Ordinance Text
8-2-5: RURAL PRESERVATION (RP):
A. Purpose: The Rural Preservation (RP) District promotes the public health, safety, and welfare of the people of Ada County by encouraging the protection of prime agricultural lands; ensures the important environmental features of the state and Ada County are protected and enhanced; and protects fish, wildlife, and recreation resources, consistent with the purposes of the "Local Land Use Planning Act," Idaho Code Section 67-6501 et seq., by:
1. Implementing the Ada County Comprehensive Plan goal to protect prime agricultural land and to maximize opportunities for agricultural activities and an agricultural lifestyle in areas designated as rural areas on the Comprehensive Plan Future Land Use Map;
2. Allowing the development of agricultural industries and agriculture service establishments when such uses do not take prime agricultural land out of crop production;
3. Protecting agricultural and rangeland uses and wildlife management areas from undue adverse impacts from adjacent development;
4. Permitting the development of schools, churches, and other public and quasi-public uses in rural areas consistent with the applicable Comprehensive Plan;
5. Directing more intense development to occur within the residential, transitional, commercial, and industrial base districts, as defined in Table 8-2-3-1
, and the planned community base district; and
6. Accommodating the continued use of agricultural lands, rangelands, and wildlife management areas, within the Boise front foothills (in areas designated as the foothills planning area in the Boise City Comprehensive Plan and the Ada County Comprehensive Plan).
7. Limiting development of hazardous areas, including, but not limited to, fault lines, landslides, subsidence, shallow soils, steep slopes, unstable slopes, flooding, and seeps, and allow a limited number of uses with significant space requirements or buffering needs on non-prime agricultural lands.
B. Development And Dimensional Standards:
1. All development shall be in accord with the regulations in Chapter 3 of this Title.
2. Institutional uses (including church, group day care facility, portable classroom, public or quasi-public use, and school, public or private) which are proposed within rural base districts, shall be permitted an increase of the maximum coverage from ten percent (10%) to twenty-five percent (25%).
3. Stable or riding arena, commercial, which is proposed within rural base districts, shall be permitted an increase of the maximum coverage from ten percent (10%) to twenty-five percent (25%).
Density and Development | Base | Rural Residence | |
1 | Lot Size (min) | 40 acres | 1 acre (min) to 2.5 acres (max) |
2 | Building Height (max) | 35' | 35' |
3 | Lot Coverage (max) | 10% | 20% |
4 | Street Frontage (min) | 100' | 100' |
Setbacks | Base | Rural Residence | |
5 | Front Yard Setback (min) | ||
Arterial, collector, or section line street | 50' | 50' | |
Other roadway | 30' | 30' | |
Property line not fronting a roadway | 25' | 25' | |
6 | Side Setback (min) (for rural residences, side property line setback of 10' is allowed adjacent to other rural residences) | 25' | 25' |
7 | Rear Setback (min) | 25' | 25' |
NOTES: Only one dwelling unit is allowed per property, with the exception of an approved additional dwelling in the form of a Duplex, Secondary Dwelling, Additional Farm Dwelling, Caretaker Dwelling, or Temporary Living Quarters. No more than two dwelling units total are allowed on a single property or as allowed per Table 8-2-23-2. See Section 8-2-2
C, Table 8-2-2-1 (Summary / Description of Dimensional Standards). See Chapter 4 (Use Standards) for additional or supplemental standards for use types, such as Secondary Dwellings. | |||
C. Permitted Uses: Refer to Section 8-2-23 of this Chapter (Use Table).
D. Farm Development Rights:
1. Purpose: This regulation allows owners of a qualifying property in the Rural Preservation (RP) District to create one residential parcel for conveyance.
2. Applicability: This subsection applies to any property that meets all of the following criteria:
a. The property is within the Rural Preservation (RP) District;
b. The property is at least forty (40) acres of contiguous land; and
c. The property was of record in the Ada County Recorder's office as of January 1, 1985 (hereinafter referred to as the "property of record"), the boundaries of which shall not have changed except as the result of a governmental action. (See Section 8-3-2M of this Title.)
3. Development Rights:
a. The property of record is entitled to a maximum of one farm development right.
b. For the purposes of this Title, parcels approved prior to the effective date of this Title, subject to the one (1) acre lot regulations or one (1) acre parcel regulations, are considered farm development rights.
c. If the qualifying property is decreased below the minimum property size as a result of granting the farm development rights, the remainder of the qualifying property is still considered a conforming property.
4. Process:
a. Application: Applications shall be submitted on forms provided by the Development Services Department as set forth in Section 8-6-5 of this Title.
b. Tentative Approval; Requirements: Upon tentative approval by the Director subject to Section 8-6-6
of this Title, the following tasks shall be completed within one year:
(1) Cause the property to be surveyed. Before recording, submit to the Director draft copies of the record of survey and resultant parcel descriptions for review;
(2) Record the record of survey and the necessary executed deeds with the Ada County Recorder to accomplish the farm development right parcel as approved;
(3) Obtain new tax parcel numbers from the Ada County Assessor; and
(4) Provide copies of the recorded record of survey, recorded deeds, and the new tax parcel numbers to the Director.
c. Issuance Of Approval Letter: The Director shall determine if all conditions of approval have been met and that the farm development right parcel conforms with this Section before final approval letter is issued.
5. Standards:
a. The farm development right parcel shall meet the dimensional standards for a rural residence as established by Table 8-2-5-1 of this Section.
c. If the qualifying property has more than one permanent dwelling, the farm development right parcel shall contain one of the extra dwellings. This standard does not apply to temporary living quarters.
d. The proposed farm development right division shall maximize to the greatest extent possible the preservation of prime agricultural soils.
e. The farm development right parcel shall be located on the portion of the property that causes the least disruption of agriculture on the remainder of the qualifying property while still meeting the standards of this Section.
6. Required Findings: The Director shall make the following findings to approve, or approve with conditions, the farm development right:
a. The proposed farm development right meets the applicability requirements of subsection D2 of this Section; and
b. The proposed farm development right complies with standards of subsection D5 of this Section.
(Ord. 1002, 10-28-2025)
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Nearby Sections
CHAPTER 2 ZONING DISTRICTS8-2-1: PURPOSE:8-2-2: DISTRICT STRUCTURE:8-2-3: DISTRICTS ESTABLISHED:8-2-4: ZONING MAP:8-2-5: RURAL PRESERVATION (RP):8-2-6: RURAL RESIDENTIAL (RR):8-2-7: RURAL URBAN TRANSITION (RUT):8-2-8: SOUTHWEST COMMUNITY RESIDENTIAL (RSW):8-2-9: ESTATE RESIDENTIAL (R1):8-2-10: LOW DENSITY RESIDENTIAL (R2):8-2-11: MEDIUM LOW DENSITY RESIDENTIAL (R4):8-2-12: MEDIUM DENSITY RESIDENTIAL (R6):8-2-13: MEDIUM HIGH DENSITY RESIDENTIAL (R8):8-2-14: HIGH DENSITY RESIDENTIAL (R12):
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