Bill Description: House Bill 802 would limit the ability of city governments to prevent multifamily residential housing developments in districts zoned for commercial use.
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NOTE: House Bill 802 is similar to House Bill 705 (2026), but this bill applies only to city governments, while House Bill 705 applies to both cities and counties.
Does it violate the spirit or the letter of either the United States Constitution or the Idaho Constitution? Examples include restrictions on speech, public assembly, the press, privacy, private property, or firearms. Conversely, does it restore or uphold the protections guaranteed in the US Constitution or the Idaho Constitution?
House Bill 802 would create Section 67-6542, Idaho Code, to require cities to “permit multifamily residential housing developments in areas zoned for commercial use in accordance with the provisions of this section and subject to the same siting, design, and development standards that apply to other commercial use in the same zoning district.”
It would define “Commercial use” as “any zoning district established by a local government where the primary permitted uses are retail, office, or other non-residential commercial activity.”
The bill would not apply to land zoned exclusively for industrial use; areas designated as floodplain, steep slope, or critical environmental hazard; parcels located within the approach area of an airport runway; and parcels located within an airport overlay district, airport influence area, or airport zoning district.
City governments would be required to amend their comprehensive plans and land use regulations for all land zoned for commercial use to allow for multifamily residential housing developments in districts zoned for commercial use, and generally prohibit requiring more than one parking space per dwelling unit within a multifamily residential housing development.
It further says that “any approval standards, including siting and design, adopted by a local government shall be clear and objective and shall not have the effect, either singularly or cumulatively, of rendering the development of multifamily residential housing economically infeasible.”
These changes would reduce the ability of city governments to limit how property owners could use their property and could, by removing government obstacles to the market, help alleviate the housing shortage plaguing many Idaho communities.
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