{"id":2255541,"date":"2026-01-29T00:32:39","date_gmt":"2026-01-29T00:32:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2255541"},"modified":"2026-01-29T00:32:39","modified_gmt":"2026-01-29T00:32:39","slug":"donnelly-begins-reviewing-plan-for-boulder-creek-apartments-entertainment-venue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/donnelly-begins-reviewing-plan-for-boulder-creek-apartments-entertainment-venue\/","title":{"rendered":"Donnelly begins reviewing plan for Boulder Creek apartments, entertainment venue"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Questions surrounding a second road access to Idaho 55 delayed a decision this week on a proposal for more than 100 homes and apartments along Boulder Creek in Donnelly.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The proposal, submitted by Joe Critchfield of Cascade, calls for 97 apartments, 14 recreational cabins, three short-term rentals, and a clubhouse on a 22.8-acre property at 203 Eld Ln.<\/p>\n

Critchfield, along with landowner Reuben Ortega of Eagle, are seeking approval on a concept plan for the site, as well as the annexation of 12 acres into city limits and rezoning of the two parcels for higher residential density.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Donnelly City Council, however, did not move on the application, citing a need for more information about the potential for a new road between Eld Lane and West Roseberry Road\u2014which would ensure two routes from the development to\u00a0Idaho 55.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t feel confident right now to make a decision,\u201d Council Member Wendy Davenport said. \u201cI need to stew on this. It\u2019s a lot.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

A public hearing on the application was continued by the council to a special meeting on Monday, Feb. 9, at 6 p.m. at 169 Halferty St. Public comments at the meeting will be limited to those concerning the secondary access.\u00a0<\/p>\n

If the applications are approved, the developers would still need city approval for final design elements, like architecture and landscaping.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The council\u2019s request for more information about the potential secondary access\u2014which is not included in the application as proposed\u2014followed testimony from Eld Lane residents who said it would not be safe to add more traffic to the narrow dirt road with only one outlet onto Idaho 55. <\/p>\n

A concept plan for the Boulder Creek apartments proposal under consideration by the Donnelly City Council. Map: Via South Beck & Baird<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Mayor recuses self, slams \u2018nonsense\u2019 application<\/h2>\n

Among neighbors who spoke was Donnelly\u00a0Mayor Susan Dorris, who said the development would create a \u201cdangerous bottleneck\u201d at the intersection of Eld Lane with Idaho 55.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cAnyone who interacts with the intersection of Eld Lane and 55 on a consistent basis will understand the absurdity of adding 300-plus trips per day,\u201d said Dorris, who recused herself from the council\u2019s consideration of the application at the start of the meeting.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Critchfield is required by the Idaho Transportation Department to complete a traffic study for the intersection. The results of that study, which are still pending, could trigger street improvements required by ITD. <\/p>\n

He would also be required by the city to build curb, gutter, and sidewalk along his Eld Lane property frontage, deed land to the city for the Eld Lane right-of-way, and improve the grading and width of the road\u2019s intersection with Idaho 55.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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The concept plan also includes a commercial entertainment facility, which Dorris called \u201cnonsense\u201d given the site\u2019s proximity to nearby homes.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The entertainment venue would be built on the east side of Boulder Creek, with three bridges to homes and apartments on the west side of the creek. The facility would include a vendor area, a greenbelt pathway, and a gathering space, according to\u00a0the application<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A 30-space parking lot would be built for the venue, with no parking allowed elsewhere on the property or on nearby streets. Mark Butler, a planning consultant hired by the city, said parking would better limit the capacity of the venue rather than the city trying to enforce occupancy limits.<\/p>\n

\"\"
The parcel outlined in green is already in Donnelly City Limits, while the parcel outlined with dashed blue would need to be annexed into the city as part of the Boulder Creek apartments proposal. Map: Via Valley County GIS<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

Residential density and affordable housing<\/h2>\n

Critchfield told the council his motivation for the project is to provide workforce housing. He employs about 40 people at businesses he owns in Cascade, including North 55 Social, Arrowhead RV Park, Tackle Tom\u2019s, and the liquor store.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI own an RV park. I see what goes on and how people live,\u201d he said. \u201cThose people are working for me and I have passion for those types of people. So I have to figure out what type of housing I can do to help support them.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Critchfield\u2019s proposal includes an application to double zoning density on a parcel currently within the city to eight units per acre. He said maximizing density on the property is important given infrastructure costs he expects to incur for roads, water, and sewer infrastructure.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Neighbors were critical of the proposed rezone and said the higher density would not be \u201charmonious\u201d with single family homes on Eld Lane.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe live on a dirt road for a reason,\u201d Jenelle Evans said. \u201cWe don\u2019t want sidewalks. We don\u2019t want paved roads. This is not the big city down in the valley. This is the mountains.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rex Frazier and several other neighbors noted that the development, if fully occupied, could double the city\u2019s population of about 250 residents.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not against this development,\u201d Frazier said. \u201cI\u2019m just saying we need to scale it back to something more usable. Something that will help Donnelly grow in a controlled manner.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The northwest corner of the 22.8-acre property on which Joe Critchfield of Cascade is proposing to build 114 apartments, cabins and homes, as seen from Eld Lane. Photo: Drew Dodson\/Valley Lookout<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n

\u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source valleylookout.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Questions surrounding a second road access to Idaho 55 delayed a decision this week on a proposal for more than 100 homes and apartments along Boulder Creek in Donnelly.\u00a0 The proposal, submitted by Joe Critchfield of Cascade, calls for 97 apartments, 14 recreational cabins, three short-term rentals, and a clubhouse on a 22.8-acre property at […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2255542,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25172],"tags":[434917,434918,434919,436755],"class_list":["post-2255541","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment","tag-donnelly-city-council","tag-joe-critchfield","tag-mark-butler","tag-susan-dorris"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Donnelly-begins-reviewing-plan-for-Boulder-Creek-apartments-entertainment-venue.com-donnelly-to-hear-plans-for-boulder-creek-apartments-entertainment-venue-screenshot.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2255541","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2255541"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2255541\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2255543,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2255541\/revisions\/2255543"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2255542"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2255541"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2255541"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2255541"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}