Council adopts height regs
Design ordinance still in the works
By GREG STAHL
Express Staff Writer
New homes and commercial buildings in Ketchum must now conform to stricter
height guidelines, unanimously adopted by the Ketchum City Council on Monday night.
The council adopted the revisions following a summer of public hearings at
the planning and zoning commission and council levels. Monday nights public hearing
was the councils third reading of the ordinance.
The revised regulations are designed to fill a loophole in the ordinance
that allowed large facades to be built on homes in hillside areas.
Prior to the revisions, the ordinance allowed buildings to be measured
from a sites grade prior to excavation work. Construction of a home on Knob Hill,
which includes a 59-foot facade, prompted the city to look into the issue this spring.
The ordinance now defines existing, finished and natural grades, and
requires that a buildings height be measured from whichever is lowest.
Residential building homes will now be limited to 35-foot facades.
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Separately, the city council began reviewing the unadopted half of the
citys revised draft of new downtown zoning regulations. The second half of the
regulations, referred to by city officials as .020 after the ordinances number in
the citys code, consists of subjective criteria used to guide architects and
developers designing buildings.
View corridors, pedestrian amenities, building construction materials and
the contexts into which buildings will fit are addressed in .020.
The first half of the downtown zoning regulations, called .010, set
criteria pertaining to building height and mass. With the exception of a section dealing
with permitted building size bonuses, they were adopted last month.
The language in .020 needs to be tightened, council members agreed at the
outset of the discussion.
Words like "should" need to be changed to "shall,"
they said.
"It seems to me the whole thing is vague and wishy washy, because of
the shoulds," Councilwoman Chris Potters said. "The development community has
been asking for some specifics, and this is all wishy washy."
The council directed the citys planning staff to tighten that
language, but to add a statement to the ordinance allowing developers to obtain variances
to the subjective criteria under special circumstances.
The council did not vote on the ordinance, but continued the public
hearing to 9:30 a.m. Tuesday. Council members said they expect the public hearing to be
continued yet again to the councils regular meeting Nov. 20.
Council members said they also plan during that meeting to begin
discussions on floor area ratio bonuses given to developers who provide affordable housing
as part of their developments.
Floor area ratios are a buildings floor area divided by its lot size
and are a common tool planners use to determine a buildings perceived bulk.
The bonuses are the only remaining portion of .010 the council must clear
up.
At the Tuesday morning meeting, discussions will resume on the
"Useable Open Space" section of the ordinance.
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The council also scheduled further considerations of the citys
pending draft comprehensive plan. Discussions on the plan will resume at a meeting on
Wednesday, Nov. 22, at 9:30 a.m. with the affordable housing section of the draft plan.
Ketchum planning administrator Lisa Horowitz said the city hopes to adopt
a final plan by the beginning of the new year.