Wednesday, June 15, 2005

County puts off moratorium extension


By GREG STAHL
Express Staff Writer

Blaine County leaders put off extension of a county-wide moratorium on new subdivisions Tuesday afternoon, but not before they attempted to cherry pick several properties and craft a proposal to allow subdivisions that include certain community benefits.

About half of the hour the Blaine County Commission spent deliberating on the extension was spent attempting to figure out how to allow subdivisions in Croy Canyon, where a new nursing home and school could be built, and in Smiley Creek, where land could be subdivided and donated to the Smiley Creek Fire District.

"It makes sense to make exemptions when there is a clear public purpose," said Commissioner Sarah Michael.

The 3:30 p.m. meeting lasted roughly two hours, and about a dozen local residents and nonprofit representatives spoke at the hearing. They presented an extremely mixed bag of comments. Some supported the moratorium extension. Some opposed it. Some thought the community housing planned unit development overlay should be included. Some disagreed.

One of Southcentral Idaho's largest developers, Harry Rinker, urged the commission to put an end to the moratorium. He and Picabo developer Nick Purdy said the real estate market is inflating at a rapid rate because of the moratorium.

Land value is going up because of scarcity, Rinker said.

"If General Motors or Ford were not able to produce cars, what would be the value of the (existing) cars?" he asked to illustrate his point.

Purdy said lots in Picabo are selling for more than $200,000, and that is a direct result of the subdivision moratorium.

"A house I sold 10 years ago for $25,000 sold in two hours for $300,000 last week," Purdy said.

Under the commission's plan to except certain properties, excepted projects would include applications for short plats in residential areas that create single lots. The exception would also include applications creating three lots in cluster subdivisions in the 20-acre-lot agricultural zone and short plats in which at least 50 percent of the lots are dedicated to a public facility including an ambulance or fire district or community housing. Also, a public agency must be a co-applicant.

The concept to except certain properties was partially initiated by Wes Wills, who lives in Ketchum and Smiley Creek, who said he is attempting to subdivide a lot in order to donate land to the newly formed fire district.

"Sometimes it's the unintended results that get us in trouble, the devil being in the details," he said. "One of the bizarre unintended consequences is, I'm trying to donate a parcel of land to the Smiley Creek Fire District for a fire hall. But I can't donate the land until I subdivide a 40-acre parcel."

"If we can't donate the parcel, then the fire district can't get into the fund or grant cycle to pay for or fund the fire house," he said. "And we can't have equipment until we have a firehouse."

Commissioners also unanimously agreed to include the community housing planned unit development overlay area, south of McHanville, which the county enacted a year ago.

"There may be some expectation that if it's included in the moratorium, there's going to be some huge study of the impacts," said Commissioner Dennis Wright. "I don't know that that's the case."

The community housing overlay area has been contentious among existing homeowners who live inside its borders, or nearby. They contend the overlay, if built out to its fullest capacity, could create another 3,000-person city.

Wright maintained that it can't hurt to sit back and watch as the first community housing planned unit development, Quail Creek, is built.

"It behooves us to watch that now, possibly longer than this moratorium and sort of analyze how it works and what we have generated there," he said.




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