Margaret Carmel

Boise

Senior Reporter at BoiseDev

Senior Reporter @BoiseDev. Longtime resident of the South. Schooled by: @VCU and @NewhouseSU. Raised by: @theidahopress and @newsadvance. 757-705-8066.

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Articles

Boise P&Z recommends giving city council more land-use powers

1 week ago | boisedev.com | Margaret Carmel

The vote total might have shown unanimous support for a proposal to change how Boise’s most controversial zoning decisions are made, but it wasn’t a resounding yes. Earlier this month, the Boise Planning & Zoning Commission took testimony and debated a proposal from Mayor Lauren McLean changing the appeals process for conditional use permits to give the final say to the Boise City Council.
Sho-Pai, Coeur d'Alene tribes partner on Treasure Valley casino- BoiseDev

1 week ago | boisedev.com | Margaret Carmel

A third Idaho Indigenous tribe is in the mix over the race to develop a resort and casino near the heavily populated Treasure Valley. Last week, the Shoshone-Paiute Tribes of the Duck Valley Reservation closed on a 557-acre property straddling the Ada and Elmore counties south of I-84 between Mountain Home and Boise as the potential site for a casino.
SE Boise Industrial developer cited after flood into Blue Valley- BoiseDev

1 week ago | boisedev.com | Margaret Carmel

A few days after Christmas, muddy stormwater from a nearby construction site flowed around a berm and onto the properties of Blue Valley Mobile Home Park residents. The water flowed into the Southeast Boise mobile home park, located off of S. Eisenman Rd. near Micron, from the nearby construction site of a 1.2-million square-foot industrial park with seven buildings from Texas-based Lincoln Property Company. The project is on the parcel directly south of Blue Valley.
Margaret's Library: 'Before We Were Yours' and America's dark history of adoption

1 week ago | idahopress.com | Margaret Carmel

The first time I ever remember coming into contact with the concept of adoption was watching Stuart Little as a young child. The 1999 film paints a silly, heartwarming story of a family in Manhattan who decides to bring home another child, heads to the orphanage and picks out a talking mouse instead. The process in the movie felt almost akin to a family deciding to go down to the animal shelter and bring home a new pet, instead of a new family member.
Gov. Little signs bill allowing AG to investigate city officials- BoiseDev

2 weeks ago | boisedev.com | Margaret Carmel

Idaho’s top lawyer can now investigate, and possibly prosecute, city officials, but not exclusively. HB 6, brought by Rep. Chris Bruce, R-Kuna, and signed by Governor Brad Little on April 4, allows the Idaho Attorney General Raúl Labrador and his successors to bring criminal charges against city elected officials, not just those holding county positions. Bruce and his Senate co-sponsor Sen.
Idaho's supply of homes for extremely low income renters shrinking

2 weeks ago | boisedev.com | Margaret Carmel

Renters with the lowest incomes nationwide are facing the crunch as housing options they can afford continue to shrink, including in Idaho. A new report from the National Low Income Housing Coalition and the Idaho Asset Building Network found Idaho ranks 36th in the nation for the number of rentals available to extremely low-income Americans making 30% of the area median income or below. This translates to an annual income of $20,600 for a single person in Boise.
City of Eagle sets higher water fees for Avimor, Valnova customers

2 weeks ago | boisedev.com | Margaret Carmel

Residents of two large planned communities in the Eagle foothills might be in the City of Eagle, but they will be paying a little extra for their water bills. Last week, the Eagle City Council unanimously voted a new set of water fees for residents of the growing foothills communities of Avimor near Highway 55 and Valnova, formerly known as Spring Valley, off of Highway 16.
Senate committee narrowly kills bill making ACHD partisan

2 weeks ago | boisedev.com | Margaret Carmel

A move by House of Representatives leadership to remake the Ada County Highway District died by a narrow margin at the tail end of the Idaho legislative session. On Friday morning, the Senate State Affairs Committee voted 5-4 to turn down HB 471 from Rep. Joe Palmer, R-Meridian, and Speaker of the House Rep. Mike Moyle, R-Star, that would require ACHD to elect its commissioners the same way that Ada County elects its three county commissioners.
Compromise bill deregulating short-term rentals dies in Senate

3 weeks ago | boisedev.com | Margaret Carmel

An effort to resolve the ongoing dispute between short-term rental owners and the local governments hoping to regulate them didn’t make it out of the statehouse this year. On Tuesday, the Idaho Senate took up bill 1162 from Sen. Brian Lenney, R-Nampa, and Rep.
Idaho Senate turns down ITD budget forcing Linder Road widening- BoiseDev

3 weeks ago | boisedev.com | Margaret Carmel

One of the Gem State’s budgets got sent back to the drawing board as the 2025 Idaho Legislative session would typically be nearing its end.