Industrial
Selling industrial property in Boise
Industrial ground is the one asset class where the zoning district does most of the work. Two buildings a mile apart, both called light industrial by everyone who talks about them, can sit under standards that differ by a factor of three.
This page is about what those differences are and where to check them. It is not a valuation, and nothing here is advice about a particular property.
Boise has three industrial districts, not two
Most conversations about industrial property in Boise proceed as though there is light industrial and heavy industrial and that is the whole picture. There is a third, and it is the one that behaves least like the others.
I-1 Light Industrial and I-2 Heavy Industrial both cap building height at 55 feet. I-3 Industrial Technology does not: the city's table gives it 150 feet, carrying a footnote the city does not publish. That is not a small gap. An owner comparing two parcels on height alone, assuming industrial means industrial, is comparing something that varies by nearly three times across districts that share a first letter.
The districts are also aimed at different things. I-2 exists in part to keep more intensive operations away from uses that would be affected by them, which is why the separation language sits in its purpose clause rather than in a table. I-3 is drawn around technology and research uses and carries buffer requirements of its own.
Height is not the variable that decides site yield
I-3's 150 feet looks like the most permissive standard in Boise's industrial set until you read the setbacks, which are tied to it. The I-3 front setback is a minimum of 45 feet plus one additional foot for every foot of building height above 45 feet, and the street side, interior side and rear yard all follow the front standard. So a taller building in I-3 consumes substantially more of its parcel on every side. Height is bought with land.
The 150 feet is not free-standing either. It is controlled by a 45 degree angle of bulk plan measured from all exterior property lines, so the buildable envelope narrows as you approach any boundary and a small parcel cannot reach 150 feet anywhere on it.
I-1 and I-2 appear to work the opposite way, printing a minimum interior side and rear yard of zero. That zero holds only away from housing. Where the property is adjacent to a Residential zoning district or a residential use, the minimum becomes 30 feet for development under three acres, 50 feet between three and ten acres, and 100 feet for development of ten or more acres — and it applies to parking as well as buildings. On an industrial parcel that backs onto homes, that scale of setback can decide what fits on the site.
There is also a standard that catches people out on parcels near the freeway: yards adjacent to I-84 and I-184 carry their own parking setback, separate from the ordinary yard setbacks.
Read the ordinance, not the summary of it
Boise publishes each zoning district's dimensional standards as a table on its website, and those tables carry bracketed footnote markers — [1], [2], [3]. The city does not publish what the footnotes say. The definitions are in the codified ordinance.
That gap is not academic, and the industrial districts are the clearest example of it. "0 ft. [1]" on the city's I-1 page is the same standard that becomes 100 feet next to housing once you read note [1]. "150 ft. [3]" is a height governed by a bulk plan. Neither qualification appears on the page carrying the number.
In R-3 the two documents diverge further: the markers sit on different rows than the code places them, and the minimum lot area for all other uses is printed as "2,00 sf" where the ordinance reads 2,000 square feet.
None of this is a criticism of the city — a summary table is a reasonable thing for a planning department to publish, and the code is a click away. It is a reason to read the ordinance, or to ask someone who has, before making a decision that turns on a dimension.
A tabled setback is the unconstrained case, not the general one
Every city in the valley publishes a dimensional table, and the industrial rows in those tables often show generous numbers — frequently a zero-foot interior side and rear yard. Those figures describe the case where nothing else applies. Something else usually applies.
Meridian says so in the table itself, twice. Its industrial standards — zero-foot front, rear and interior side setbacks, a 35-foot street setback and a 50-foot height maximum, shared by I-L and I-H — are introduced by text directing the reader to exceptions and clarifications set out elsewhere in the code. And a note to the commercial table states that setback, landscape buffer, height and parking standards inside an adopted specific area plan take precedence over the table entirely. The table is not presenting itself as the answer.
Three cities enlarge the setback according to what is next door, and no two do it the same way. Boise scales it by the size of the development: the zero-foot interior side and rear yard in I-1 and I-2 becomes 30 feet under three acres, 50 feet between three and ten, and 100 feet at ten or more. Star sets a flat floor instead — a minimum of 15 feet across its CBD, C-1, C-2, LO, IL, PS, RC and M-U zones when adjacent to a residential use or zone, though a waiver may be requested where the neighbouring property has the potential to redevelop as something other than housing. Kuna makes the parcel inherit the neighbour's rule outright: where a commercial or industrial use abuts a residential district, the yard setbacks become the same as those required in that adjacent residential district.
Eagle does something different in kind, twice. It enlarges the side setback by the building's own height rather than by what adjoins it — except for single-family attached dwellings, a multi-storey structure requires an additional five feet of side setback per storey, and that condition rides every row of the table, industrial districts included. It also displaces the district's standards by use: a residential building in a non-residential district must meet the residential height and area regulations instead. An Eagle industrial parcel carrying a residence is not governed by its industrial row at all.
Star adds a constraint that is not a setback at all and appears in no dimensional table. In its Light Industrial district, mechanical equipment emissions, shipping and delivery, and other outdoor activity areas must sit at least three hundred feet from any abutting residential district, or the use requires a conditional use permit. On a modest parcel that can put loading in the wrong place.
So the conditions that displace a tabled figure are not even all of the same kind. What is next door, how tall the building is, what is being done on the parcel, and whether an adopted plan overlies it can each change the answer.
The practical point is not any one of these numbers. It is that the figure printed in a district table is the starting point of the analysis rather than the end of it, and that nothing you learn about one city transfers to the next.
Across a city limit, the code changes completely
Boise's industrial districts govern Boise. Unincorporated Ada County runs its own zoning ordinance, adopted as Ordinance No. 1002, and it does not use Boise's vocabulary at all. The county's industrial districts are M1 Light Industrial, M2 General Industrial and M3 Airport Industrial. Boise's are I-1, I-2 and I-3.
So "light industrial" is M1 on one side of a line and I-1 on the other, and they are different districts under different codes with different standards. A parcel does not change character when a boundary moves past it, but the rules governing it do. Anyone applying what they know about Boise industrial ground to a parcel in the county — or the reverse — is reading the wrong book.
The cities differ from each other just as much, and not only in numbers. Take M-3. In unincorporated Ada County it is Airport Industrial, a live district in the adopted ordinance. In Kuna it was limited to mining and has been consolidated into M-2, so it no longer operates. Boise has no M-3 at all — its third industrial district is I-3 Industrial Technology. Three characters, three meanings, inside one county.
The same holds across the board. Garden City's C-2 is a mixed use commercial district, where Star and Kuna both use C-2 for a commercial district and put mixed use elsewhere. Star's own code names its industrial district two different ways in two different places. Meridian caps industrial height at 50 feet where Boise allows 55 in I-1 and I-2. District letters are local vocabulary, not a shared standard, and treating them as one is how a national template gets Idaho wrong.
There is a second thing in the county code worth knowing if you own unincorporated ground. Every commercial and industrial district in it carries the same stated purpose: to encourage those uses primarily inside AREAS OF IMPACT, implementing the comprehensive plans adopted as part of the area of impact agreements, and to be established outside one only on a limited basis. The county is not planning a parallel industrial economy out there. It is largely holding ground that a city's plan expects to take in.
Overlays sit on top of the district, they do not replace it
A parcel carries its base district and any overlay covering it, and the overlay adds constraints rather than substituting for them. Around the airport this matters more than usual: Boise's Airport Influence Area Overlay exists to address the compatibility of development with airport operations, and a large share of the city's industrial ground sits inside it.
The Flood Protection Overlay works the same way. An owner reading only their base district has read half the answer.
How the county arrives at a value
Ada County assesses commercial property using the income the property produces, rather than by comparing it to nearby sales the way residential property is handled. That is the same logic a buyer applies, and for the same reason: industrial buildings are rarely alike enough for comparison to carry the weight.
The assessor's figure is not a substitute for that, and the reasons are structural rather than anyone's error — a date fixed by statute, a tolerance the law states openly, and a rolling appraisal cycle. How commercial value is determined sets that out in full.
What we do with industrial property
We look at warehouse, flex, shop and yard property in Boise and across Ada County — single tenant, multi tenant, or empty. Deferred maintenance is not a disqualifier and neither is a problem attached to title, tenancy or entitlement.
We are the buyer. We do not tie a property up under contract while looking for someone to assign it to, and if we agree a number we are the party closing on it.
What we will not do is tell you what your building is worth. We can tell you what we would pay and show the arithmetic behind it, which is a different thing and should be treated as a different thing.
Where this comes from
Every factual statement above is traced to a published source, quoted below in the source's own words. Zoning and assessment rules change; each entry carries the date we last checked it. Where a published table attaches a footnote we could not read, the figure is quoted with its marker rather than paraphrased.
Industrial Light (I-1) Zoning District — City of Boise
City of Boise Planning and Development Services
Boise's I-1 zoning district is intended to accommodate light manufacturing, assembly, fabrication and technology-related uses that may require significant transportation services but typically do not operate at night, and are generally compatible with nearby commercial and residential areas given substantial buffering and screening.
“The I-1 zoning district is intended to accommodate light manufacturing, assembly, fabrication, and technology-related land uses that may require significant transportation services but that typically do not operate during nighttime hours and are generally compatible with nearby commercial and residential areas when accompanied by substantial buffering, screening, and standards designed to mitigate impacts.”
Checked 2026-09-10 · Boise, Idaho
Boise requires a larger parking setback from Interstate frontage in the heavy industrial district than in the light one: any yard adjacent to I-84 or I-184 carries a 10-foot parking setback in I-1 and 20 feet in I-2.
“Any Yard Adjacent to Interstate (I-84 & I-184) 10 ft.”
Checked 2026-09-10 · Boise, Idaho
Industrial Heavy (I-2) Zoning District — City of Boise
City of Boise Planning and Development Services
Boise's I-2 zoning district accommodates general industrial activity with greater impacts than I-1 — including uses needing significant heavy transportation and uses that frequently operate at night — and the code states the district should be separated from commercial or residential development.
“The I-2 zoning district is intended to accommodate general industrial activity with greater impacts than those in the I-1 zoning district, including uses that require significant heavy transportation services, uses that frequently operate during nighttime hours, and uses that require additional standards to protect health, safety, or general welfare. The I-2 zoning district should be separated from commercial or residential development.”
Checked 2026-09-10 · Boise, Idaho
Boise's I-2 heavy industrial district sets a minimum street frontage of 30 feet, where I-1 sets none.
“LOT STANDARDS Lot Area (minimum) N/A Street Frontage (minimum) 30 ft.”
Checked 2026-09-10 · Boise, Idaho
Industrial Technology (I-3) Zoning District — City of Boise
City of Boise Planning and Development Services
Boise's I-3 Industrial Technology district provides for manufacturing and technological facilities with greater impact than the mixed-use districts allow; the code states such land should be served by major transportation facilities and buffered from adjacent residential areas.
“The I-3 zoning district is intended to provide for manufacturing and technological facilities that may have a greater impact on the surrounding area than industries allowed in the mixed-use zoning districts. Lands in the I-3 zoning district should be served by major transportation facilities and be buffered from adjacent residential areas.”
Checked 2026-09-10 · Boise, Idaho
Boise City Code Tables 11-02.27, 11-02.29, 11-02.31 — I-1, I-2 and I-3 Lot and Building Standards
City of Boise (American Legal Publishing)
Boise's industrial districts do not share a height standard. I-1 Light and I-2 Heavy cap building height at 55 feet with no qualification attached. I-3 Industrial Technology permits 150 feet, but that height is not free-standing: it is controlled by a 45 degree angle of bulk plan measured from all exterior property lines.
“Controlled by a 45 degree angle of bulk plan from all exterior property lines up to the maximum height of 150 feet.”
Checked 2026-09-10 · Boise, Idaho
Boise's I-3 district ties its front setback to building height — a minimum of 45 feet plus one additional foot for every foot of building height above 45 feet, or 100 feet — with the street side, interior side and rear yard following the front standard. The 100-foot alternative applies where the property is adjacent to a Residential zoning district or residential use. Where a development forms part of an adopted Industrial Technology master plan, the setbacks apply only to the perimeter of the campus.
“If a development is part of an adopted Industrial Technology master plan, setbacks shall apply only to the perimeter of the campus.”
Checked 2026-09-10 · Boise, Idaho
Boise's I-1 and I-2 industrial tables set minimum interior side and rear yard setbacks at zero feet, but only away from housing. Where the property is adjacent to a Residential zoning district or a residential use, the minimum becomes 30 feet for development under three acres, 50 feet between three and ten acres, and 100 feet for development of ten or more acres. Front is 20 feet and street side 15 feet in both districts.
“When adjacent to a Residential zoning district or residential use, 30 ft. minimum for all development under three acres, 50 ft. minimum for all development between three acres and 10 acres, and 100 ft. minimum for all development of 10 or more acres.”
Checked 2026-09-10 · Boise, Idaho
Boise City Code Table 11-02.11 — R-3 Lot and Building Standards
City of Boise (American Legal Publishing)
The City of Boise's zoning district webpages are summaries and differ from the codified ordinance in ways that matter. They reproduce the dimensional tables and their bracketed markers but publish no footnote definitions, so the I-1 page shows an interior side setback of "0 ft. [1]" and the I-3 page a building height of "150 ft. [3]" without the qualifications those markers point to. In the R-3 table the markers sit on different rows than the code places them, and the minimum lot area for all other uses is printed as "2,00 sf" where the code reads 2,000 square feet.
“Lot Width (average) 20 ft. Street Frontage (minimum) 20 ft. Density (maximum) N/A”
Checked 2026-09-10 · Boise, Idaho
Residential Urban (R-3) Zoning District — City of Boise
City of Boise Planning and Development Services
The City of Boise's online zoning district pages reproduce each district's dimensional standards table together with its bracketed footnote markers, but do not publish the footnote definitions those markers point to. As accessed on 10 September 2026, the R-3 table carried markers [1] through [5], the I-3 table carried [1] through [3], and the I-1 and I-2 tables carried [1], and no definition for any of them appeared on any of those pages.
“LOT STANDARDS [1] Lot Area (minimum) [2] Single-Family Attached: 1,500 sf. All Other Uses: 2,00 sf. Lot Width (average) 20 ft. Street Frontage (minimum) 20 ft. Density (maximum) [2][3] N./A”
Checked 2026-09-10 · Boise, Idaho
Ada County Ordinance No. 1002 — repealing and re-enacting Ada County Code Title 8, the Ada County Zoning Ordinance
Ada County Clerk
Ada County and the City of Boise use entirely different zoning vocabularies for the same kinds of property. The county's adopted code calls its industrial districts M1 Light Industrial, M2 General Industrial and M3 Airport Industrial; Boise calls its I-1 Light Industrial, I-2 Heavy Industrial and I-3 Industrial Technology. The county's commercial districts are LO, C1 and C2; Boise's equivalents sit in its mixed-use MX series. A parcel does not change character at a city limit, but the code governing it does.
“8-2-19: LIGHT INDUSTRIAL (M1) 8-2-20: GENERAL INDUSTRIAL (M2) 8-2-21: AIRPORT INDUSTRIAL (M3)”
Checked 2026-09-10 · Ada County, Idaho
Ada County's adopted zoning ordinance establishes eighteen base districts and eight overlay districts. Its commercial and industrial base districts are Limited Office (LO), Neighborhood Commercial (C1), Community Commercial (C2), Light Industrial (M1), General Industrial (M2) and Airport Industrial (M3), alongside a Planned Community (PC) district and ten residential and rural districts.
“8-2-16: LIMITED OFFICE (LO) 8-2-17: NEIGHBORHOOD COMMERCIAL (C1) 8-2-18: COMMUNITY COMMERCIAL (C2) 8-2-19: LIGHT INDUSTRIAL (M1) 8-2-20: GENERAL INDUSTRIAL (M2) 8-2-21: AIRPORT INDUSTRIAL (M3) 8-2-22: PLANNED COMMUNITY (PC)”
Checked 2026-09-10 · unincorporated Ada County, Idaho
Every commercial and industrial district in Ada County's adopted zoning ordinance carries the same stated purpose: to encourage those uses primarily inside areas of impact, implementing the comprehensive plans adopted as part of the area of impact agreements, and to be established outside an area of impact only on a limited basis. The district's allowed uses turn on the availability of urban public facilities and the applicable comprehensive plan designation.
“The General Industrial (M2) District promotes the public health, safety, and welfare of Ada County by encouraging industrial uses primarily inside areas of impact to implement the applicable comprehensive plans that are adopted as part of the area of impact agreements. The General Industrial (M2) District may also be established outside areas of impact on a limited basis.”
Checked 2026-09-10 · Ada County, Idaho
Kuna City Code § 5-8-504 — Schedule of Area and Structure Requirements
City of Kuna, Idaho
Across the Treasure Valley, the setback that actually governs a commercial or industrial parcel is usually the one measured against housing — and no two cities express it the same way. Boise's I-1 and I-2 print a zero-foot interior side and rear yard that becomes 30, 50 or 100 feet next to a residential district or use depending on the size of the development. Star requires a minimum of 15 feet in its CBD, C-1, C-2, LO, IL, PS, RC and M-U zones when adjacent to a residential use or zone. Kuna does something different again: the setback becomes whatever the adjacent residential district itself requires.
“When a commercial and/or industrial use abuts a residential zoning district, the yard setback requirements shall be the same as required in the adjacent residential district. When residents are located in commercial or industrial zones, the yard setbacks are the same as required for the R-4 residential zoning district.”
Checked 2026-09-10 · Treasure Valley, Idaho
Star City Code § 8-3D-1 — LI Light Industrial District
City of Star, Idaho
Star's Light Industrial district requires all mechanical equipment emissions, shipping and delivery, and other outdoor activity areas to sit at least three hundred feet from any abutting residential district, or the use becomes subject to a conditional use permit.
“All mechanical equipment emissions; shipping and/or delivery; or other outdoor activity areas shall be located a minimum of three hundred feet (300') from any abutting residential districts, or the use is subject to a conditional use permit.”
Checked 2026-09-10 · Star, Idaho
Eagle City Code § 8-2-4 — Schedule of Building Height and Lot Area Regulations
City of Eagle, Idaho
Eagle expands its side setback with building storeys rather than with proximity to housing. Except for single-family attached dwellings, a multi-storey structure requires an additional five feet of side setback per storey, in every district including its M-1, BP, M-2 and M-3 industrial districts, whose tables otherwise show a zero-foot interior side. Eagle also requires residential buildings located in non-residential districts to meet the residential height and area regulations.
“Except for single-family attached dwellings, an additional 5 feet per story side setback is required for multi-story structures. Height not to exceed maximum allowed within the zone.”
Checked 2026-09-10 · Eagle, Idaho
The designation M-3 does not mean one thing across the Treasure Valley. In unincorporated Ada County it is Airport Industrial, a live district in the adopted zoning ordinance. In Eagle it is Extractive Industrial, for the mining, processing and storage of mineral resources. In Kuna it was limited to mining uses and has been consolidated into M-2, so it no longer operates. Boise has no M-3 at all — its third industrial district is I-3 Industrial Technology, for technology and research uses.
“M-3 EXTRACTIVE INDUSTRIAL DISTRICT: To provide land for the mining, processing and storage of mineral resources.”
Checked 2026-09-10 · Ada County, Idaho
Meridian Unified Development Code Table 11-2C-3 — Dimensional Standards in the Industrial Districts
City of Meridian, Idaho
Meridian sets a single set of dimensional standards for both of its industrial districts, I-L and I-H: front, rear and interior side setbacks of zero feet, a street setback of 35 feet, and a maximum building height of 50 feet. The table does not present those figures as final — its own text directs the reader to exceptions and clarifications set out elsewhere in the code.
“Table 11-2C-3 of this subsection shall be used for determining required setbacks, street and use landscape buffers and maximum building height standards for development in each of the industrial districts. Subsection (A)(2) of this section and subsection 11-3B-7.C.1.c of this title sets forth certain exceptions and additional clarification for the dimensional standards.”
Checked 2026-09-10 · Meridian, Idaho
Meridian's own dimensional table says it can be overridden. Setback, landscape buffer, building height and parking standards within an adopted specific area plan take precedence over the standards in the table. Where an adjacent property is vacant, the Director determines its designation from the Comprehensive Plan, so even the input to a buffer requirement can be a matter of judgement rather than a fact on the ground.
“Dimensional standards for setbacks, landscape buffers, building heights, and parking requirements within adopted specific area plans take precedence over standards provided in this table.”
Checked 2026-09-10 · Meridian, Idaho
Star City Code Table 8-3A-4 — Zoning District Dimensional Standards
City of Star, Idaho
Star's 15-foot minimum setback next to a residential use or zone is not absolute. The same footnote allows a waiver to be requested where the adjacent property has the potential to redevelop as a non-residential use in the future.
“A waiver may be requested if thee adjacent property has the potential to redevelop as a non-residential use in the future.”
Checked 2026-09-10 · Star, Idaho
Garden City Code Title 8 Development Code, Article 8-2B — Nonresidential and Mixed Use Districts
Garden City, Idaho
Garden City's C-2 is a mixed use commercial district, not a general commercial one. That inverts the convention in neighbouring cities, where C-2 denotes a commercial district — Star and Kuna both use C-2 for commercial and place mixed use elsewhere. Garden City's only industrial district is LI Light Industrial, with a 55-foot height maximum, while the height cell for its C-1 and C-2 districts is left blank in the table.
“Mixed use commercial (C-2)”
Checked 2026-09-10 · Garden City, Idaho
Airport Influence Area Overlay (AI-O) — City of Boise
City of Boise Planning and Development Services
Boise maintains an Airport Influence Area Overlay whose stated purposes include promoting development compatible with and protective of safe airport operation, and ensuring development is compatible with noise levels from airport operations.
“The purpose of the AI-O district is to: (a) Promote development that is compatible with and protects the safe operation of the airport; (b) Ensure all development is compatible with the noise levels from operations at the airport;”
Checked 2026-09-10 · Boise, Idaho
Flood Protection Overlay — City of Boise
City of Boise Planning and Development Services
Boise maintains a Flood Protection Overlay whose stated purpose recognises that the city's flood hazard areas are subject to periodic inundation, and that flood losses are caused both by natural forces and by construction practices that increase flood heights and velocities, and by structures inadequately anchored or flood-proofed.
“The flood hazard areas of Boise City are subject to periodic inundation, which may result in loss of life and property, health and safety hazards, disruption of commerce and government services, extraordinary public expenditures for flood protection and relief, and impairment of the tax base, all of which adversely affect the public health, safety, and general welfare.”
Checked 2026-09-10 · Boise, Idaho
Real & Manufactured Property Assessment — Ada County Assessor
Ada County Assessor
Ada County develops commercial assessments using data on construction costs, market sales and income production; the residential approach described alongside it relies on construction costs, sales and, where applicable, rental information.
“Data pertaining to construction costs, market sales, and income-production is used to develop commercial assessments.”
Checked 2026-09-10 · Ada County, Idaho
Every non-exempt commercial property in Ada County is assessed at market value as of January 1, on the same annual cycle and the same five-year physical inspection requirement as residential property.
“Idaho law requires that all non-exempt property be assessed at market value as of January 1st.”
Checked 2026-09-10 · Ada County, Idaho
Start with the address.
One field. We will look at the parcel and the comparable sales, then come back with a number and the working behind it. No obligation, and no pressure if the answer is that you should list it instead.
Serving Boise, Meridian, Eagle, Kuna, Star, Garden City and unincorporated Ada County.