Council acts to protect wet
lands
By GREGORY FOLEY
Express Staff Writer
Ketchum City Council members this
week took a strong stance against development in protected riparian
areas.
In a special meeting Wednesday,
May 12, council members upheld a 2003 decision by the city demanding
that an elaborate stone patio determined to be encroaching into a
designated riparian zone be removed in its entirety.
The decision came during an appeal
by Sunni and Richard Gadsby, residents at 505 Broadway Blvd., of a
January 2004 decision by the Ketchum Planning and Zoning Commission.
The P&Z had determined that a new
stone patio the Gadsbys built between their residence and a pond near
Warm Springs Creek violates city policy pertaining to riparian areas.
The new patio was built to replace
a pre-existing wooden deck. City Planning Director Harold Moniz in
October 2003 ordered that the patio be removed and the riparian area be
restored.
Council members voted unanimously
to uphold the P&Z determination that the patio is illegal.
Councilman Baird Gourlay said
allowing the structure to remain would set a precedent of allowing
encroachment into the city’s designated 25-foot riparian-zone setback.
"This opens up a can of worms if
we let this appeal to stand," he said.
Gary Slette, attorney for the
Gadsbys, argued that the patio is not located in a protected area and is
legal under city ordinances.
Slette indicated that the City
Council decision Wednesday will almost certainly be challenged in court.