Thunder Spring design given the official nod

The Thunder Spring development team’s design for Phase I of its multi-use facility at the old Alpenrose Hotel site was approved by Ketchum Planning and Zoning Commission Monday night.

The design review approval is the culmination of a planning process between Wareham, the California-based developers of the project, and city officials.

"It’s been delightful, and I think you have a wonderful project," said P&Z member Janet Dunbar.

The success of the project, thus far, has been "due in no small part to you guys," Ketchum attorney Ed Lawson, who represents Wareham, told the P&Z after thanking members for their "time, attention and patience" with the application.

Building facades at Thunder Spring will be a mixture of timber, rock and stucco elements. The log architectural features will be lighter in color, and the rock features will be red and brown.

Underneath the two major residential buildings will be underground parking facilities. Each residential unit will have a two-car garage.

Short-term parking to serve the commercial activity will be above ground.

Approval was granted with certain conditions that must be met before the developers receive their building permit.

One of the sticking points was the lighting plan for the project.

The commissioners wanted to steer clear of what P&Z Administrator Lisa Majdiak called the "spaceship approach" to lighting.

Project architect Jim Ruscitto said there would be a mix of some "bullet" up-lighting to illuminate trees and low-wattage down-lighting along walkways and traffic areas throughout the complex.

"We don’t want to light up the buildings," Ruscitto said. "We want to light up the ground plane below in very subtle ways."

P&Z member Peter Ripsom, an architect, liked the plan.

"I don't think we’ve seen a project of this magnitude with such low-wattage lights," he said.

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The P&Z also approved the design of the Higdon Building, a proposed 20,232-square-foot office building at the corner of First Street and Leadville Avenue.

The Higdon building, slated to be built on two Ketchum townsite lots, is the second largest downtown structure to come through the P&Z this year.

Plans for a new retail and office complex at the Colonnade site at Sun Valley Road and Walnut Avenue have been the biggest downtown proposal, size-wise, on the P&Z’s plate.

Plans for the Higdon building include a 16-car underground parking garage. The building height is proposed to be 39 feet, one foot under the maximum height allowed for a building with underground parking.

The design review approval was continued from an April 13 meeting so the project’s architect, Bernie Johnson of McLaughlin & Associates, could present plans for additional landscaping and pedestrian amenities.

On Monday, the P&Z approved the plan, which includes more space for a bike rack, garbage storage, trees and a bench in the proposed courtyard area at the corner of First Street and Leadville Ave.