County scraps TDR
ordinance
City negotiations
still pending
By GREG
MOORE
Express Staff Writer
Sent
aloft for the third time in five months, a proposed Blaine County
transfer-of-development-rights ordinance was shot down again on Monday.
The
intent of a TDR program is to preserve open space in the south county by
allowing farmers and ranchers to sell development rights, as limited by
their property’s zoning, to the owners of land farther north.
The
original proposal, dating at least to 1999, designated "receiving
areas" in Agriculture-zoned land north of Pero Road. That was
modified in July in favor of receiving areas around Hailey and Bellevue,
when the county commissioners decided the comprehensive plan dictates
that development occur closer to the county’s cities. That
configuration was scrapped in September after Hailey and Bellevue
officials protested that it encroached upon their planning authority.
The
concept’s third incarnation, put before the public Monday, scrapped
the idea of designated receiving areas entirely. Instead, each
application for transfer of a development right would have been decided
individually, judged by the proposed development’s conformity to the
comprehensive plan and its compatibility with surrounding development.
Tacked on to that was a proposed requirement that the builders of homes
larger than 4,500 square feet buy one development right for each
additional 2,500 square feet of space.
That
requirement, in particular, brought protests Monday in a packed meeting
room at the Old Blaine County Courthouse in Hailey. Most of the
objectors were in the construction business, but even the commissioners
acknowledged that the draft may have been too hastily conceived.
"I
think it’s a bogus link," said Jed Gray, representing the
Sawtooth Board of Realtors. "If we want to restrict the size of
houses in Blaine County, I don’t have a problem with that, but I think
we need to do something that’s not related to the TDR program."
David
Hennessy, president of the Building Contractors’ Association of the
Wood River Valley, went further, saying all his organization’s members
oppose any restrictions on house size since such a thing would harm the
area’s economy. Builder Steve Kearns said construction of one big
house employs about 500 people.
Realtor
Karl Bick pointed out that an ordinance limiting house size in Teton
County near Jackson, Wyo., is before the Wyoming Supreme Court. He
called the proposed 4,500-square foot limit "extremely
arbitrary."
"I
wonder if, taken on, you’re going to be able to sustain your
position," he said.
Following
public comment, Commissioner Dennis Wright said his support for a TDR
program had waned with each new incarnation. In conclusion, the
commissioners voted to postpone further drafts until they talk with
Hailey and Bellevue officials about areas of city impact there.
The
designations affect city planning since, under state law, cities can
only annex land within their area of city impact, unless annexation is
requested by a landowner. The areas are established by negotiation
between the county and each city. Hailey and Bellevue have agreed upon a
line between them, but that line has not been accepted by the county,
which would like to see space between the two areas.
A special
meeting of the Hailey City Council is set for noon Thursday to discuss
the subject. Bellevue Planning and Zoning Administrator Steve Almquist
said Tuesday that he is writing a new draft area-of-city-impact proposal
to put before the city council at its meeting Dec. 12.