For the week of July 4 - July 10, 2001

Housing: 
How much and where?

Master plan could appease critics

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By TRAVIS PURSER
Express Staff Writer

A proposed housing master plan for the county may appease critics of government-sponsored affordable housing by showing that development of large condominium and apartment complexes wouldn’t happen in inappropriate places.

The director of the Blaine County Housing Authority, Gates Kellett, said she hopes the master plan can be completed before part of a proposed ordinance to promote affordable housing takes effect in the county.

The housing ordinance would allow developers of land outside cities to build up to 18 times more homes per acre than current Blaine County zoning rules allow, if the developers agree to make some of those homes permanently affordable.

Hailey city attorney Susan Baker was one of six people to voice concerns about the ordinance when the Blaine County Planning and Zoning commission met Thursday to consider it for the second time.

The P&Z considers the issue again on July 26.

Baker said Hailey officials are worried the proposed ordinance would promote too much high-density housing just outside city limits, which would strain city services like police and fire protection.

"Hailey would like to step back and slow this [proposed ordinance] down," she said.

Board Ranch residents said they didn’t want high-density developments near their homes because that might precipitate a population explosion that would harm the environment along Warm Springs Creek.

Will Caldwell, a painter who said he has lived on the Board Ranch for 30 years, called the ordinance an "invitation to the good folks of California to emigrate to our valley."

The tenor of the meeting Thursday was more critical than a previous one, when 12 county residents spoke in favor of the ordinance and two spoke against it.

Kelletts said Thursday that the proposed housing master plan would help answer concerns raised at both meetings by outlining targeted numbers of community housing units for areas throughout the county, as well as by outlining what each city should contribute toward affordable housing.

The plan would address concerns residents have about the density of potential housing developments near their homes, she said. It would also address the concerns of people who say housing should be encouraged near Ketchum where most jobs exist. And it would address the concerns of city officials, especially in Hailey and Bellevue, about the effect of affordable housing on city infrastructure.

The housing authority proposes to allow 18 months for county and city officials to draft and adopt the housing master plan. During that time, officials can change the proposed rules for development of affordable housing in areas adjacent to Hailey and Bellevue, and in Gannett and Picabo.

Current county residential zoning rules allow only one to five homes per acre. But under the proposed housing ordinance, that number could increase to six to 18 homes per acre depending on how many of the units are made affordable.

The bonuses would potentially create a financial incentive for developers.

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