A small but assertive group of laymen and housing development professionals were divided Tuesday night on how and where Blaine County should develop and finance affordable housing.
At the first of five community hearings scheduled in the Blaine County Planning Update Project, county consultants were seeking public comment as they reviewed outlines for a proposed county ordinance requiring affordable housing.
But unanimity was not the theme of the evening.
The update project, designed to modernize various county codes, is being managed by Martin Flannes and Morgan Brown, of Ketchum-based Developing Green LLC, which is being paid a $32,000 fee.
Tuesday night's affordable housing session was led by Bill Collins, former planning and zoning director of Teton County, Wyo., who is being paid $16,000.
Collins eventually will write and propose a new affordable housing ordinance for the county that he said would probably include four provisions for developers to provide affordable housing -- include housing as a portion of a larger development; build housing at a separate site; pay an in-lieu fee to be used by the county to build housing, or dedicate vacant land for later affordable housing development.
One of the first to take issue with Collins' proposal was residential developer Rod Kegley, who told consultants where affordable housing should not be built and where it should be built.
"Plopping (affordable housing) down in the rural part of the valley isn't a good idea," he said. "It should be in cities" close to urban services and workplaces.
Kegley also said that rather than require developers to provide affordable or community housing as part of their approved plans, the housing should be financed by taxes on a Local Improvement District (LID).
Mortgage broker Tom Kennedy added, "No way you can put this burden on developers."
Affordable housing in rural areas of the county, Kegley said, "would turn the county into a bunch of little cities. That doesn't make sense."
Michael David, executive director of the Ketcum-Blaine County Housing Authority, seemed to support Kegley, commenting that housing should be located close to community infrastructure and jobs.
Kegley added one other criticism, saying that "pride of ownership" of affordable housing "stops at the checkbook" - that occupants tend to let maintenance slip.
But Collins disagreed, saying that affordable housing owners "have a tremendous motivation to maintain" their property.
When the issue of land prices continually increasing was raised, Collins blamed the hot second home market in the Wood River Valley for creating a 30 percent to 36 percent premium on land. He suggested the county might need to buy land for affordable housing.
Real estate executive Jed Gray supported that notion.
Housing authority member David Kipping objected to building clusters of affordable housing, which he said would become "offsite ghettos."
"I believe in integrated areas" of standard as well as affordable housing.
Linda Haavik, of the county's planning and zoning department, said she believed affordable housing projects should be a mixture -- single-family units along with duplexes and triplexes -- to avoid unappealing uniformity.
To which, Christopher Simms, of Smart Growth, added his endorsement.
County Commission Chairman Sarah Michael said that in the end, "all jurisdictions need to be part of the (housing) solution," and comment that "we want people (in affordable housing) living in our neighborhoods."
County forums
Other public meeting to address issues to be discussed in the Blaine County Planning Update Project include:
· Feb. 21, cost of county services;
· Feb. 23, regional planning;
· Feb. 28, cluster developments, conservation and open space,
· March 2, water supply and wastewater treatment.
All meetings are from 6 to 7:30 p.m. in the second floor conference room of the Old County Courthouse in Hailey.
