GARDEN CITY, Idaho — Garden City, along with the rest of the Treasure Valley, continues to explode in population growth and now the city is looking at different ways to keep up.
National experts from the Urban Land Institute presented their findings and recommendations to the public and officials Friday morning on developing the Parkway neighborhood along the river in Garden City.
Right now, there is a master plan in the works for the Garden city Parkway district and officials say the goal is to create a mixed-use neighborhood in the Parkway district that compliments downtown Boise which is just a few miles away.
Related: Developers hope to build ‘diverse mix’ of uses in Garden City near the river
The Urban Land Institute recommends Garden City officials create a new “main street” environment and look for opportunities to add more pathways and walkways for pedestrians.
“They have the opportunity to kind of take advantage of the growth that’s happening and look to really shape it and make it the neighborhood and the district they want. So don’t let the market forces dictate what will go there,” urban designer and planner Geeti Silwal said.
Plus – a mix of income for housing, like senior housing, tiny homes, affordable and workforce housing.
“Garden City is a great place and it has a lot of things in place already that are permitted to transform into something even better. So, we were saying that the market forces are right, the vision is there, the right players are there so this is a good time to make things happen," urban planner Agnès Artemel said.
To listen to the full presentation with the recommendations click the link below.
