City Government

Incumbent Politicos Favor North End, Ignore Bench In Rezone Attempt

Mr. Wiebe’s post illustrates the current administration’s bias favoring developers and those who profit from growth as well as obvious disrespect for Boise Bench residents when it comes to planning and advice on a zoning ordinance update.

GUEST OPINION
By Henry Wiebe,
Vista Neighborhood Assoc. Pres.

Last Thursday, as the Vista Neighborhood Assoc. President, at the invitation of Boise City, I attended a stakeholder interview with five or six other neighborhood association representatives to hear from the newly hired consultant, Clarion and Associates.
Clarion is charged with

    the project of updating our city’s Zoning Ordnance.

The consultant team includes local Kushlan and Associates; (Phil Kushlan directed CCDC for years, and our meeting was attended by Phil’s wife.)

It was made clear to us that as “stakeholders”, we have no power or influence beyond any other citizen.

There’s another group called “advisory” also referenced by the consultant as “steering” committee. This group was hand picked by the City. Here’s that list:

Clay Carley, general manager of Old Boise LLC
Tom Zabala, ZGA Architects & Planners
Doug Fowler, Developer, http://lenirltd.com/
Jessica Aguilar, Vice President Corporate Real Estate & Construction
D. L. Evans Bank
Bud Compher, Developer https://nwboise.org/our-team/
Nicole Windsor, West Downtown Neighborhood Assoc
Richard Llewellyn, North West Neighborhood Association
Jason Densmer, Planning, land survey and development, https://www.thelandgroupinc.com/people
Chase Erkins, Commercial Broker, https://bomaidaho.org/member/chase-erkins/
Steve Bradbury, real estate atty, Boise PandZ commissioner
Joy Kealey, https://govelect.idaho.gov/team/committee.html#kealey and her husband is Director at Idaho Department of Commerce.
Patrick Spoutz, https://www.idahostatesman.com/opinion/readers-opinion/article235466472.html
Tim Breuer, https://www.idahostatesman.com/outdoors/hiking/article223314005.html
Milt Gillespie, Boise PandZ commissioner

Residences of hand picked zoning revamp committee members includes one each in Kuna and Meridian with none on the Boise Bench.


If you wanted to know where these individuals live in proximity to City Hall/Boise, you can follow this link to a MAP TOOL.

Comments & Discussion

Comments are closed for this post.

  1. This Zoning re-write process has an assured pre-determined outcome -i.e. the end product will be radical Upzoning that will gentrify neighborhoods and drive the majority of current residents out of our homes. The city’s select groups are “cover” to try to give it a veneer of legitimacy. The make-up of the Advisory Group shows this is not a legitimate process – instead is more insider dealing.

  2. Bonnie Krupp
    Nov 24, 2019, 9:53 am

    Fascinating. Published at the wrong time as people are gearing for the holidays. Hope you repeat it.

  3. HERE is a video from Austin TX describing the Zoning scheme the City and its hired consultants are going to be imposing on Boise – unless people push back HARD:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qsYOurWEoSc

  4. G Alexander Jones
    Nov 24, 2019, 11:32 am

    This process is illegitimate and fatal to Boise’s neighborhoods. It is a closed process …exactly why citizens rejected the closed door planning for library and stadium. Please watch the UTube video! The target has been selected for “renewal” and it’s clearly Vista and the bench. Maybe a right-wing style sit in at the next “outreach” will make the city include those most impacted.

  5. David Klinger
    Nov 24, 2019, 2:28 pm

    There is never a “wrong” time for the citizens to administer a little “straight talk and common sense” to their elected leaders. Propositions 1 and 2 during a municipal election were surely the “wrong time” from the perspective of our elected leadership, but a much-needed wake-up call from the citizens, nearly three-quarters of whom demanded a better approach from their city leaders. And what better time than a mayoral runoff election for citizens to ask the hard questions about the direction Boise is headed? No, Thanksgiving is no time for us to doze off into a turkey-induced, tryptophan haze, given the stakes that are at play with Boise’s future.

  6. Not sure why you are surprised at the location of all those that the City Council and Mayor would select as the Advisory Committee.

    This behavior is not new nor will it change. Nor will the city ever involved a majority of those outside the north end…if they do they loose their power.

    Until the city council members are elected by districts that FORCE the council to be from all areas of the city there will be no change.

  7. In the public interest?
    Nov 24, 2019, 9:08 pm

    Both the local consultant (Diane Kushlan) and the out of state consultant (Clarion – Donald Elliott, Jim Sprung) have the American Institute of Certified Planners (AICP) credential, which is part of the American Planning Association. This organization’s website states that the planning process must continuously pursue and faithfully serve the public interest, and emphasizes Ethical Principles In Planning for its members to abide by and conduct its activities.

    Maybe the chosen few regular citizens who will get to participate in this Zoning Code process need to remind the consultants, and any city staff who have the AICP credential, that the first principle of conduct is to “Recognize the rights of citizens to participate in planning decisions.”

    Ethical Principles In Planning – Planning Process Participants should:

    1. Recognize the rights of citizens to participate in planning decisions;

    2. Strive to give citizens (including those who lack formal organization or influence) full, clear and accurate information on planning issues and the opportunity to have a meaningful role in the development of plans and programs; 


    3. Strive to expand choice and opportunity for all persons, recognizing a special responsibility to plan for the needs of disadvantaged groups and persons; 


    4. Assist in the clarification of community goals, objectives and policies in plan-making; 


    5. Ensure that reports, records and any other non-confidential information which is, or will 
be, available to decision makers is made available to the public in a convenient format and sufficiently in advance of any decision; 


    6. Strive to protect the integrity of the natural environment and the heritage of the built environment; 


    7. Pay special attention to the interrelatedness of decisions and the long range consequences of present actions. 


  8. Another example
    Nov 25, 2019, 7:54 am

    For years, the city planning and the council, and their daddy the mayor, has avoided doing the hard work necessary to clarify the zoning laws. It could have been done in house with the neighborhood associations.

    The local planning and development willingly violate the restrictions that have been in place. Apparently daddy allows that.

    If they are using public money to pay for these people, it is a meeting whereby they cannot restrict the attendance of the public. They must provide a place for the public to sit. Each change that will require a resolution must be put on the public hearing list. (Not the consent agenda – they are supposed to be two separate sections.)

    The Kushlan connection is a conflict of interest, and needs to be officially noted at the beginning of every meeting and the Mrs. cannot vote. They should be ashamed.

    Let’s get ever single publicly paid for meeting attended by the public. Go away corrupt inner circle.

  9. Henry Wiebe
    Nov 25, 2019, 9:21 am

    Power of observation: We can’t grow our way out of this exponential problem. It’s global in nature, and very local on impact. It’s 5th grade math. It will not show up in affordable housing schemes.

    So far, the public isn’t ready to accept the hard truth surrounding the law of exponential growth, which is found at the base of it all. Follow the money. It’s a bargain with the future.

    So if you own or live in an area where the next vision of density exists, where “investment” sees a way to promise future profits, you have been notified about the next wave of change that is here and now. This issue is succinctly described here >>> http://www.zonedoutfilm.com/ . –Thank you Katie Fite!

    If you want to know what Kushan and Associates (Diane K.) thinks about the Vista Ave Corridor, here’s a quote from her work to produce a report by Urban Land Institutes (ULI).

    SUMMARY OF CURRENT VISTA AVE CORRIDOR
    “LAND USE: some single-family housing, single story strip commercial, car and tire dealers, auto repair shops, fast food, drive-ins, bars, pawn shops and adult entertainment venues.”

    Granted, Vista Ave has its share of what’s listed, but what about the other great things? There are real people who work and live on Vista AVE and have invested there. What about including other thriving and existing categories in the list for a more honest and accurate land use statement: GROCERY, FLOORING, JEWELRY, FLORAL, PHARMACY, DINING, BANKING, SHIPPING, POSTAL, MEDICAL, HOTEL, RETAIL RECREATIONAL EQUIPMENT, VETERINARY, SALON, LEGAL, ACCOUNTING…

    You can see the narrative being developed. And this is the very person who is contracted with the city of Boise to re-write our zoning laws.

  10. Removing Barriers to Public Participation
    Nov 25, 2019, 12:13 pm

    A big citizen concern for the mega-library, the creation of URD’s, the bike park, and other city projects, has been the lack of citizen inclusion in the process. One simple step the city can take, if they really mean what they have recently been saying regarding wanting more involvement of the public, is to simply make available the City Hall Parking Garage for every public meeting held in the evening.

    Taxpayers already pay for this facility. Let us use it “for free” to encourage the publics attendance and participation. The once a month noon City Council Meeting would be the exception, as this garage is most likley fully utilized during the day. Anyone who then says parking is a problem downtown will not have this excuse to exempt themself from taking part.

  11. western guy
    Nov 25, 2019, 8:48 pm

    I might disagree with ‘Removing Barriers…’ by stating that public agencies (Boise City, Ada County, ACHD, etc.) don’t always have to meet inside their fortified castles. There is no law requiring such isolation, which is a huge hindrance for citizens to attend.

    How about Boise City Council meeting in a school auditorium twice a year? Rotate SE, West, NW, etc.

    Same for Planning and Zoning and other committees. Stop the madness!

  12. western guy
    Nov 25, 2019, 9:00 pm

    No appointees on the Bench, West Boise… many areas left unrepresented.

    Where is the outrage! Storm City Hall!

  13. I suspect that the lack of representation for the Bench stems from the fact that the F-35 debacle proved that the Bench residency is too immobile to being persuaded by sheer City Hall decree and propaganda prowess. So, willful ignorance is the default position.

    I sure hope that the Idaho GOP will make a decent bid for District 17 in the next election. My feeling is that D17 is much more purple than blue and that apathy on the part of GOP functionaries allowed TEAM 17 to waltz in and steal it. If you go to a D17 townhall meeting, you see them getting an earful from attendees on City issues that would paint D17 as much more conservative than you would expect.

    Anti-Constitutional outrages by MaryAnne Jordan are typical when she berates “deplorables” in thinly veiled language. Except she DID go nuclear on the 2nd Amendment one time and declared it void in today’s progressive world view.

    Urbanism is the road to Socialism. People control is the agenda, cuz we are all too “stupid” to run our own lives. We all must be protected from ourselves. City policy will carry this agenda out for them, one piece at a time. Feeling cozy, yet?

  14. western guy
    Dec 5, 2019, 10:25 am

    Think this North End/Team Dave CF will be rethought after the election?

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