of the property tax law that came from the last legislative session.

That law caps the amount of property tax cities can collect from new development. Cities say the law hinders their ability to pay for city services.

Kuna Mayor Joe Stear said the law, House Bill 389, was a hindrance to the city, so having individual development agreements for each property will be helpful in making sure the project “makes sense in the city.”

The City Council unanimously approved the Gardner annexation and rezone.

Who’s running for Kuna City Council in 2021? Our voter guide highlights the candidates

Hear from the candidates: Our 2021 voter guide to the Kuna School Board election

Should growth pay for itself? Why tax district claiming to do that angers some Boiseans