UPDATE: About 300 residents showed up at Garden City City Hall Monday night to testify against the rezone proposal. The City Council unanimously denied the request. No word from the developer if he will submit an amended development proposal.
GARDEN CITY -- As home prices continue to skyrocket in Ada County, one developer is aiming to drive costs down by developing a co-housing community.
The proposed development is on a 1.3-acre parcel of land in Garden City on State Street and Bloom Street.
Developer Will Kemper plans to build 19 small units with the idea of residents sharing the larger farmhouse, which already exists.
"The idea behind co-housing is that you live in a smaller place because you share both space in the common house where you can entertain and be with people and maybe cars, lawnmowers, child care," says Kemper.
The smaller units will have one bathroom and two to three bedrooms.
"In this setting, the units will be very small, 640 to 960 square feet so they are really small units," says Kemper.
And the design concept is much more unique than surrounding houses.
"Our plan has shipping containers doing eight units at the back of the lot and they look modern," says Kemper.
The units will go for around $200,000 and Kemper says they are ideal for retired couples and single parents.
"This is probably a good unit for somewhere in Idaho but this is just absolutely the wrong location,' says Pierce Rone, President of Plantation Homeowners Association.
Rone says the development will create more traffic and drive down his property value.
"The people of Plantation, the people of Peach Tree, the people of Savannah Greens have lived there for 30 plus years in many cases and paid a tremendous amount of money to keep their value there," says Rone.
Garden City Mayor John Evans says planning and zoning recommended that city council members approve the development.
The Garden City City Council will have the final say at its meeting Monday night.