Community Engagement and Volunteerism

For the last couple years, since early 2021, I volunteered for the North End Neighborhood Association and stepped into the role of Planning & Zoning Chair. NENA was the first and is the oldest Neighborhood Association in Boise. As such, a lot of the projects in the North End are subject to the Historic Overlay Zone Guidelines. There are now about 34 NA’s all around Boise. About half of them are fairly active in what goes on in and around and affects their neighborhoods.

The P+Z Chair for NENA reviews Planning Applications that get a chance for public input and feedback. Some of these are simple, over-the-counter administrative reviews (Certificates of Appropriateness) that are over and done with in a week (like replacing windows, cutting down trees, etc.). Others have a longer review with a required neighborhood notification and meeting, leading to a public hearing in front of the City of Boise Historic Planning Commission and/or the Planning & Zoning Commission. If an appeal to any of these is filed, it then goes before the City Council.

NENA has two wonderful ladies that shepherd the Historic Planning applications and hearings. P+Z typically will hear variances, changes of use, subdivisions, planned unit developments, etc. These were all hot and heavy back in 2021, but have since cooled down a bit.

In conjunction with this volunteer role, I have taken on planning and hosting NENA’s annual Transportation Summit and Bike Rally. This is a community engagement opportunity for North Enders to come out to a park, play games, meet local organizations affecting modes of transportation in and around the North End, as well as learn about upcoming projects and programs. We end the Summit with a Bike Rally throughout the North End. Organizations that typically attend this one-day, afternoon summit are:

• The City of Boise

  • Office of Community Engagement (Energize our Neighborhoods!)

  • Planning & Development Services

  • Mayor’s Transportation Advisor

  • May In Motion

• Boise Bicycle Project (a non-profit that collects, repairs and gives bikes away to children in need)

• Valley Regional Transit

• Ada County Highway District (they control all the streets in and around Boise)

  • Safe Routes to School

  • Commuteride

• Idaho Mountain Touring (local bike shop, performing bike repairs and handing out swag)

• COMPASS (Community Planning Association of Southwest Idaho)

In September of 2022, I was appointed to the NENA Board of Directors by the current Board of Directors to fill a vacant seat on the Board. In November of 2022, I was then nominated to take on the Presidency role for NENA. As we are a volunteer neighborhood organization, this is mostly a symbolic role as well all work together to do the same thing. We have a wonderful and diverse board of local professionals, homeowners, renters and the like all working together to represent and help guide this wonderful neighborhood forward while respecting our past.

More information about NENA can be found here.

PARK(ing) DAY 2022

You take over a parking stall, plug the meter with quarters and turn it into a park for the day. Or an office space. Or a music venue. Or a picnic area. Or a gaming space. Or a...

This year, we took over 3 parking stalls in total

“We have expensive housing for people and free parking for cars. We have our priorities the wrong way around (…) We are killing our cities.”

— Donald Shoup, Distinguished Research Professor in the Department of Urban Planning at UCLA

PARK(ing) DAY is a unique and exciting opportunity to engage in the ongoing dialog around how our cities are designed and built. It began as a guerilla art project and act of design activism in a single parking space, and has grown into a global movement, inspiring the creation of “parklets” and COVID-era “streeteries” in cities across the United States and beyond.

Erik Hagen original sketch idea

The finished product, unitized and easily moveable

Every year in September, the world celebrates Park(ing) Day, the day when people around the globe will repurpose street parking spaces into tiny parks and places for art, play, and activism.

Morgan Monson & Oashan Shrestha enjoying the entertainment

This year we teamed up with our land use planners and landscape architects at Rodney Evans & Partners and had Idaho Smart Growth & Idaho Walk Bike Alliance join in, bringing AARP & the American Heart Association. Games were provided by the Downtown Boise Association. Music by Jazzasauraus (who you may hear on random morning on 8th Street). Thank you to everyone who stopped by and joined us!

Kayla Duclos chatting it up with Steven McKeown and Lily Norwood of RE&P

Uncle Bob's Pizza

Recently completed out at Woodland Springs Retail on McMillan at Locust Grove in Meridian, Uncle Bob’s Pizza is one of our latest restaurant concept design projects. ‘Uncle’ Bob & his son Ryan were awesome to work with. Real hands-on and knew what they wanted. And boy, did we deliver! Just be careful looking at their website and Instagram posts, because you’ll soon be heading out there for some Pizza & Beer!

“Uncle Bob’s Pizza started out as a dream and a need. Uncle Bob and his son, Ryan, are huge sports fans that appreciate a great establishment where people can gather and feel like they are at home. After seeing a need in Meridian for something like that, they teamed up to build and open UB’s. They put their blood, sweat, and tears into what UB’s has become.”

— https://www.unclebobspizza.com/family-owned

Giving Back - Boise Rescue Mission Sonrise Manor

We are proud to donate our time and services to helping the Boise Rescue Mission on converting the old Heritage Assisted Living Center at 1777 S Curtis Rd in Boise into a new multi-generational transitional living community. The renovated facility will be combining rooms into family quarters, completely upgrading the kitchen and food service facilities, adding an additional 60 family living units for those in need in Boise.

“For many people, the Transitional Living Program provides a supportive place to live while working toward their own safe and stable housing situation. Sometimes they need to establish a work history, develop a resume, earn money to pay off debts, or clean up their credit history. Whatever they might need, the Transitional Living Program provides the environment to help those people accomplish their goals“

~Rev. Bill Roscoe

We are happy to be partnering with Engineering Consultants, EKC Construction and BSR Food Service Design on this pro-bono project. More information can be found at BoiseRM.org.