Boise defers decision on BVA tower project at 200 N. 4th St.

Boise City Council kicked the can down the road on Ball Ventures Ahlquist’s zoning request for a proposed double-tower mixed-use building on 4th between Bannock and Idaho Streets in Boise. At the city council’s Jan. 5 meeting, the public hearing and council debate on the project at 200 N. 4th began around 6:30 p.m. and ended at 11:27 p.m., nearly five hours later. The council voted to defer its decision on both of BVA’s zoning matters — a rezone request and an appeal of a denied conditional use permit — until March 16.

Prior to the city council meeting, BVA’s project faced rejection at the Nov. 2 Planning and Zoning Commission meeting. P&Z denied BVA’s Conditional Use Permit application for a bank drive-thru. P&Z further recommended that the city council turn down BVA’s request for a rezone from R-OD (Residential Office with Design Review) to C-5DD/DA (Central Business District with Downtown Design Review and a Development Agreement).

Neighborhood discordance

The P&Z double whammy might appear counterintuitive at first glance. The Idaho Central Credit Union building at the project site already has a bank drive-thru. In addition, the C-5 rezone request was noted as consistent “with the long-term vision for the area” by the original City of Boise Planning Team assessment, which remarked that the use conformed with the “Downtown Mixed Use” area mapped out in Blueprint Boise, the city’s comprehensive plan.

A negative recommendation for the rezone by both the original Planning Team and the P&Z commission rested on the argument that the proposed building was too tall, too massive and out of keeping for the neighborhood. The building would be one of the tallest buildings in the state of Idaho, surrounded by mostly small-footprint one- to two-story structures.

The site currently includes a three-story ICCU building, parking lots and a one-story house on Idaho Street used as an office. The remaining four lots in the block include a one-story bungalow, a one-story brick house, a brick one-story commercial building and a two-story neo-Spanish-revival stucco house. Across 4th Street from the ICCU building is a one-story four-unit apartment building. The tallest structure in the neighborhood is the 137-foot-tall 12-story Imperial Plaza condominium building one block to the east.

The proposed building would have two towers. The 126-foot north tower would have up to 82 multifamily residential units. At 232 feet, the south tower would be the fourth-tallest building in the state. It would have four to eight condominiums, medical office space and space for ICCU. A parking structure of 460 stalls would span the base of the two towers from the 2nd to the 6th floors.

Denial and appeal

P&Z recommendation against the rezone stated: “Due to the unique location on the edge of the Downtown Planning Area, in between two historic districts, and adjacent a hospital campus, the proposed building is not compatible and would be a stark contrast to what exists today, especially for the remaining four parcels on the eastern side of the block. The C-5 zone’s unlimited allowances are too intense for this location.”

The negative recommendation went on to say that a development agreement would be necessary if the project were to proceed to ensure that any future building was not too discongruent with the neighborhood. It further stated that any acceptable redesign would be different enough to warrant a whole new planning and design review process.

In addition, P&Z denied the CUP for ICCU’s drive-thru because it was not a permissible use under the  current R-O zoning, with no leeway for the rezone request. “The current drive-thru predates the existing zoning,” BVA’s legal counsel Geoff Wardle told the Idaho Business Review. “Under our requested rezone to C-5, a CUP for a drive-thru is permitted.”

BVA appealed, pointing out that P&Z could have made the CUP conditional on obtaining the rezone rather than outright denial, especially because the current ICCU branch already has a grandfathered drive-thru in active use. BVA argued that the rezone should go ahead for multiple reasons. First, and probably most important, the building would create badly needed medical office space in downtown Boise that was separate from St. Luke’s.

“A couple of years ago, we had a request but couldn’t find medical office space for a client in downtown Boise,” BVA CEO Tommy Ahlquist told the city council. “Medical office space independent of St. Luke’s is desperately needed downtown.”

“BVA redesigned the alley and the parking garage in light of P&Z and neighbors’ comments,” Wardle said during the BVA presentation. “We believe that a tall building on the (current) parking lots is an appropriate use for these sites … and only 40 feet from an existing C-5 zone (across 4th Street). Blueprint Boise encourages these uses.”

Almost every zoning type is permissible in the downtown area, BVA pointed out, and in fact they are encouraged in Blueprint Boise “in hopes to cultivate a vibrant, active, urban regional activity center.” While the project may be a few blocks from two historic districts, it wasn’t in or immediately adjacent to either of them.

Commentary

“Having a 16-story building would certainly be more intense than the three-story building there today,” remarked Celine Acord of the City of Boise Planning and Development Services Department during her report to the city council. “Where does downtown stop? I think that’s really the question before the council this evening.”

The four-and-a-half-hour public hearing involved comments from 37 Boise residents, most of whom lived in the downtown area. They included three in favor of the project, including Tim Flaherty representing the Downtown Boise Neighborhood Association. The other 34 spoke in opposition.

Several argued that the 2004 Old Boise-Eastside Master Plan should apply as a bar to proceeding with the project. The plan is part of Blueprint Boise. Others argued that the current ongoing rewrite process of Boise’s zoning ordinances should act to prevent any rezone actions, although such an action would have no legal standing. Many testified that such a modern building would be detrimental to the nearby historic districts, including Gabby Thomason speaking as a representative of Preservation Idaho.

“It’s just out of place in this historic neighborhood,” said Imperial Plaza resident John Barnet. The 12-story 64-unit Imperial Plaza was built in 1964.

Some made comments on how the new building would destroy the value of their current property through the destruction of their view, while others stated that the building would have negative effects on parking and traffic.

Deferral

“We want to design a project that’s feasible,” Wardle told the council. “We would have preferred guidance (for changes) as opposed to denial.”

The amount of effort that BVA has expended on holding neighborhood meetings and gathering commentary was not lost on the council. “Given the willingness of the developer to make changes demonstrates that they really want to be in this location,” remarked city council member Lisa Sanchez.

The council voted unanimously to defer both the request for a C-5 rezone and the appeal for the drive-thru until March 16.

“We are currently making changes in the design and we will be holding a neighborhood meeting in February,” Wardle told the Idaho Business Review. “The design team is working on revisions to reflect the the concerns of the city council.” He said that the changes they were making would be considered directly by the city council for a decision on the rezone request and the appeal for the drive-thru.