Warm Springs plan praised, criticized
Developers propose to build community pool and 30 units of affordable housing
By GREGORY FOLEY
Express Staff Writer
Henry Dean, project director for Sun Valley Ventures, announces that the development group is offering to build 30 affordable housing units, eight public tennis courts and a year-around community swimming pool as part of its plan to redevelop Warm Springs Ranch. The offer calls for the facilities to be built on city property, not on the 77-acre Warm Springs Ranch site. Photo by Willy Cook
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Ketchum residents this week turned out in droves to react to a plan to redevelop the 77-acre Warm Springs Ranch property, voicing a mix of praise and discontent over what has been deemed the biggest development project the city has ever seen.
Some 70 people packed the Ketchum City Hall meeting room Monday, Nov. 8, as development group Sun Valley Ventures presented for the first time their plan to redevelop the high-profile golf course property with a mix of residences, commercial operations and public open space.
The meeting before the Ketchum Planning and Zoning Commission marked the beginning of what is certain to be a lengthy process for the city to determine whether it wants to permit the estimated $180 million project.
The key aspects of the plan call for annexing into Ketchum approximately 65 acres of land under the jurisdiction of Blaine County and completely redeveloping about 9 acres already within the city?s boundaries.
In exchange for approval, the development group has proposed to include in the project a list of amenities to benefit the city and the public at large.
That list grew somewhat longer Monday, as Sun Valley Ventures project director Henry Dean announced that the group would agree to build 30 units of affordable housing, a complex of eight public tennis courts and a community swimming pool, if the Warm Springs Ranch plan is allowed to proceed. The recreational facilities and the housing could be built on the city-owned Park and Ride lot, at the corner of Warm Springs and Saddle roads, Dean said.
?Thousands and thousands of hours have gone into this project,? Dean told the P&Z. ?We think it is sensitive to the community.?
The new offers came in addition to previous proposals to deed approximately 37 acres of the property?where the Warm Springs Golf Course now exists?to the Hailey-based Wood River Land Trust, which would manage the area as a public park and nature preserve.
Sun Valley Ventures is also proposing to complete a $2 million restoration of Warm Springs Creek and to build a public hiking trail to connect existing paths between Warm Springs Village and the River Run base area of Bald Mountain.
The most significant aspects of the Sun Valley Ventures development plan call for:
· Constructing a boutique hotel, called the Lodge at Warm Springs Ranch, including a 12-room main lodge and 48 deluxe lodging cabins.
· Developing 75 condominiums and townhouses, in part where eight tennis courts now exist.
· Building a new Warm Springs Ranch Restaurant.
· Erecting a 180-vehicle parking structure?covered by condominiums?adjacent to Warm Springs Road.
Most of the development would occur on the east end of the property, where the Warm Springs Ranch Restaurant now sits. The majority of the decommissioned golf course would become public open space, although three pods of hotel cabins?proposed to rent for up to $800 a night?would be situated in the area.
After an hour-long presentation of the development plan, several area residents said they prefer it to other possible alternatives, which could legally include building some 240 housing units on the east end of the property and developing single-family home sites across the golf course.
?This developer has worked with us to preserve significant amounts of open space,? said Scott Boettger, executive director of the Wood River Land Trust.
Christopher Simms, executive director of Hailey-based Citizens for Smart Growth, also issued ?qualified support? for the plan.
?We shouldn?t look at this as a moment of sadness, but as a new beginning,? he said.
However, several neighbors of Warm Springs Ranch spoke out against the plan. Some opposed the loss of the public 9-hole golf course?which the developers have said is not viable?while others expressed concerns about traffic and a plan to return Warm Springs Creek to its natural course.
?To see it developed this way ? is bothering me,? said neighborhood resident Jim St. Clair.
Ketchum resident Paula Jan Holland said she is opposed to encouraging large-scale public access to Warm Springs Ranch.
?All the people and the citizens are going to be jamming in there with their fishing poles and all that stuff,? she said. ?It?s too big. There?s no privacy there.?
P&Z commissioners expressed a wide mix of reactions, with more than one stating that they want the affordable housing to be located on the developers? land, not on public property.
P&Z Chairman Greg Strong said he wants to determine up front whether the proposed public benefits are adequate to consider approving the plan.
?If it doesn?t pass the ?seems-like-a-good-idea test,? then it doesn?t make a whole lot of sense to go into all the details,? Strong said.
The P&Z will next review the plan during a special meeting on Thursday, Dec. 9.
