For the week of January 21 - 27, 2004

Time for a
‘Chain Link’ District

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Ketchum is reaping the harvest of its nearly nonexistent zoning enforcement.

While the city slept, offices and non-industrial businesses like retail showrooms and athletic facilities invaded its Light Industrial district.

Now the city is trying to fix the problem by changing its zoning ordinance to give invaders a grandfather right to locate there while banning new invaders.

The city is reacting to the loss of large numbers of light industrial operations to down valley locations—even though this horse is way out of the barn, and running.

The city only enforces zoning provisions at two times: when a building is constructed or when someone complains.

The city has no zoning enforcement staff. At best, enforcement is a catch-as-catch-can activity in the planning office.

The city has long behaved as though ignoring zoning enforcement is a great way to save money. Ignoring it produced peace and harmony. With everyone doing as they pleased—the zoning ordinance notwithstanding—fewer people placed angry phone calls to City Hall.

Ketchum’s proposed new ordinance is unfair.

It would reward building owners who allowed businesses to locate in the zone illegally with the net effect of increasing rents and driving light industrial operations south.

It would reward existing illegal businesses with lower rents to the detriment of competitors who will not be able to obtain similar prices.

The whole exercise is futile. Even if the city changes the ordinance as proposed, history shows it won’t enforce it.

Ketchum should face the fact that cheaper land elsewhere will continue to force small-margin light industrial operations to move down valley—or out. The lure of higher rents will continue to tempt building owners to let space to higher-paying tenants—especially without enforcement.

If the city is serious about protecting its light industrial area, it should simply kick out any illegal uses. Yet, given the city’s aversion to angry phone calls, it’s unlikely to happen.

Since the city is not serious, it should convert the existing Light Industrial zone to a warehouse zone that allows both commercial and light industrial uses. It could control use by controlling design, one of the few things Ketchum really does control.

It could make the area attractive for light industrial uses by demanding that buildings there remain stripped down utilitarian boxes with plenty of space for parking, outdoor storage and repair activities. The city should also look at the area for location of new grocery stores as existing ones become more and more pressed for space.

Ketchum could call it the "Chain Link Fence District" and outlaw anything fancier than a chain link fence.

 

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.