Votes at a glance: Idaho Falls Planning & Zoning Commission, May 6, 2025

The Idaho Falls Planning and Zoning Commission took the following formal actions at its meeting on May 6, 2025. All items below were recommended to the mayor and city council or approved by the commission as listed.

1) Creekside Townhomes (preliminary plat) - Action: Recommend approval of the preliminary plat for Creekside Townhomes (and separately approve the statement of relevant criteria/findings). - Motion: Approve preliminary plat; Mover: Commissioner Cantu; Second: Commissioner Scott. - Vote: Roll-call; Commissioners Cantu, Scott, Eiler, Ogden, Meehan and Stor voted aye. Outcome: Approved; recommendation forwarded to mayor and city council.

2) Ordinance amendment: daycare standards and definitions - Action: Recommend approval to mayor and city council of amendments to Section 11-2-6 (day care center/day care group standards), Section 11-7-1 (definitions) and related code sections to conform to recent state law changes. - Motion: Recommend approval; Mover: (unnamed commissioner); Second: (unnamed). Vote: Voice; unanimous. Outcome: Recommendation forwarded to mayor and city council.

3) Ordinance amendment: off-street parking and fire apparatus access (Section 11-4-5) - Action: Recommend approval to mayor and city council to add language referencing fire apparatus access (26-foot minimum where applicable) to off-street parking standards; staff asked to explore adding a reference marker in the zoning tables for clarity. - Motion: Recommend approval with direction to staff on formatting; Mover: (unnamed commissioner); Second: none recorded; Vote: Voice; unanimous per transcript. Outcome: Recommendation forwarded to mayor and city council.

4) Ordinance amendment: subdivision standards (corner-lot 10% calculation, Section 10-1-5) - Action: Recommend approval to mayor and city council of a simplification changing how the 10% corner-lot size requirement is calculated (from a phase average to 10% larger than the zone's minimum lot size) to reduce complexity and support diverse housing products. - Motion: Recommend approval; Vote: Voice; unanimous. Outcome: Recommendation forwarded to mayor and city council.

5) Ordinance amendment: remove four-unit cap in R-2 zone (dwelling multi-unit) - Action: Recommend approval to mayor and city council to remove the per-structure four-unit limit in the R-2 zone, retaining density and dimensional standards. - Motion: Recommend approval; Vote: Voice; unanimous. Outcome: Recommendation forwarded to mayor and city council.

6) Final plats recommended to mayor and city council (brief discussion) - Pacific Steel (final plat, I and M zone): Motion to recommend approval; Vote: Voice; unanimous. Outcome: Recommendation forwarded to mayor and city council. - Jenkins Commercial Park (final plat, HC zone): Motion to recommend approval; Vote: Voice; unanimous. Outcome: Recommendation forwarded to mayor and city council. - Faraday Properties Division No. 1 (final plat; multi-zone residential): Motion to recommend approval; Vote: Voice; unanimous. Outcome: Recommendation forwarded to mayor and city council.

All actions above were taken during the May 6 meeting and will be transmitted to the mayor and city council where final approvals (for plats) or ordinance hearings (for code changes) will occur. Individual staff reports and technical conditions were noted for several items and must be addressed before final plat recordings or ordinance adoption.