Located on 1844 acres outside of Boise, Idaho, Hidden Springs is a new 1135-home community that places a high priority on maintaining its appealing rural ambiance. The town is surrounded by 800 acres of protected open land including wetlands, farmland and natural wildlife areas.  The community’s landscaped common areas connected to miles of public hiking and biking trails.  The plan for the town center features a general store and café, post office, preschool, police and fire departments, a community garden, sports fields, and elementary school and shops, restaurants, and offices.

The homes, designed to address the needs of work-at-home residents, are grouped in four neighborhoods.  Hidden Springs is the first community in the Northwest to participate in the Building America Initiative, a program sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy to promote the production of energy efficient homes on a community scale. 

The 2000 awards marked the debut of the Smart Growth Community category, which lauds community development projects that have demonstrated outstanding effort in incorporating the principals of smart growth into their overall design plans.

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