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Nampa council delays Southwest Nampa plan as questions about county coordination and joint powers agreement surface
Summary
Council postponed the Southwest Nampa specific area plan until a future meeting after several members said two councilors were absent. A wide-ranging discussion followed about county involvement and the status of a 1998 joint powers agreement between the city and Canyon County.
The Nampa City Council on Monday voted to postpone action on the Southwest Nampa specific area plan, saying members wanted a full council present for the discussion. The motion to continue was approved during the amendments-to-agenda portion of the meeting.
After the postponement vote, council members and planning staff spent extensive time discussing the city’s broader comprehensive‑plan update process and coordination with Canyon County. Planning staff said they have launched a three‑year update of the Nampa comprehensive plan (Nampa 2040) that includes public outreach, consultant selection, and multiple public workshops; staff also said the city has completed many of the prior plan strategies and now seeks broader public participation.
Councilmembers raised concerns that county elected officials were not always included in key decisions for area planning despite a joint powers agreement between the city and Canyon County. Councilmember Haverfield pressed staff to ensure county commissioners are more formally involved moving forward; staff said multiple staff‑to‑staff meetings and at least one joint workshop with county commissioners have occurred but acknowledged a new joint‑powers negotiation remains unfinished.
Nampa’s legal counsel told the council that the joint powers agreement, adopted in 1998, imposes more obligations on Canyon County than on the city — for example, the county agreed to provide 30 days’ notice before hearings on plan amendments affecting the city’s area of impact. Counsel said staff outreach on the Southwest area plan went “above and beyond” what the joint powers agreement and state law legally require.
Rodney Ashby, planning and zoning director, said the city has made “multiple requests” over the past three years to update the joint powers agreement and that staff will work to include commissioners in the comprehensive‑plan process. Councilmembers asked that any future presentations on the Southwest plan or comp‑plan amendments be public and that staff circulate materials in advance so elected officials on both sides can review them.
What’s next: Planning staff said consultant selection for the comp‑plan update will proceed and that more public outreach events are planned this summer. The Southwest Nampa specific area plan will be returned to the council at a later meeting for a formal hearing and vote.
