A Garden City church has the go-ahead to set up shop just east of downtown Boise on the former Armory site, despite the efforts of a neighbor.
In July 2024, Boise-based KM Engineering submitted an application on behalf of River House Ministries church. The goal is to have a church, a public-facing grassy area and a coffee shoplocated in the lobby.
But neighbors opposed the project at 801 E. Reserve St. because it had no housing and wasn’t, in their eyes, a true neighborhood activity center providing an amenity for the public.
Boise’s Planning and Zoning Commission approved the conditional use permit 4-3. But a neighbor, Javier Muriel Ocaña, appealed that decision in June. He argued that projects at the Idaho National Guard Armory site must have neighborhood-serving options and multiple uses…