Idaho

Buying Land in Valley County, Idaho

Valley County's land market centers on McCall (Payette Lake) and the fast-expanding Tamarack Resort near Donnelly (Lake Cascade) -- one of Idaho's most active mountain-resort real estate corridors outside Sun Valley. Two big, recent, and genuinely county-specific changes are reshaping how land here gets used: who administers permits around McCall, and what short-term rental rules still apply.

The County, Not the City, Now Administers the Former McCall Impact Area

Case-by-case / verify locally

Effective January 1, 2026, Valley County adopted a new McCall Impact Area Boundary ordinance and assumed administration of all permitting in the unincorporated area previously managed by the City of McCall under a shared impact-area agreement. If you're evaluating a parcel near McCall, this is a real jurisdictional change from what an older listing, agent, or prior version of this page might describe -- confirm with Valley County Planning & Zoning (not the City of McCall) which office currently handles zoning and permitting review for the specific parcel, since the transition is recent enough that practices may still be settling in.

Short-Term Rental Rules Just Changed Statewide, Mid-2026

Case-by-case / verify locally

Valley County and the City of McCall built up a decade of STR-specific rules -- occupancy caps, parking and lighting standards, event restrictions -- much of it a direct response to the McCall area's housing-affordability strain from vacation-rental conversions. As of July 1, 2026, Idaho's new statewide short-term rental preemption law (HB 583, signed March 2026) has already taken effect, and it strikes down most local STR-specific regulation on parking, lighting, occupancy, and events, reclassifying STRs as an ordinary residential use for zoning purposes. Because this took effect only weeks before this research pass, treat any older description of McCall-area STR rules -- including a listing's claims about rental income potential under 'current rules' -- with real caution, and confirm current enforceable standards directly with the county or city.

Tamarack Resort (Donnelly, Lake Cascade) Is Mid-Expansion With Real Money Behind It

Could not confirm

Tamarack Resort, on the west side of Lake Cascade near Donnelly, changed to full ownership under MMG Equity Partners in 2025 and has documented over $250 million in improvements since -- a rebuilt golf course, a reinstalled chairlift, finished village construction, and a new 100-slip public marina slated to open in 2026. Valley County has also approved a Commercial Property Assessed Capital Expenditure (C-PACE) financing program tied partly to the resort, and Tamarack has petitioned the county to form a Community Infrastructure District that could issue up to $400 million in bonded debt to fund future residential development, repaid by future property owners' special assessments. This is real, well-documented growth pressure specific to the Donnelly/Tamarack area of the county -- worth factoring into how a nearby parcel might be valued or taxed going forward, separate from the McCall market.

Septic Runs Through Central District Health, Not the County

Could not confirm

As with the rest of Idaho, septic permitting is administered by a regional health district under statewide IDEQ rules, not by Valley County itself (see the state hub). Valley County falls under Central District Health (CDH), which also covers Ada, Boise, and Elmore counties and maintains a dedicated field office in McCall. Confirm current site-evaluation scheduling directly with CDH's McCall office before assuming a straightforward approval, especially given how tight capacity can run during the area's short summer construction season.

A jurisdictional handoff around McCall, effective January 2026

For years, land inside the City of McCall's designated Area of City Impact was subject to a shared review arrangement between the city and Valley County. That changed with a new McCall Impact Area Boundary ordinance, effective January 1, 2026, under which Valley County assumed administration of permitting for the unincorporated impact-area land previously handled by the City of McCall. If a parcel near McCall is being marketed with reference to city zoning categories, city planning contacts, or a city-era approval, confirm directly with Valley County Planning & Zoning whether the county's standards now govern instead -- this is a recent enough change that even some local sources may still describe the prior arrangement.

Short-term rentals: a decade of local rules, undone by state law in mid-2026

McCall's tight housing market and heavy vacation-rental presence made short-term rental regulation a genuinely contentious local issue for years -- residents have documented cases of long-term rental housing converting to STR use, squeezing the workforce housing supply the resort economy depends on. In response, Valley County and the City of McCall built layered STR rules on parking, lighting, occupancy, and events (the City of McCall's 2022 STR rules were a notable example). Idaho's legislature has pushed back against this kind of local regulation for several years running, and its third attempt succeeded: HB 583, signed in March 2026 with an effective date of July 1, 2026, has now taken effect statewide, preventing local governments from imposing most STR-specific licensing, occupancy-reporting, insurance, or use restrictions beyond basic life-safety code requirements. If STR income is central to your plan for a Valley County property, get a current, post-HB-583 answer from the county or city directly -- the rules that applied even a few months before this page was researched may no longer be enforceable.

Tamarack Resort and Lake Cascade: real, financed growth on the west side of the county

While McCall and Payette Lake get most of the attention, the Donnelly/Tamarack corridor on Lake Cascade is where some of the county's most concrete, dollar-backed growth is happening. New ownership (MMG Equity Partners, since 2025) has put more than $250 million into Tamarack Resort -- finishing Tamarack Village, rebuilding the Osprey Meadows golf course, reinstalling the Wildwood chairlift, and building a new public marina slated for a Memorial Day 2026 opening. Recent Planning & Zoning approvals include a 13-lot subdivision (Ponderosa Ridge) and a proposed 60-unit townhome development near the resort entrance. The county has also approved a C-PACE financing program tied partly to the resort, and Tamarack has petitioned to form a Community Infrastructure District that could authorize up to $400 million in bonded debt for future residential buildout, to be repaid through special assessments on future property owners. None of this determines what a specific nearby parcel is worth, but it's a real, documented growth trajectory to factor in -- including the likelihood of future special-assessment districts affecting land near the resort.

What we could and couldn't confirm

Two of this page's central facts -- the county's January 2026 takeover of McCall Impact Area permitting, and the July 2026 statewide STR preemption law -- both took effect within roughly the eight months before this research pass, so local implementation details (which office actually handles a given parcel, which specific STR standards survive HB 583) are likely still settling out and should be reconfirmed directly rather than assumed. The Tamarack Resort financing and expansion figures come from a mix of company statements, county records, and local news reporting current as of mid-2026.

Verify directly with: Valley County Planning & Zoning for zoning, the McCall Impact Area transition, and current short-term rental rules; Central District Health for septic

Who to Call Before Buying Land in Valley County

A Recorder/Clerk contact for deed and plat history could not be independently confirmed by direct phone line during this research pass and is left out rather than guessed -- Valley County's Clerk's office, reachable through the main courthouse line in Cascade, handles recording. The Building Department phone listed is the county's main Cascade line; confirm before a visit since the department explicitly does not cover McCall, Cascade, or Donnelly city limits.

Planning & Zoning

Valley County Planning & Zoning Department

Confirming a parcel's zoning district, whether it falls in the former McCall Impact Area now administered by the county, and current status of short-term rental standards after HB 583.

Phone: (208) 382-7116Official website →

Building & Permitting

Valley County Building Department

Building permits for unincorporated Valley County (this department does not cover the cities of McCall, Cascade, or Donnelly, which run separate building programs).

Phone: (208) 382-7115Official website →

Environmental Health