The Sun Valley Planning and Zoning Commission is taking the lead on solving a problem that most agree threatens the social and economic viability of the Wood River Valley: Housing costs are dramatically outpacing the growth in wages.
The immediate consequence of that gap is that companies cannot hire or even retain workers who cannot buy a home here. The long-term effect will be that the valley will become a commuter community. Everyday at 5 p.m., paychecks will head north to Stanley, or south to Carey, Shoshone and Twin Falls. Our economic engine will power communities other than our own.
As a first step into uncertain waters, the Sun Valley Planning and Zoning Commission passed yesterday ordinances that not only require 15 percent of the units in new residential developments be reserved for affordable, deed-restricted housing, but also require that developers provide 20 percent of the workforce housing needs generated by a given development.
Perfect legislation? Not likely.
People will debate the correct percentages, provisions for in-lieu fees and conveyances of land. However, relative to those of other resort communities, Sun Valley's ordinances would be fairly modest in their requirements.
Developers will argue that these "punitive" measures should be better balanced with incentives such as higher density allowances. Perhaps they are right, and there is no reason the regulations cannot be refined.
This is the first step, always the hardest one. Sun Valley is taking it; Ketchum, Hailey, Bellevue and the county need to follow.
