Design Review Commission denies appeal; upholds administrative approval for Sycamore Commons adaptive reuse

Boise's Design Review Commission on July 9 denied an appeal of the administrative approval that allows LEAP Housing to convert a former nursing facility at 3115 North Sycamore Drive into a 53-unit independent senior-living complex (Sycamore Commons).

Planning staff explained the project is an adaptive reuse of an existing building in an R-2 zone and was processed as a Type 2 (minor) design review application under the modern zoning code. Staff said the nursing home's licensed operation ended in 02/2021 and that the applicant's proposal meets the adaptive-reuse parking reduction (50% reduction) and other code requirements, including required long- and short-term bicycle parking and on-site parking that satisfies the reduced parking threshold. Staff recommended denial of the appeal and upheld the director's administrative approval.

Appellants, represented by nearby residents, argued the site remained in medical use through 2022 under a lease to a separate operator (Cascadia Healthcare), that the project requires a conditional use permit under the code section cited by appellants because the nursing-home use existed within the last three years, and that site plans were ambiguous about interior/exterior common areas, open space dimensions and parking. Appellants also said a long-standing off-site parking parcel historically used by the nursing home had been conveyed with the property and should have been included in the adaptive reuse project rather than paving new on-site green space for a smaller parking lot.

Applicant LEAP Housing and its representative argued the nursing facility license was terminated in early 2021 and that subsequent short-term medical uses do not change the code determination for adaptive reuse; they also emphasized the project meets the code's open-space rules (including interior common area credit) and that ACHD and staff reviewed parking and access. ACHD had recommended plan changes in its staff report and the applicant worked with staff to resolve technical comments. The applicant noted the parcel historically used for nursing-home parking is not contiguous to the project parcel and therefore cannot be counted to meet the code's on-site parking requirement.

Following public testimony from neighbors concerned about parking, preservation of green space and notice/engagement, the commission debated the factual timeline and the code interpretation. The commission ultimately upheld staff's analysis that the administrative approval complied with applicable code provisions and moved to deny the appeal. The vote to deny the appeal and uphold the administrative decision was recorded in the transcript as unanimous among commissioners present.

The administrative approval allows LEAP to proceed under the adaptive reuse approval and associated conditions; the record notes the project includes 22 on-site parking spaces consistent with a 50% adaptive-reuse reduction and requires final plan details to be submitted during permit review.