Satisfying part of Hailey's sewer services agreement with Peregrine Ranch developer Harry Rinker, the Hailey Planning and Zoning Commission on Monday voted to recommend a city-owned Recreational Green Belt-zoned property that houses the Woodside Wastewater Treatment Plant be rezoned to Light Industrial.
The recommended rezone would also include 4.26 acres of an 81-acre parcel, now owned by Rinker, bordering the treatment plant property. Rinker took title to the 81-acre lot in February.
The two lots proposed for the LI zone are located in south Woodside and are accessed from Glenbrook Drive.
The sewer services agreement is part of a complex $4 million deal to provide sewer services beyond city limits to Peregrine Ranch and dispatch the risk of a $2 million judgement against the city. The former owner of the 81-acre property, Judy Castle, had sued the city for blocking her development interests for the property, which included hillside development.
Under the proposed plan, the balance of the 81-acre property is to remain in the RGB zone.
According to the terms of the sewer services agreement completed in a City Council executive session in February, the 4.26-acre property must be rezoned by February 2006.
The vote to endorse the rezone was not unanimous.
Commissioner Nancy Linscott voted against the resolution, explaining that she did not feel comfortable being party to an arrangement that has become politically charged over the last three months and now involves a citizen lawsuit against the city for an alleged violation of state open meetings law.
Linscott's view was that the zoning recommendation should be tabled pending the outcome of the lawsuit, explaining that in her view there is a public perception that the city has gone behind closed doors to set the deal with Rinker.
Hailey City Attorney Ned Williamson said the city should move ahead with the plan to meet the looming rezone deadline. He said that waiting for the outcome of the lawsuit could put the deal with Rinker in jeopardy.
"I agree it puts us in a little hot water to wait three to six months," Linscott said, asserting that the City Council got into hot water on its own accord with no help from the commission. She explained that in her opinion, putting pressure on the commission to rule in favor of the rezone in light of contractual obligations made by the City Council put undue pressure on the commission.
The fiscal arrangement with Rinker, which is a City Council concern, and the rezone, a planning and zoning matter, show that the two are explicitly linked, she said. The staff report for the rezone provided to the commission included all the documentation related to the Castle settlement and the sewer services agreement.
"I'm not excited about being a part of (this) paradigm," Linscott said.
Linscott's P&Z colleagues ruled in favor of the zoning change, siding with Williamson's opinion that the rezone would bring the property in closer compliance with the city's comprehensive plan.
"I have always thought that (the rezone to light industrial which automatically allows for a treatment plant) was appropriate. It was not done (in previous years) due to the pending (Castle) lawsuit," Williamson said.
Blaine County Magistrate Judge Ted Israel is expected to rule on a motion to dismiss the lawsuit May 24.
