Birch Crossing Zoning: Victor P&Z Picks Single-Family for 13 Acres

The Birch Crossing zoning decision landed on April 16 when the Victor Planning and Zoning Commission recommended approval of the annexation but assigned RS-7 single-family to all 13.38 acres, closing off the 172-unit rental project D&B Partners LLC had scaled down and resubmitted over the previous month. The recommendation now goes to City Council, which has final authority on both the annexation and the initial zoning.

The commission's vote went further than the direction it had given at the March 19 continuance, when it asked the applicant to return with RS-7 zoning on the northern Stewart parcel and RS-3 on the development parcels south of Birch Street. On April 16, commissioners applied RS-7, which permits detached single-family homes and two-family dwellings on lots of at least 7,000 square feet, across the entire site.

Chair Christian Cisco moved to recommend approval of the annexation with RS-7 zoning across the entire site, subject to the conditions listed in the staff report. Commissioner Kristi Aslin seconded. Cisco, Aslin, and Commissioner Stephanie Dykema all voted in favor. Commissioners Tom Hallberg and Marie Zolezzi were absent.

The developer's revised proposal

D&B Partners returned with revisions responding to the March feedback. Total units dropped from 172 to 160. The two buildings fronting Baseline Road were cut from three stories to two. The Stewart parcel on the north end was relabeled RS-7, matching what the commission had asked for.

Applicant representative Joe Finley also offered voluntary commitments beyond the staff conditions: a cap of 50 percent of the apartment units at 120 percent of Area Median Income, full acceptance of the staff report's workforce housing condition, which would have required 24 deed-restricted apartments and four deed-restricted duplexes for qualified local households, and a short-term rental deed restriction covering 100 percent of the site. "RM-2 does not require income restrictions, and we offer this voluntarily," Finley told the commission.

The project team also offered to open a project pool and splash pad to the public during staffed hours and contribute to lifeguard costs, a direct response to longstanding community requests for a water feature in a city that has none. That amenity, the 54 percent open space proposed on the site, the developer-funded Birch Street extension, the water main looping, and the $1.88 million in one-time impact fees all scaled with the intensity of the proposed development.

The concessions did not move the commission. Deliberation focused on the comp plan's "concentric circles" principle, density at the core transitioning downward at the edges, and the observation that Victor is three to four blocks wide in any direction. That places the Birch-to-Baseline site at the city's edge rather than adjacent to its downtown core. "Just because we can build them with certain zoning doesn't mean we should," Aslin said.

Dykema, echoed the concern. "I'm not opposed to apartments in Victor, but I think location and intensity matters," she said. "The comprehensive plan is clear that growth should move from higher density in the middle towards lower density on the periphery. To me, the red flag is the RM-2 zoning. I'm not willing to support that here."

The pivot from negotiation to assignment came midway through the discussion. "I don't think it's our position to negotiate with them and see what's best for them, frankly," Cisco said. "It's our decision. It's how we want to zone the property. And then you come and fit your pieces in." The commission then went further than the March 19 guidance, applying RS-7 across the board rather than splitting RS-7 and RS-3 across the parcel.

The commission's geographic framing sits in tension with the city's own land use framework. The comp plan's future land use map designates the full parcel as Downtown Neighborhood, a category the plan describes as "those neighborhoods adjacent to the Downtown Core," one that lists "apartments and condominiums" among primary uses, with a recommended density of 8 to 16 units per acre. The comp plan's list of recommended zoning districts for Downtown Neighborhood areas includes RS-3, RS-5, RM-1, and RM-2. RS-7, the Birch Crossing zoning the commission recommended, is not on that list. The Birch-to-Baseline site sits within a short walk of Main Street and Center Street, Victor's commercial core, with continuous residential development between.

RS-7 in practice

Applying the staff report's own math to the full site, RS-7 produces about 6 lots per acre at the 7,000 sq ft minimum. Across 13.38 acres, that is roughly 80 lots before subtracting land consumed by the Birch Street extension and Antelope Lane connection, a realistic yield of about 60 to 80 detached single-family homes.

Staff also noted that RS-7 permits a primary dwelling plus an accessory dwelling unit on each lot. At full ADU buildout, the site could reach 12 units per acre, or roughly 160 units, comparable to the applicant's proposed 172. In practice, ADU construction rates in permissive zones fall well below 100 percent, and the timeline stretches across years of owner-by-owner decisions rather than a single coordinated project.

RS-7 contains no rental requirement, no AMI restriction, and no workforce set-aside. Conditions 12 and 13 of the staff report, the short-term rental ban on 60 percent of multi-family units and the 15 percent deed restriction on apartments, apply to building types RS-7 does not allow. They become moot when the zoning changes. Condition 12 was in legal limbo regardless: a new state law preempting local short-term rental regulation takes effect July 1, and Planning Director Kimberly Kolner told the commission during deliberation that the restriction may not be enforceable even if it survives into the development agreement. The 30 percent deed restriction on duplex units survives, since RS-7 permits duplexes as a "two-family" building type. The voluntary 120 percent AMI cap D&B Partners offered was not codified as a staff condition and does not carry forward.

Public comment

Every resident who spoke at the April 16 hearing opposed the density as proposed. Rachel Amana of Valley Advocates for Responsible Development, returning for a second hearing, told the commission the applicant had failed "to conform to those recommendations or meaningfully incorporate any community feedback" from the March meeting, and urged denial.

Another Victor resident tied the application to the city's broader legal and financial turbulence. "Our city is stressed out really bad," he said. "There's four criteria that would suggest a moratorium. And this city is looking at three of them right now. We have a judicial hearing. We have some financial issues. And we have a water treatment infrastructure problem."

Cindy Riegel, a Victor resident, former county commissioner, and named respondent in the city's $35 million wastewater judicial confirmation case, paused her testimony to take issue with the chair's attentiveness during her comments. After Cisco suggested they discuss the matter separately and reminded her of her remaining time, Riegel resumed, arguing that "for sale would be ideal" rather than rental and calling the RM-2 zoning request "a very significant upzone" from the current county designation.

Next steps

The annexation and Birch Crossing zoning both require city council approval by ordinance. No council hearing has been scheduled; the commission is expected to approve written findings at its May 21 meeting before the file can advance.

Council has the same options the commission had: accept the recommendation as written, modify the zoning, deny the annexation, or send it back. D&B Partners can also withdraw the application rather than proceed under RS-7, or file for reconsideration if council adopts the recommendation unchanged.

The larger question is whether D&B Partners would build anything under RS-7. The developer's pitch at both the March and April hearings was for purpose-built rental housing serving workforce and moderate-income households, a product its own market study identified as Victor's unmet need and a business model built around a coordinated multifamily project. RS-7 delivers detached homes on 7,000-square-foot lots, for sale, without the rental restrictions, workforce set-asides, or affordability commitments the developer had offered. Those are different markets and different economics, and a Spokane-based multifamily developer does not pivot to single-family for-sale tract development.

D&B Partners' next move, whether to file, pivot, or walk away, is the decision point to watch.

This story follows The Valley Signal's earlier coverage, Birch Crossing: Victor Commission Balks at 172-Unit Rental Project as Developer Regroups, published April 2, 2026. Application materials and the staff report are available on the City of Victor P&Z meeting page.

Correction (April 22, 2026): An earlier version of this story misstated the total unit count in the revised proposal (158 total units, not 160 apartments) and omitted the developer's voluntary offer of a short-term rental deed restriction covering the full site.