P&Z, residents push for design changes in Ketchum hotel
Commissioner Sievers: "Building is way too massive"
By GREG STAHL
Express Staff Writer
A large hotel proposed for Ketchum’s downtown will have to
incorporate a more neighbor-friendly and mountain-oriented design if it’s going to
receive the Ketchum Planning and Zoning Commission’s stamp of approval.
The 139,000 square foot, four-story Ketchum Hotel, as it would be
called, would replace the existing Clarion Inn and surrounding buildings, on the corner of
Ketchum’s Main and Sixth streets.
If approved, it would fill the entire block.
The commission visited the proposal by Seattle-based developer The
Lewis Co. on Monday night at its regular meeting for a pre-application design review
hearing. In such hearings, the commission provides feedback to a structure’s
designers without making a ruling.
The Ketchum Hotel, because of its size, will undergo another
pre-application design review hearing before it’s subjected to the commission’s
final judgment.
According to Ketchum’s design review ordinance, "new
development should be sensitive to the historic context from which Ketchum has
evolved…New development should be responsive to the fact that Ketchum is a small town
located in a mountain environment."
The commission’s cursory examination of the building’s plans
reflected that section of the ordinance.
The panel voiced unanimous objections to the proposed size,
particularly the Leadville Avenue façade, which faces several homes. All of the members
called the proposed structure "too urban."
"It’s a prop-up," Commissioner Peter Gray told the
building’s Seattle-based architects. "It really looks like a Costco with some
stuff sticking on the side of it."
Commissioner Rod Sievers agreed.
"Without a doubt, the building is way too massive," he said.
"It doesn’t give me any sense whatsoever of a mountain building."
Public comment was also clear.
Those who live on Leadville Avenue spoke of the view of Bald Mountain
and natural sunlight they would loose with a 40-foot-tall edifice across the street.
Leadville Avenue resident Rex Davis said he doesn’t want to see
his street become an alley-like anomaly.
"Sure the guests will have a great view, but at my expense,"
he said.
Another Leadville Avenue resident, Michael Suttor, said the building
just doesn’t fit in with the scale of the town.
"Ketchum is essentially a three-story town. It shouldn’t
present 40 feet and four floors on Main Street. It doesn’t make sense to put a big
building in a town like Ketchum," he said.
The commission asked the architects to terrace the building back from
the street. Additionally, the commission did not approve of the proposed concrete and
stucco-style building materials.
"This commission has taken a pretty firm stance against
stucco-style architecture," Commissioner Susan Scovell said.
In conclusion, Scovell told the architects to listen to the public
comment that was offered.
The building is being built in the middle of a group of homes, and
should blend with the surrounding uses, she said.
