For the week of September 10 - 16, 2003

Sun Valley
‘takes to the hills’

---

Among America’s most stunning landscapes are hillsides surrounding communities. Their gentle slopes and undulating contours against the dawn and dusk skies provide restful reminders of Nature’s wonders.

In too many cases, however, irresponsible governing bodies have been blind to this irreplaceable beauty in their midst and allowed the eyesores of helter-skelter housing to creep up slopes, leaving a perpetual eyesore instead of natural beauty.

Comes now the city of Sun Valley with a new ordinance setting higher standards for protecting hillsides that, in this fabled city’s case, are veritable treasures.

Sun Valley’s new hillside ordinance effectively turns thumbs down on development on steeply sloped hillsides and limits height and imposes strict design standards on hillsides not encompassed in the new law.

If Councilman Latham Williams has his way, he’ll take the ordinance a step further: He proposed a declaration in the ordinance discouraging any sort of construction on hillsides.

This serious effort to preserve the grandeur of Sun Valley’s picture postcard hillsides is a major demonstration of environmental stewardship that deserves special kudos.

Would that politicians in Washington who’re trying to turn back the environmental clock be so wise and bold to treat the nation’s landscape with the care the city of Sun Valley has shown.

 

The Idaho Mountain Express is distributed free to residents and guests throughout the Sun Valley, Idaho resort area community. Subscribers to the Idaho Mountain Express will read these stories and others in this week's issue.