The Boise City Council recently approved the new zoning code. It will likely take effect on Dec 1, 2023. The city refers to this as “A Modern Zoning Code” but you may also hear it referred to as the “Zoning Code Rewrite”. Documents, including the latest revision of the code, can be accessed at the city’s Zoning Code Rewrite page by clicking here.

Key documents:

• The latest code revision
• R-1C and R-2 Guides
• Executive Summary
• The zoning conversion map (see what your property is zoned now and under the new code). Click the following link: https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/36920f8c19d749f2afda77d3f47a5922
• The updated comprehensive plan that goes with the latest code revision

Key changes made as a result of the June hearings are listed below (pasted from the city website). There are also numerous other, mostly minor, changes through the 600 page code released following the June hearings.

1. Implement the code with an effective date of December 1, 2023.
2. Modify conditional use permit (CUP) findings to include the word “and” as seen in the presentation.
3. Increase long-term bike parking to one bicycle parking space for the first bedroom, and .5 parking spaces for each additional bedroom.
4. Add neighborhood transition standards for the Compact Residential (R-2) and Residential Urban (R-3) zones.
5. Include all proposed changes identified with the April 13 and June 1 Planning and Development Services memos.
6. Allow Class III trees in an 8 ft planter strip along streets.
7. Allow Class II trees under overhead powerlines when sufficient height exists.
8. Provide public notice for Type 2 applications to adjacent property owners at the approval stage.
9. Increase neighborhood association testimony time to ten minutes for the neighborhood associations that are located within the notification radius. 
10. Decouple sustainability and affordability requirements within the incentives. 
11. Create a new use for electrical substations and allow them through the conditional use  permitting process in all zones. 
12. Include language that requires all improvements to be completed in a timely fashion and not exceed one year after occupancy/subdivision/etc.
13. Allow all sizes of childcare/daycare facilities in the mixed-use zones by right.
14. Allow for a parking reduction to be obtained through a conditional use permit. 
15. Change the on-site and off-site digital signs (billboards) to have a minimum 8 second dwell time, adjusted from the proposed 20 second dwell time. 
16. Amend the accessory dwelling unit (ADU) standards to not require parking, remove the requirement for owner occupancy, and remove the affordability requirement. 
17. Reduce the length of deed restriction for affordability incentives from 50 years to 20 years.

The current zoning code that is in force as of June 29, 2023 until likely December 1, 2023 can be found online here. Additionally the current comprehensive plan, Blueprint Boise can be found online here.