Steamroller blues
In May 1996, local voters overwhelmingly approved a site
south of Ketchum for a 30-bed hospital.
We were told that votes in favor of the site and turning operations
over to a private nonprofit corporation would end 20 years of wrangling and
coffer-draining competition between the two public hospitals in Sun Valley and Hailey. We
were told that the site, though not perfect, was a good compromise.
We were told development on the site would be part of a larger master
plan for the McHanville area to be put together by the county.
We were told the hospital would be a lodge-style design. We expected it
would be a modern version of the valleys old cozy, unobtrusive hospitals.
We expected the hospital to have to play by the same rules as other
developers.
It seemed oh-so-sensible. Whats happened since has not been
sensible at all.
Steamroller government took hold in Blaine County with Commissioner Len
Harlig manning the controls.
The county did no planning for the site and the surrounding area even
though they were not zoned for a hospital or office buildings.
Ordinarily, the county would have reviewed its comprehensive plan,
drafted amendments, drafted ordinances and held public hearings before any development was
approved. Had that happened, a plan everyone knew about would have been in place before
the hospital was built.
Instead, the county commissioners made it up as they went
alongsomething they never do with other developers.
A few examples. The hospital got a building permit even though its
sewerage plans were far from complete. Only with the hospital half-built did the public
learn that the hospital wants to bore beneath the Big Wood River or through the bike path
for its lines.
The hospital even got permission for a 24,000 square foot office
building in addition to the hospitala clear violation of the county comprehensive
plan that prohibits commercial development outside city limits. Now the hospital wants to
enlarge it to 40,000 square feetnearly a full city block.
The hospital is building a 110,000 square foot building that looks more
like an urban mall than a mountain lodge.
Now, under pressure from the hospital and landowners, the county
commissioners are entertaining opening nine acres in McHanvilleabout nine city
blocksto commercial development.
Last week, Blaine County Commissioners Harlig and Mary Ann Mix held an
illegal meeting with no public notice with McHanville landowners. Harlig called it a
"workshop." Only handpicked participants were allowed to speak. We call it
steamroller government in action.
Faced with the steamroller, the Ketchum mayor and City
Council-the only ones who can stop it by annexing the whole area to control its
effects-turned chicken and ran. They squawked excuses.
The commissioners are flattening democratic processes and the laws that
have guided development and protected the valley. If someone doesnt sugar the gas
tank soon, residents will wake up with a bad case of the steamroller blues and a valley
scarred beyond recognition.