Hayden officials direct staff to draft code to comply with new "starter home" law amid parking and sewer concerns

Hayden City officials on June 15 held a joint workshop to review state requirements for a new "starter home subdivision" and directed staff to draft a legally defensible local code while studying the implications for parking, parks and sewer infrastructure.

The workshop, led by city attorney Fonda and planner Donna, focused on statutory requirements that the staff summarized from Idaho law. "The statute says that a city's comprehensive plan and land use regulation shall be amended to prohibit requiring minimum lot sizes exceeding 1,500 square feet for lots located in a starter home subdivision," Fonda said, urging the council to meet the February compliance deadline and to move quickly on a draft code for public hearing.

Why it matters: The law requires jurisdictions to allow very small lots and narrower setbacks than many existing Hayden code standards, which raised several practical concerns from council and commission members. Staff and elected officials said the city must balance legal compliance with neighborhood compatibility, infrastructure capacity and enforceable design standards.

Staff framed the statute as a narrow mandate with retained local controls. Fonda noted the law includes carve‑outs: building codes, fire safety, floodplain rules and environmental protections remain unchanged, and a city may deny an application if infrastructure is inadequate — but must tell applicants how to be successful. "You will make a data‑driven decision on each application," Fonda said, adding that routine denials for infrastructure reasons could lead to broader development moratoria unless upgrades are planned.

Council members repeatedly flagged parking and sewer capacity. One councilor said local sewer expansion estimates previously discussed would cost on the order of "$55,000,000," and several members asked staff to model the impact of starter‑home applications on hookups and lift‑station capacity. Planner Donna pointed to design trade‑offs: under typical setback rules a 1,500‑sq‑ft lot could yield a roughly 400‑sq‑ft building footprint and about 800 sq ft across two stories.

Parking was a recurring concern. Hayden currently requires two off‑street parking spaces per dwelling unit. Council members asked whether that standard can be met on tiny lots and whether the city should allow shared parking fields, designated neighborhood parking areas or minimum frontage requirements. Staff agreed to "explore whether or not a parking requirement can be included in this code section," and to prepare typical cross sections and options for council review.

Councilors also discussed whether a starter‑home designation could apply to only a portion of a larger subdivision rather than the entire parcel. Staff said the statute requires starter‑home options be available on parcels of at least four acres but that the city could provide mechanisms allowing a portion of a larger project to meet starter‑home standards while the remainder follows underlying zone requirements, subject to infrastructure triggers.

Several members suggested outreach to the bill's authors or to the Association of Idaho Cities' legislative arm to clarify intent and possible amendments, though staff cautioned that Hayden's immediate priority is producing a defensible, code‑compliant draft that preserves the city's ability to protect public safety and infrastructure. "Your job right now is to create a defensible code that complies with Idaho code," Fonda told the council.

Next steps: Council and planning staff were given direction to draft a starter‑home subdivision code that complies with Idaho law, to examine parking and park‑land implications, and to identify triggers that would allow the city to limit starter‑home application areas based on available services. Staff suggested aiming to present a draft for public hearing preparation by October; the council ended the meeting after a motion to adjourn.

Speakers quoted in this article are included in the meeting roster. No formal policy vote was taken on the starter‑home code at this workshop; the session was advisory and directed staff to return with draft language and analysis.