Ketchum City Council's decision to enact a six-month moratorium on certain types of buildings in the commercial core could be the first step in an overhaul of rules governing downtown development.
A special meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, Oct. 18, to continue the discussion and evaluate parameters of the moratorium approved this week.
"(The meeting) will focus on exactly what the goals and objectives of what the moratorium are," said Ketchum Mayor Ed Simon. "We'll discuss having a new CC-1 zone—in other words, a zone that will be the heart of the commercial district."
City Council members approved Tuesday, Oct. 11, an emergency 182-day moratorium on new applications for single-family homes or projects that include first-floor residential units in the Community Core zoning district. Currently, residential is an accepted land use throughout the CC zone.
Spot zoning is illegal, so the moratorium had to apply to the entire CC zone, Simon said. But having the ordinance apply to all sections of that zone may not be necessary, he added.
To have a more retail-friendly ordinance apply to a smaller part of downtown, which could include Main Street to Sun Valley Road and the Giacobbi Square area, the city would have to create a new zone, Simon said.
"Part of the discussion will have to be, if we require first floor retail in a new CC-1 zone, are we willing to give other density bonuses for complying?" Simon said. "(And) we'll talk about a linkage ordinance. If we're going to change the zone, I think we have to include a discussion on linkage as part of our goal."
"Linkage" is a term used to describe the notion of linking new development to the provision of affordable housing.
City leaders said the emergency ordinance was needed because of the disappearing retail space and the accompanying dwindling sales tax receipts.
Those taxes help fund necessary city services such as emergency response.
Language in the moratorium ordinance states that development containing residential uses on the ground floor threatens the economic vitality of the city, threatens to permanently impair the city's collection of local option tax receipts and threatens the city's ability to adequately staff and pay for essential services.
Two projects currently under consideration by the city would be grandfathered in, said Ketchum Planning Director Harold Moniz. They are the Rediron Building, formerly called The Rivers, a 19-unit building proposed for South First Avenue and West River Streets, and First Street Townhomes, a 12-unit building at 551 North First Ave.
A couple of other residential projects in the commercial core have applications pending with the city but they include retail on the ground floor.
Simon said the impetus of the ordinance was twofold: the development of two new bank buildings on Main Street and the closing of Williams Market.
"Key retail space is turning into banks," Simon said.
Additionally, he said, prior to Williams closing, a representative of the property owners had approached the city about a new project that would front Main Street and accommodate parking in the rear of the building.
Although they were not specific about the project's details, "we have to be concerned about what happens on such a large Main Street frontage," Simon said.
City Council members hope the moratorium will help neutralize the threat of retail space and mixed-use buildings being replaced by strictly residential projects. A familiar refrain offered by developers who feel they are being unduly restricted by the city is that they will pull their applications and replace them with all-residential projects.
Simon said he hopes the moratorium will protect the vital corridors in town and provide more viable retail stores.
"It's to assure we have retail on Main Street," Simon said. "It wasn't necessarily done in a knee-jerk reaction. The reality is the development is ongoing. The moratorium was really necessary."
The Copper Ridge building on Washington Avenue in downtown Ketchum features commercial space on the ground floor and residential units above. Pursuant to its plan to promote retail business in the city, the City Council could mandate that all new residential buildings in the downtown core include commercial space at street level. Photo by David N. Seelig
