CANYON COUNTY, Idaho — Canyon County commissioners held a public hearing Wednesday to discuss proposed area of impact boundaries for several cities, as officials work to comply with updated Idaho state statute requiring boundaries that reflect realistic growth potential.
Click here to hear what leaders and residents had to say on potential boundary changes:
The hearing drew concerned community members who voiced worries about rapid development overtaking agricultural land.
"And this will be yet another loss for our ag community," a Caldwell community member said.
"Developers are buying farm ground, and you are not reserving farm ground," another Caldwell community member said.
An area of impact is a designated zone outside city limits where a city expects to expand in the future.
"This is especially difficult for the small towns that do not have the resources available. This has been really stressful for them," a Caldwell community member said.
Commissioners heard from leaders in Caldwell, Wilder and Melba as they presented proposed boundary changes in their cities.
"City of Wilder is not, we're not offering any slide deck at this time. Like many small cities, in the past, we have been slow to grow. We've had infrastructure barriers that have prevented that growth," said Kate Dahl, Canyon County and Wilder representative.
"Like the other small communities, we have limited capacity and limited resources to pull together and data to pull information, which is why you see what you see before you," Dahl said.
An Idaho law passed in 2024 gives counties the authority to determine the boundaries of their areas of impact. But every five years, counties must work with cities to review those boundaries, confirming, expanding, or reducing them based on state-set criteria.
"I am the Canyon County commissioner, and my state legislature has demanded me to do this and I am doing it to the best of my ability," said Brad Holton, Commissioner District 2.
At Wednesday's meeting, Caldwell city officials said they did not intend to make any changes to their current boundary lines. They emphasized that areas within the existing boundaries, whether used for agriculture or designated for future development, are expected to be annexed into the city within the next five years.
In contrast, Wilder faced concerns from community members about the proposed reduction of its boundary lines. Similarly, representatives from Melba said that the city is not prepared to annex additional land, stressing the need to first address and manage the areas already within their existing boundaries.
"Wilder is very well known for the agriculture in general, allowing large tracks of vital farm land into the AOI without clear evidence of annexation or service needs risks replacing sustaining agriculture enterprises," a Wilder farmer said.
Each city emphasized the importance of agriculture to its community, but acknowledged that they have little control over whether developers purchase land for construction.
Commissioners echoed this sentiment, stating that they do not control growth.
No final decisions were made on the area of impact boundaries, and discussions will continue at a later date. The county must make a final decision by December 31.
Commissioners moved Notus, Parma and Greenleaf for later this month and will hold another public hearing Thursday, this time to hear from residents and leaders in Homedale, Middleton, Nampa, and Star as the area of impact process continues across Canyon County.
This story was initially reported by a journalist and has been, in part, converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
