For the week of August 14 - 20, 2002

City surprised by limited land ownership

Planning contemplated 
for various parcels

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By GREG STAHL
Express Staff Writer

The city of Ketchum has less developable land than city leaders thought.

Ketchum owns 24 properties, most of which are occupied through current uses. Seven properties are designated as parks or museums. Eight are in active use by various city departments, including the sewer plant, fire department, street department and water department. Others are small and relatively unusable.

Several have unique development restrictions.

Of the whole, there are five downtown sites that are moderately developed or occupied by parking lots, Ketchum Senior Planner Harold Moniz said.

Moniz and Blaine County Housing Director Gates Kellett compiled a map and list of city properties for the city’s new city administrator Ron LeBlanc. Moniz presented the list at the city’s Aug. 5 city council meeting.

"You look at this map, and there’s not much there," said Councilman Maurice Charlat, who spearheaded talk during recent affordable housing discussions about master planning all of the city’s properties before moving ahead with specific projects or plans.

But Mayor Ed Simon said the city should return its focus to the town center site, at the corner of Fourth and Main streets, where a recent affordable housing proposal failed to float.

"I think it’s a question for the council to start looking at the limited parcels that we have that are identifiable and usable and deciding what we really want to focus on first," Simon said. "And I think, to me, the Town Center parcel should be right at the top of the list, because that’s a significant parcel that has some use and some availability."

Opponents to the town center affordable housing project said the property’s park-like atmosphere should not be exchanged for bricks and mortar. It’s an issue that could return if new plans emerge.

Rather than citing specific properties, Councilman Maurice Charlat said the city should return its focus to a city facilities study completed last winter. The study weighed the city’s expansion needs with several of its properties. Police, fire and planning departments will all need to expand in the near future, according to the study.

Charlat proposed using that study, completed by local architect Mike Doty, as a starting point for further discussions.

 

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