Pocatello, ID Zoning Overlays & Bonuses: Downtown Design Guide (2026)
Key Facts
- Minimum stories, downtown residential
- 3 stories
- Roof requirement
- flat or parapet roof only
- Prohibited feature
- external stairways or breezeways
- Lighting standard
- Downtown Plan Light Plan, in planter strips
- Governing overlay
- Original Townsite Overlay, § 17.04.220
Summary
Within Pocatello's Downtown Area, as mapped by the Pocatello Downtown Development Plan, section 17.04.220(E) requires street lighting to follow the Plan's Light Plan and sit in the required planter strips, and requires new multi-family and townhome buildings in the area's commercial and industrial zones to have at least three stories, a flat or parapet roof, and no external stairways or breezeways.
E. Downtown Development Standards: 1. Application: The following standards in this subsection shall apply only to land within the Downtown Area as identified in the Pocatello Downtown Development Plan. 2. Lighting: Street lighting shall be provided in accordance with the Light Plan of the Pocatello Downtown Development Plan. The required lighting shall be placed in the required planter strips, unless authorized elsewhere on the project site as approved by the Planning Director or their designee. 3. Residential Uses: a. Multi-family residential uses are permitted outright in all commercial and industrial zoning districts within the Downtown Area, provided that each building has a minimum of three (3) stories, and is developed with a flat or parapet roof. No external stairways or breezeways are permitted. Buildings shall meet Nonresidential Use setbacks as set forth in this section.
Full Breakdown
Section 17.04.220(E) sits inside the Original Townsite Overlay (OTO), which section 17.04.220(B) applies to the original Pocatello townsite and which overrides the underlying zoning district wherever the two conflict. Subsection (E)(1) limits the Downtown Development Standards to land the Pocatello Downtown Development Plan identifies as the Downtown Area. Subsection (E)(2) ties street lighting to that Plan's Light Plan and requires it to sit in the required planter strips unless the Planning Director or a designee approves another location. Subsection (E)(3) then sets the residential design rule: multi-family buildings and townhome units are permitted outright in the Downtown Area's commercial and industrial zoning districts, but only if each building or unit is at least three stories with a flat or parapet roof, has no external stairways or breezeways, and meets the nonresidential setbacks that section 17.04.220(D) otherwise sets for that district.
The three-story floor keeps new downtown residential construction from reading as a one-story suburban building dropped into the historic core, and the setback cross-reference means a downtown apartment building follows the tighter nonresidential yard standards rather than the wider residential ones used elsewhere in the city.
Violations & Fines
A downtown project built without the required story count, roof form or lighting placement is enforced under Title 17's general penalty, section 17.01.170(C): a misdemeanor punishable by up to a $1,000 fine, up to six months in jail, or both, with each day of the violation a separate offense and City approvals withheld until it is corrected.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I build a one-story apartment building in downtown Pocatello?
What setbacks apply to a downtown residential building?
Does downtown street lighting follow a special plan?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Pocatello
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