For the week of December 18 - 23, 2002

City postpones 
decision on tall hotel

Proponents outnumber opponents

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By GREG STAHL
Express Staff Writer

At Mayor Ed Simon’s urging, the Ketchum City Council agreed Monday night to give a tall downtown Ketchum hotel proposal another hearing.

"I think it’s important to take this as a serious proposal," Simon told his colleagues, after hearing public testimony from nearly 30 Wood River Valley residents.

At issue was a proposal from Ketchum Attorney Brian Barsotti to build a 59-foot-tall hotel, with a 69-foot-tall clock tower, at the Bald Mountain Lodge site on Ketchum’s Main Street. At the meeting’s conclusion, another meeting was scheduled for Jan. 8 at noon for council members to attempt sorting issues out with Barsotti.

Following a lengthy public hearing, in which the majority of those who spoke expressed support for the hotel, Councilman Randy Hall and Councilwoman Chris Potters appeared ready to deny the proposal. Councilman Baird Gourlay recused himself from the proceedings, and negative votes from Potters and Hall would have tanked the hotel.

Though Barsotti has asked for five waivers to city ordinances in a planned unit development request, which trades leniency in the city’s laws in exchange for community benefits, the building’s height has proved to be the biggest bone of contention.

But the building’s architect, Larry Stricker and Barsotti pointed out that the hotel’s fourth floor, which reaches 59 feet and includes 12 hotel rooms, comprises only 12 percent of the building’s overall footprint, and is situated in the center of the entire city block.

Because the building steps back from the street in a wedding cake fashion, views of nearby mountains are impacted similarly to two-story buildings that impose their height directly on Main Street, they said.

The fourth floor, Barsotti said, has to stay for the project to remain economically viable.

"This is marginal, at best, at 81 rooms," he said. "If you just have a visceral response to the height, if you’re just not going to vote for it because you can’t see Baldy, we’re done. We can’t do it with 12 less rooms. We can do traffic studies and all these other things, but, if we lose 12 rooms, we’re done."

The high-end hotel would also include a 4,000-square-foot conference facility. Of its 81 rooms, 20 would be used as fractional ownership units. When not occupied as fractional units, those 20 rooms would be part of the hotel room pool.

Public comments on the issue, in general, pitted residents seeking economic development versus residents trying to hang on to the Ketchum’s rural charm.

"If this is a good idea, rewrite the ordinances," said Warm Springs resident Bill Glenn. "The notion that a privately owned hotel room is a public amenity is a hell of a stretch."

David Frank, an Idaho native, said he has lived in Aspen and Park City and ultimately settled on Ketchum.

"I moved here, because it had everything those towns had, and less," he said, urging the council to deny Barsotti’s hotel.

On the other side of the coin, Ketchum resident Tim Eagan pointed out that a town comprises people, not buildings.

"It’s people that define the soul of a community," Eagan said. "Things are soft, and a lot of retailers are hurting, and that has a lot to do with the rooms there are not. If we keep relying on second homeowners to support out tourist economy, we are in real trouble."

The project’s supporters outnumbered its opponents two to one.

Councilman Maurice Charlat said that has been rare in his experience at Ketchum City Hall and said it is a signal indicating the city should move toward approving Barsotti’s requests.

"If you look around, we have an economy that’s going to stagnate if we don’t do anything," Charlat said.

 

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