YMCA ballot to be on land lease issue only
$3 million contribution from city now off the table
By GREGORY FOLEY
Express Staff Writer
Ketchum voters on Nov. 2 will be asked whether they want the city to grant to the YMCA a 99-year lease to accommodate a state-of-the-art recreational complex on the city?s Park and Ride Lot, north of downtown.
The decision to send the question to voters was finalized Monday, Sept. 20, by the Ketchum City Council.
After debating the exact language that will be included in the ballot measure, council members agreed on a simple ?yes? or ?no? question that should easily be deciphered by voting citizens.
The approved language of the advisory ballot measure will read: ?Should the city of Ketchum enter into a 99-year lease for $1 a year with the YMCA for a recreational and cultural facility to be built at no cost to the city on approximately 25 percent of the Park and Ride lot??
Council members and Mayor Ed Simon Monday also agreed that officials from the Ketchum-based Wood River Community YMCA and the city should develop the basic terms of the proposed lease agreement so voters can review them prior to the election.
The decision Monday brought to a close a long debate about whether voters should decide on the future of the YMCA?s plan to build a $16 million, approximately 85,000-square-foot public recreational facility and community center on the Park and Ride lot.
The Park and Ride lot, which comprises nearly six acres at the corner of Warm Springs and Saddle roads, was purchased by the city with the intention of using the site for a variety of uses, primarily recreation and parking facilities.
In essence, the ballot measure was forced by a group of citizens led by former mayor Larry Young, who headed an initiative petition that demanded the city seek voter approval before giving any land or public funding to the YMCA project.
Young filed the petition earlier this summer in part to ensure the city adhered to a 2003 City Council resolution to ?match the initial $3 million of charitable pledges (for the YMCA) by timely seeking city voter approval of a revenue bond in the amount $3 million.?
The city resolution also declared that ?a portion of the Park and Ride property is reserved to the Wood River Y? and could be leased to the organization for $1 per year.
Young gathered 163 signatures in support of his petition demanding a vote, legally forcing the City Council to act on his proposed ordinance.
In August, the council agreed to put the matter on the November ballot, and in doing so set aside any plan to seek $3 million in public funding for the project.
The words ?at no cost to the city? in the ballot measure suggest that the city currently has no plans to fund the project.
Teresa Beahen, executive director of the Wood River Community YMCA, said any future plan for the city to fund the YMCA would require a separate vote.
?It?s my understanding that it is off the table for now,? Beahen said.
Beahen noted that the YMCA will proceed with the project without the city funding. To date, the YMCA has raised approximately $6 million for the project, she said.
As proposed, the Wood River Community YMCA would include, among many facilities, an indoor arena for concerts and events, an ice rink and a public swimming pool. The YMCA plans to offer sports, recreation and educational programs for people of all ages at the facility and in outlying areas.
The YMCA group hopes to raise enough money in the coming months to break ground on the project in spring 2005. As planned, the building would occupy 1.57 acres of a greater 2.6-acre area that would be developed and landscaped.
For the advisory measure to pass, a simple majority of voters must vote in its favor.
