Industrial, residential community proposed near BOI

Industrial, residential proposed near BOI
by Lora Volkert
09/11/2006

A 600-acre planned community proposed for land southwest of the Boise Airport could include industrial development.
The proposal also calls for the land, currently outside Boise boundaries, to be annexed by the city.

The Hellhake Co., under the name Pleasant Valley South, has requested a rezone, land annexation and a comprehensive plan change that would allow the company to build a planned community. They are calling the development The Reserve, and want to build it on land east of the intersection of Cole Road and the New York Canal.

Boise Mayor David Bieter and other city officials have objected to planned communities in Ada County far outside city limits that could, they believe, impact city services.

Larry Sale, manager of The Reserve project, said the city of Boise has been cooperative so far.

Part of the Hellhake plan includes extending Lake Hazel Road across the New York Canal to Pleasant Valley Road, Boise Planning Director Hal Simmons said. Orchard Street would also be realigned with Gowen Road and Pleasant Valley, he said.

Most planned communities include commercial space for office and retail uses. Suggested uses for The Reserve’s business campus, which would be built north of the Lake Hazel extension, include assembly and fabrication facilities, as well as medical labs and research facilities, according to the annexation and rezone application.

The business campus would have mainly office tenants with some industrial tenants, Sale said. The proposal includes industrial instead of retail because city planners told the company they didn’t want shopping or big-box stores in the area, he said.

Sixty-five acres of housing would be built in the northwest corner of the development, according to the application. More housing, including townhouses, row houses, condos, multi-family buildings, patio homes and detached single-family dwellings, would be built south of the Lake Hazel extension, for a total of 1,800 to 2,000 housing units, Sale said.

The housing would be built over about a dozen years, he said.

An urban village would be built at the intersection of the Lake Hazel and Orchard extensions for mixed residential and commercial development.

South of the Lake Hazel extension, Hellhake plans to build an elementary school, a park and two neighborhood commercial centers with mom-and-pop stores, Sale said.

The maximum housing density would be 20 units per acre, but the density would be reduced to one to five units per acre in the southernmost part of the development, where equestrian trails are planned.

Open space and a pathway system are planned in the southwest corner of the development.

The community is to be connected by pedestrian and bike paths, according to the application.

The extension of Orchard would run through state-owned land north of the development, so the Hellhake plans include a land swap with the state.

The company plans to submit its master plan application in late September or October, Sale said.