City council upholds Design Review approval for proposed mixed-use building at 1095 S. Federal Way

BOISE, Idaho — Boise City Council on Feb. 4 denied a neighborhood appeal and upheld the Design Review Commission's approval of a five-story mixed-use project proposed at 1095 South Federal Way, a 2.31-acre site in the MX-3 zone.

City planning staff described the proposal as a mixed-use building that steps down to four stories along Pico Street and reaches five stories along Federal Way, with podium and subterranean parking, detached sidewalks on all frontages and ground-floor active uses facing the streets. Rachel Farrell, senior planner, recommended the council deny the appeal, saying the Design Review Commission had sufficient findings under the city's design review code to approve the project.

The matter drew more than an hour of public testimony and substantive debate. Appellants led by resident Karen Moore of 1007 South Pico Street argued the building's height, scale and density are inconsistent with the surrounding Depot Bench neighborhood and would create adverse impacts including loss of sunlight, loss of privacy for adjacent yards, higher traffic volumes on Pico Street and light pollution. Moore said the neighborhood circulated a petition she said had 340…