Site Clearing in Kuna

Kuna's a mix right now: tight new subdivisions like Patagonia and Crimson Point on small lots, older pockets near downtown and Indian Creek, and hobby farms and acreage once you get past the city limits. Site clearing jobs look different depending on which of those you're on.

A cleared mobile home pad, an overgrown acreage lot getting ready for a build, a fenced pasture that needs to come out before fencing goes back up — all of it falls under site clearing, and all of it has to get sorted and hauled somewhere specific once it leaves your property.

Where it goes once it's off your lot

Ada County's landfill, Hidden Hollow out on Seamans Gulch Road, sits up in the north Boise foothills, which is a real drive from Kuna. For most drop-offs, the Meridian Transfer Station on West Franklin is the closer option and where a lot of this material ends up routed through.

Both handle general trash and construction debris, yard waste, scrap metal, clean wood and concrete. Tires and Freon-containing appliances go in a separate stream and carry a fee. Treated or painted wood doesn't count as clean wood for diversion, so it gets sorted and handled differently than the untreated lumber off the same job. If your clearing turns up anything that counts as household hazardous waste — old paint, solvents, chemicals — Kuna runs a mobile HHW collection at the city park a few times a year rather than sending it to the landfill.

Permits people forget about

Kuna's streets are Ada County Highway District right-of-way, not city property, so a dumpster or container parked on the street or shoulder needs an ACHD temporary use permit. Set one in a driveway without checking and you can end up needing to move it.

If the job involves tearing down a structure, Kuna's Building Department has a demolition permit application on file — worth pulling before, not after, equipment shows up.

Burning is another one people get wrong. Kuna Rural Fire doesn't require a burn permit, but open burning is banned whenever Treasure Valley air quality hits a certain threshold, and even when it's allowed, it only covers weeds and small brush — not lumber, roofing material, tires or garbage. Outside city limits you also need a state permit through Idaho Department of Lands. On land out toward the Birds of Prey area, burning isn't allowed at all.

• Pull a demolition permit before work starts, not after
• Get an ACHD right-of-way permit for any container in the street
• Check current air quality restrictions before burning brush
• Keep tires, treated wood and garbage out of any burn pile
• Set aside Freon appliances and tires for separate fee-based drop-off

What tends to turn up

The newer subdivisions sit on smaller lots, so clearing there is usually landscaping, fencing, a shed or a pool structure coming out. Out past the city limits, on the acreage and hobby farm properties, you're more likely dealing with old fencing, corrals, outbuildings and whatever accumulates on a rural lot over the years.

Scrap metal and clean lumber off these jobs are worth recycling rather than hauling straight to the landfill. Older fencing and outbuildings often have treated or painted wood mixed in, which changes how it has to be sorted. Campers, trailers and boats without a title can't go to the landfill at all, so those need to be dealt with separately before the rest of the lot gets cleared.

Site clearing in Kuna comes down to knowing where each kind of debris has to go and which permits apply before the equipment shows up. Mobile Home Demolition Boise handles site clearing throughout Kuna and the Treasure Valley — call for a free estimate.