Issue of: May 13, 1998  

 

Council approves annexing 61 acres


By AMY SPINDLER
Express Staff Writer

The Hailey City Council recommended annexing 61 acres on the city’s southwest border.

The property is south of the Friedman Industrial Park, between Airport Way and Broadford Road.

Airport West Partners, represented by attorney Ed Lawson, plan to present a development proposal to the Hailey Planning and Zoning Commission for a light industrial zone.

"If I could plant one seed," said property owner Ron Sharp, "it’s not our thought to use all the LI all in the same way."

Sharp said some buildings would be limited to 24 feet in height, instead of the 35 feet allowed, and there would be adequate open space.

Annexation of the property was anticipated in the waste water treatment plant upgrade and bond issue.

The council discussed the possible annexation of bordering properties. Those properties include 11 acres owned by Blaine County and small pieces of privately owned land along Broadford Road, that create "notches" into the 61 acres proposed for annexation. Broadford Highlands will not be annexed.

The council moved that annexation of the 61 acres and bordering property was an orderly extension of city boundaries, and complied with the goals and objections of the Hailey Comprehensive Plan.

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In the ongoing question of where Hailey will discharge effluent from its new waste water treatment plant, Mayor Brad Siemer offered a veiled olive branch to the city of Bellevue.

Siemer asked his council to vote on a $400,000 bond offer to fund the cost of pumping effluent from the new Woodside plant to the current discharge point at the city’s Riverside Plant. The council unanimously voted against the proposal.

Siemer investigated borrowing the money from the Department of Environmental Quality or the open market, and presented numbers to the council. The user’s fee per resident would increase $1.25 or $1.75 each month, Siemer said.

He reminded the council that Hailey residents approved the original bond based on a 25-cent increase per month, and a gravity-feed flow.

The council discussed a myriad of disadvantages of a bond issue and pumping the effluent against gravity back to Riverside.

Water and wastewater superintendent Ray Hyde pointed out that the cost doesn’t allow for additional users to pay off the bond, as the current bond does. Councilwoman Jennifer Hazard Davis questioned the possibility of the pump failing.

"A momentary glitch would be cause for great concern," said Siemer. He also said gravity enhances the safety of transferring the effluent.

The council favored seeking an irrigation application of the effluent for part of the year.

"As the valley grows, this effluent could be marketable, not throwaway," said councilwoman Martha Burke.

Siemer assured the council that he spoke with south-county residents about using the effluent to water crops.

"Our best prospects walked away. They’ll make more money developing than using their land as a holding pond," he said.

Siemer said he will keep the options open, and continue to pursue what the voters asked him to do: secure an easement for a gravity feed flow into the Big Wood.

 

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