Dear Mayor, and Council Members,

I hope this message finds you well.

I’m writing on behalf of Growing Together, a non-profit organization committed to improving citizens’ knowledge of local land use planning and supporting good economic land use decisions. Our mission centers on increasing community understanding of planning processes and encouraging development strategies that are sustainable, efficient, and reflective of local values.

As we understand it, the City will soon be working with Canyon County to review and amend the City Area of Impact (AOI). In anticipation of that effort, we are submitting the attached document—“Ag Implementation Ideas”—as a summary of strategies we hope you’ll consider as part of that process.

Too often, agricultural land is excluded from these discussions because AOI maps are viewed primarily as future urban growth areas. However, when agriculture is not intentionally included in these plans, the result is often an increase in rural residential development in the County before annexation can occur—creating fragmented patterns of land use and long-term service inefficiencies.

To help address this, we encourage the City to consider adopting standards or recommendations that explicitly support the continued agricultural use of lands within the AOI until such time that they can be feasibly annexed and served by the City. Some of the strategies outlined in the attached document include:

  • Prioritizing Infill Development: Implement ordinances that direct growth inward, discouraging leapfrog development at the periphery.
  • Acknowledge the importance and value of agriculture businesses in the area and the operations within your City that depend on locally sourced products produced in the County.
  • Reforming Annexation Criteria: Prohibit annexations that only touch the Cityboundary at a point, and instead focus on logical, contiguous growth patterns.
  • Preserving Agricultural Identity in Planning: Rather than redefining agriculture, we recommend clearly articulating how it will be preserved in the AOI and future planning areas until the property is ready for annexation.

We appreciate your leadership on these important issues and hope the attached ideas contribute meaningfully to upcoming conversations between the City and County. We would welcome the opportunity to discuss them further and provide any additional information that might be helpful.

We appreciate your time and consideration. Should you have any questions, feedback, or input regarding the recommendations we have made, we would be grateful for your response.  

Warm regards,

Keri Smith

Executive Director

on behalf of the Growing Together Board of Directors

George Crookham, John Hoadley and Ron Amarel

2c@growingtogetheridaho.org