One of the biggest resort projects in Idaho is now in the hands of the Ketchum City Council.
The Ketchum Planning & Zoning Commission recommended approval of the Warm Springs Ranch redevelopment project during a special meeting Thursday, May 5.
The commission by a 4-0 vote recommended the project's three applications: annexation, a conditional-use permit for the development, and the large block preliminary plat. Commissioner Greg Strong was not in attendance.
Commissioners, city staff, developers, architects and members of the public spent a final five hours discussing a draft of an agreement between the city and Sun Valley Ventures, owners of the 77-acre property along Warm Springs Creek northwest of downtown Ketchum.
"It's appropriate to thank the staff and the community," said Warm Springs project manager Henry Dean, for helping to "create a project that will benefit our community for years to come. Fast forward 20 years: People will say how thoughtful, what foresight we all had."
Dean also denied allegations by some members of the public who said the commission had been greedy during negotiations, and he gave a nod to what he classified as the developers' largesse.
Sun Valley Ventures has proposed 30 affordable housing units—20 for employee housing, 10 for the public—a 37-acre public park, a public hiking trail connecting Warm Springs to River Run, the restoration of Warm Springs Creek, six public tennis courts and $7,500 per year to fund a youth golf program.
Also planned are a boutique hotel, 75 condominiums and townhouses, a new Warm Springs Ranch Restaurant and a 52,000-square-foot parking structure.
Nearly 66 acres of the 77-acre project site would have to be annexed into Ketchum.
"The community is being enriched at the expense of the developer," Dean said. "We're giving new lift to Warm Springs, to the village and its sagging economics."
Not all attendees spoke in favor of the plan, however. Many residents, especially those who would be affected by the increased traffic and visual aspects of the project, reiterated their concerns.
Christopher Simms, executive director of Hailey-based Citizens for Smart Growth, said he hoped for a "slightly smaller footprint and less intrusion of public recreation on the riparian area" of Warm Springs Creek.
Concerns about increased cars, and their headlights shining into neighbors' windows, prompted project representatives to offer landscaping to lessen the impact.
"We'll landscape to your specifications and the specifications of The Fields," Dean said, referring to a neighboring residential project on Warm Springs Road. "We'll simply do it."
Others in attendance lamented the loss of the Warm Springs Golf Course, which is slated to close at the end of the summer.
"I feel it's a mistake we'll regret in the long run," said Ketchum resident Pam Parker. In a letter Parker submitted to the city, she added, "the city of Ketchum seems to be on an irreversible course to lose one of its biggest recreational assets ... P&Z members all seem to be satisfied that there will be 'no net loss' of recreation ... How does allowing tennis courts where there are already tennis courts increase recreational use?"
Indeed, tennis has been the subject of debate, with control over the proposed new courts a point of contention.
Thursday, however, parties appeared to have reached an agreement wherein Mark Scribner, Warm Springs Tennis Club tennis pro, and his wife, Kathy, would take over the club's operation, eventually turning it over to his stepson, Ryan Drew.
Mark Scribner called the new courts a "godsend" to the tennis community because the cost to replace the earthquake-damaged courts has been cost-prohibitive.
Two of the eight courts, he said, have been in disuse since the 1983 Borah Peak earthquake.
Scribner also announced that Sun Valley Ventures has offered 12 scholarships per year for youth tennis at the club.
Kirk Mason, Ketchum parks director, said his goal has always been to keep the courts available to the public, and that guarantees in the contract would ensure that.
"We've never had any other motives," he said.
The P&Z recommended a few changes to the draft planned-unit development permit, including the withdrawal of any waiver requirement for the parking garage and condo structure.
The Warm Springs Ranch development has been in P&Z's hands since November, and will now pass to City Council members for more public hearings and debate.
"If you don't like what government is doing, you say they're going too fast," said Ketchum resident Mickey Garcia. "If you do like what government is doing, you say it's going too slow. This project has done (its best) to please the most people most of the time."
The City Council will likely have a special meeting dedicated to public comment on the project, probably in mid-June, said Mayor Ed Simon.
