Wednesday, May 12, 2004

River Run plan to be unveiled

Ketchum sets meeting on May 26

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By GREGORY FOLEY
Express Staff Writer

After unveiling in Sun Valley last April a 50-year master development plan for its vast land holdings, Sun Valley Co. has agreed to make a formal presentation of the plan to Ketchum citizens and elected officials.

Sun Valley Co. representatives will present and answer questions about the company master plan on Wednesday, May 26, at 6 p.m. in the nexStage Theatre, on Main Street in Ketchum.

Ketchum city officials, including Mayor Ed Simon and members of the City Council, are planning to attend the meeting. The meeting will be open to the general public.

On April 6, Sun Valley Co. first released to the public a 50-year master plan for developing large portions of the company’s 2,800 acres of privately held land in the Ketchum-Sun Valley area.

The first presentation, held at the Limelight Room convention center in Sun Valley, was made to the Sun Valley City Council and a large sector of the local public.

The Sun Valley Co. master plan includes a proposal to develop some 160 acres of company land at the River Run base area of Bald Mountain, southwest of downtown Ketchum. The plan calls for a new luxury hotel, hundreds of residential units and a multi-level parking structure.

Harold Moniz, Ketchum planning director, said Monday that the presentation in Ketchum will likely focus on the River Run proposal.

Sun Valley Co.’s approximately 160 acres of land at River Run is located in Blaine County but lies within the city of Ketchum’s designated area-of-city-impact boundaries.

Sun Valley Co. has indicated that that it intends to annex its River Run property into Ketchum before seeking to develop the area.

"I know that they’re anxious to move forward," Moniz told the City Council Monday.

In considering the annexation, city officials might seek a formal agreement with Sun Valley Co. that links specific development proposals to the land.

Specifically, the Sun Valley Co. draft plan for River Run includes:

• A new 200-room luxury hotel, with a limited amount of commercial space, immediately southeast of the existing River Run Lodge.
  
   
• A new 1,500-space parking structure immediately east of the proposed hotel site. Plans for the phased, four-level structure call for putting all but one level below ground.
  
   
• A soccer field on the northern edge of the site.
  
   
• Up to 478 new residential and employee-housing units scattered throughout the higher elevations of the property.

In addition, the plan calls for possibly installing a gondola from central Ketchum, near the post office, to a new gondola station east of the River Run Lodge.

Sun Valley Co. consultants have issued comparisons noting that some new base villages recently built in other Rocky Mountain resorts include upwards of 800 development units and thousands of square feet of commercial space.

Nonetheless, city officials have said the impacts of the annexation will have to be closely studied.

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.