For the week of April 10 - 16 , 2002

Scott USA plans new building

Building height debate put off to April 24

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By GREG STAHL
Express Staff Writer

One of the Wood River Valley’s long-standing businesses is preparing to erect a new office building in Ketchum’s light industrial area.

Scott USA’s new office building will be on the corner of Warm Springs Road and Lewis Street in the city’s light industrial area. Rendering courtesy of Ruscitto/Latham/Blanton Architectura P.A.

Scott USA, a Ketchum-based manufacturer of sporting goods and accessories, revealed plans Monday night at a Ketchum Planning and Zoning Commission meeting to build a 14,715-square foot office building on the corner of Warm Springs Road and Lewis Street.

The new building doesn’t signal a company expansion so much as it signifies that it is time to move on from the aging and cramped quarters across Lewis Street from the new site, said Dave Stevens, Scott’s chief financial officer.

"We’re really dying to get something that works better," Stevens said. "We’ve remodeled and remodeled and remodeled. The main objective is to provide a nicer facility for our employees."

Ketchum Planning and Zoning Commission members said they appreciated the attention that appears to have been given to the building’s design. The building’s visible location will mean it will become part of the entrance to the city’s light industrial area.

"It’s a very, very nice building," Commissioner Rod Sievers told the building’s architects, Nick Latham and Buffalo Rixon of Ruscitto/Latham/Blanton Architectura P.A.

The two-story structure will be dressed in red brick with cedar trim and topped with a cedar-shake roof. Windows will ring most of the first and second floors.

Trees and landscaping are planned for the corner of Warm Springs Road and Lewis Street beside the new building, which will front on Lewis Street.

Since 1959 when Ed Scott founded Scott USA in downtown Ketchum as a ski pole manufacturer, the company has grown considerably. The old Ketchum Post Office, now occupied by Price-Asher Sun Valley, was built as Scott USA’s headquarters in the 1960s.

The company moved to Utah in 1979, but was brought back in 1981, when it moved into its present offices on Lewis Street. Scott USA now produces wide-ranging lines of ski and motocross related accessories and apparel.

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The P&Z’s quest to seal a loophole in the city’s building height definition, stalled Monday when planners pointed out that the proposed verbiage may not be the most equitable means of resolving the issue.

A loophole in the definition enables hillside homeowners to step up or down a slope "ad infinitum," Commissioner Sievers pointed out last month.

But the proposed blanket 35-foot maximum from the lowest exposed facade of a home to its highest point could be too restrictive on certain lots, planners said. Many of Ketchum’s hillside homes, those stepping up and those stepping down, exceed the 35-foot limit already.

The commission slated a special meeting for April 24 at noon to hammer out details.

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A controversy last fall over roof-top mechanical equipment in Ketchum’s commercial areas spurred the city to draft a law designed to avoid future confusion and unnecessary roof-top clutter.

The proposed ordinance would allow roof-top mechanical equipment to exceed maximum permitted building heights, as long as the equipment is appropriately screened.

The P&Z continued the public hearing on the draft ordinance, pending minor changes, to its May 1 meeting.

 

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