By now you have likely heard that many city and county government buildings — including most of the Ada County Courthouse — have been closed to the public to reduce the threat of the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus.
The Ada County Sheriff’s Driver’s License Office at 400 N. Benjamin Lane is joining that list. The office is now closed to the public. We know it will be closed for at least two weeks – and possibly longer.
The Ada County Assessor’s Office is also closing the Department of Motor Vehicles offices at 190 E. Front St. and 8655 W. Franklin Road in Boise; 1769 N. Lakes Place in Meridian; 9115 Chinden Blvd., Suite 103; and 10769 W. State Street in Star.
The Idaho Department of Transportation has granted a three-month extension to anyone whose driver’s license will expire from March 1 to May 31. If you fall into that category, you will have until June 30 to renew your driver’s license.
If you are age 65 or older and need to renew your license, you will have to the end of July to get that done.
People who need to renew their commercial driver’s license do not qualify for the 90-day extension.
The closures are not something we do lightly. Your safety, and the safety of our staff, is our primary concern.
You may have read about the Center For Disease Control (CDC) recommending that no gatherings with 50 people or more be held in the United States for the next eight weeks to help slow the spread of COVID-19.
We had 5,119 customers come through our Driver’s License Office last week. That is more than 1,000 day — and we know the actual number going through is higher, as many customers bring children or have other people with them.
We also have several hundred customers going through our five DMV locations across the county every day.
That’s a lot of people, concentrated together in one place, all day long – not good math for the “social distancing” health officials are recommending to help keep us safe.
The ITD decision to extend renewals for 90 days removes the urgent need some folks have to get their license – and we deeply appreciate that.
If you made an online appointment to renew your license or get the Real/ID Star Card, our staff will contact you and reschedule a time for you to come in when we reopen.
The Driver’s License and DMV offices will reopen when it is safe.
When Driver’s License reopens, we will be extending our hours into the evening and possibly on Saturdays so we can catch up.
In the meantime, the Idaho Department of Transportation is processing driver’s license renewals online at https://www.accessidaho.org/itd/driver/profile/renewal
You will not be able to get the Real ID/Star card through the online system.
It is unclear at this point if the federal government will push back the Oct. 1, 2020 deadline to get the Star Card, which you will be need to fly commercially in the United States or access a federal facility, national laboratory, or military base.
You can also do DMV-related stuff online, like renewing your vehicle registration and ordering personalized license plates there as well. For more info, check out https://adacounty.id.gov/assessor/motor-vehicles/
Please know we appreciate your patience and understanding as we all work through this. Thank you.