The Wood River Community YMCA, the group proposing to build a new 84,000-square-foot recreation center in Ketchum, this week encountered yet another hurdle in its long road toward gaining city approval.
In a three-hour review of the YMCA proposal Monday, Feb. 28, Ketchum Planning and Zoning commissioners told project architects that changes made to the design of the building in the last month are inadequate.
"I was expecting, from our last meeting, more significant changes," said Commissioner Jack Rutherford. "It's too suburban. There's not enough earthiness to this building."
P&Z Chairman Harold Johnson concurred that the design should be improved, noting that the YMCA will be one of the largest buildings ever built in Ketchum.
Last month, P&Z commissioners told YMCA representatives that they want the building—which is designed to resemble a historic railroad depot—to appear significantly less "institutional."
After Ketchum voters last November approved a plan for the YMCA to build a recreational complex on the city-owned Park and Ride lot—at the corner of Warm Springs and Saddle roads—the YMCA is now seeking formal city approval of the site layout and design of the development. The layout of the project, but not the building design, must be approved by the City Council.
Most of the discussion Monday focused on an ongoing debate over how much parking the project needs and how much of the 5.8-acre Park and Ride lot the project should be allowed to occupy.
As proposed, the project would occupy at least 2.6 acres of lot, with landscaping and surrounding open space included, but not parking. The proposed YMCA would include an ice rink that converts into a 2,500-seat event center, two swimming pools, a gymnasium, a climbing wall and other facilities.
P&Z commissioners Monday tentatively agreed the project should include development of 150 paved parking spaces on the north and south sides of the building, leaving an open area on the north side of the Park and Ride lot that could eventually be developed by the city.
YMCA planners have stated that their research indicates it would need 116 parking spaces to accommodate all of its day-to-day operations.
At times, Johnson and Commissioner Anne Corrock expressed criticism that the project's parking areas would occupy too much of the valuable Park and Ride lot. However, Planning Director Harold Moniz warned commissioners that they have been asked to merely evaluate the project, not set policy for the use of city-owned lands.
"This is the City Council's property and they decide what they get to do there," Moniz said.
The P&Z ultimately asked YMCA representatives to return with a new set of plans for review on April 6.
