The Ketchum City Council will return from the Fourth of July holiday weekend facing a full schedule of public meetings next week.
City offices will be closed Monday, July 4. The council's regular bi-monthly meeting will be held Tuesday, July 5, at 5 p.m.
On the agenda is the first reading of an ordinance amending development impact fees. Council members are scheduled to hold a second reading of the development-impact-fee issue Wednesday, July 6, at noon at City Hall. The meeting will be followed by a site visit to Warm Springs Ranch, the 76-acre property northwest of downtown Ketchum that is proposed for annexation into the city.
The council will hold a special meeting on the Warm Springs Ranch annexation and development proposal at 5:30 p.m., Thursday, July 7, at the American Legion Hall, 220 Cottonwood St.
"We were looking for a bigger venue. We expect more than 100 people," said Mayor Ed Simon. "The developer will make a presentation then we'll take public comment. It's the first salvo of what should be a very long process."
The Ketchum Planning & Zoning Commission recommended approval of the Warm Springs Ranch project May 5.
Development group Sun Valley Ventures has three applications before the city: annexation, a conditional-use permit for the Warms Springs Ranch development, and a "large block preliminary plat."
The development's plan includes 30 affordable housing units, a 37-acre public park, a public hiking trail connecting Warm Springs Village to the River Run base area of Bald Mountain, the restoration of Warm Springs Creek, a hotel, 75 condominiums, a new restaurant, a parking garage, six public tennis courts and $7,500 per year to fund a youth golf program.
Opposition during public hearings at the P&Z stage focused on the project's footprint, the likelihood of increased vehicular traffic and a plan to decommission the site's golf course.