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Council approves Farmstead Landing modifications after long public hearing; conditions require northern buffering and design review
Summary
Boise Hunter Homes proposed dense amenities, gated private streets and design changes for Farmstead Landing. Neighbors from Bellaterra and Loch Lomond raised privacy, lot alignment and fence concerns. Council approved the modification with conditions requiring dense planting/buffering along the northern boundary, single‑story transitions near single‑story homes, and firm fencing/landscape plans to be submitted with design review.
Boise Hunter Homes presented proposed revisions to the previously approved Farmstead Landing preliminary plat and development agreement for an 80-acre project north of Floating Feather and Linder Road. The applicant described upgrades including larger backyards, an expanded community center, two private lakes with beaches, pickleball courts and a gated private-street network designed to enhance long-term property values.
The hearing drew extensive public comment from neighbors in Bellaterra and Loch Lomond. Many Bellaterra residents said their lots back directly onto the development and raised concerns about lot-line alignment, rear setbacks of 25 feet, the prospect of two-story homes backing small single-story lots and the visual impact of vinyl privacy fences placed just behind existing wrought-iron fences. Robert Schiller and others requested either a common buffer strip, a change to lot configuration, or stronger landscape screening. One witness alleged the three Loch Lomond homeowners who supported the plan were receiving payments and NDAs; the developer disputed any implication of unfair treatment, said they had negotiated individually with neighbors and offered to remove and replace certain boundary fencing where appropriate.
Developer representatives offered multiple concessions on the record: a commitment to robust landscape screening and a ten-foot planted buffer on Farmstead lots that abut neighbors, willingness to remove conflicting rear fencing and coordinate replacement where needed, early installation of tree plantings and temporary silt/fencing to limit construction impacts, and an offer to limit building types adjacent to some lots (including an agreement to require single-story houses adjacent to single-story neighbors where feasible). Planning staff and the planning commission recommended approval with conditions and additional site-specific conditions were added by council to require a localized grading plan, clarify Lot 41 temporary access for early phases, and to require the applicant to submit a detailed, dense landscape buffer and fencing plan for review with the design-review application. After extended debate the council voted to approve the rezone/development-agreement modification, subject to the planning and site conditions discussed on the record.
"We are maintaining the same spirit and intent of what was already a fantastic project," the developer said when summarizing the design changes, while neighbors urged more direct protections. The council's conditions aim to balance the developer's project enhancements with near-term privacy and aesthetic protections for existing neighboring homeowners.
