Officials discuss McHanville’s future.

McHanville as seen Monday A.M.

With the construction of St. Luke’s Hospital, the future of development nearby will need to be determined soon if sufficient water and sewer services are to be made available to the McHanville area.

Ketchum and Sun Valley officials, along with the Blaine County Commissioners, met with Sun Valley Water and Sewer District officials on Tuesday last week to begin to establish a plan for the area.

"This kind of cooperation has occurred in the past, but this is obviously a bigger undertaking." water and sewer district manager Jack Brown said.

According to Brown, St. Luke’s requested that the Sun Valley Water and Sewer District provide services to the new medical facility because of existing service lines at Lane Ranch, located across the highway from the hospital site. In granting the request to service the hospital, attention was also called to the surrounding properties.

Brown said the district has received service requests from all landowners adjacent to the St. Luke’s property.

During last Tuesday’s workshop, Sun Valley Water and Sewer District officials said they have not determined if they could provide services to both the hospital and the surrounding properties. Brown said the lines would have to be enlarged to go beyond St. Luke’s and provide service for the McHanville area.

Brown said that land use needs to be determined before the installation of water and sewer pipelines takes place. District officials said the capacity needed to service the area should be based on maximum build-out density.

"This will be an expensive application," Brown said. "That’s why we’re trying to do it all at one time."

St. Luke’s officials said their plans call for building a lift station this fall that would pump sewage north to the Ketchum plant. In an interview, St. Luke’s vice president Bill Bodnar said St. Luke’s would coordinate construction of its water and sewer pipes with that of the area as a whole, but that "there’s still a lot of discussion about who pays for the pipes that are larger that what St. Luke’s needs."

Ketchum city administrator Jim Jaquet said the capacity of the Ketchum sewer plant, which is co-owned by Ketchum and Sun Valley, is being expanded to service the peak build-out of 28,000 people in the two cities. However, Jaquet said, the plant designs do not include providing service to the hospital.

The land located south of Lane Ranch and north of The Meadows is within the jurisdiction of the county. However, some parcels fall within the Ketchum and Sun Valley zones of impact.

"The complication," said Blaine County Commissioner Leonard Harlig, "is that the county and cities of Ketchum and Sun Valley have separate comprehensive plans which will affect how land will be zoned in the area."

Blaine County planning and zoning administrator Linda Haavik said land use in McHanville does not conform to its zoning and that the county has recognized that the area needs to be rezoned. The area east of the old railroad right of way is zoned residential but has several commercial structures.

If the area is not annexed by the cities, Haavik said, county zoning applies.

Jack Cloud, community development director for the city of Sun Valley, said the Sun Valley comp plan would be updated to address the St. Luke’s issue.

Lisa Majdiak, Ketchum planning and zoning administrator, said the Ketchum Planning and Zoning Commission would also meet to discuss the city’s comp plan regarding the McHanville area. Ketchum City Councilmember Chris Potters said the city needs to create a hospital overlay district to govern land use there.

No actions were taken at the meeting. Officials for the water and sewer district said the workshop was intended to begin discussion among the jurisdictions involved, but that they didn’t expect immediate answers.