Friday, October 28, 2005

Sun Valley candidates debate affordable housing


By MEGAN THOMAS
Express Staff Writer

Anyone attending Sun Valley City Council and Planning and Zoning Commission meetings over the last year realizes affordable housing is a hot topic for constituents.

Residents have packed meetings to weigh in on regulations, funding and location of affordable housing in the city of Sun Valley.

The issues of affordable housing could direct voters in the Tuesday, Nov. 8 city election.

Five council candidates are vying for two seats on the Sun Valley City Council. The candidates are the two incumbents, Ann Agnew and Kevin Laird, and three challengers, Nils Ribi, Dan Pincetich, and Milt Adam.

Last spring, the City Council instituted a set of "Workforce Housing Ordinances" that require nearly all new developments, including single-family homes, to provide a degree of workforce housing.

With the ordinances in place, action to produce affordable housing should materialize in the coming year. Inquiries from the public and stakeholders indicate the issue remains at the forefront for voters.

During the annual Pizza and Politics public questions-and-answer forum Wednesday, Oct. 19, attention centered on the candidates' support of established ordinances and on the appropriate location for housing in the city.

Council members Agnew and Laird voted in favor of the Inclusionary Zoning Ordinance, which mandates workforce housing as public policy.

In a vote for the second component of the policy, Agnew voted in favor, while Laird abstained from voting a Linkage Ordinance that requires workforce housing for nearly all new residential and non-residential developments.

Seeking a fifth term, Laird was directly asked why he abstained from voting on the Workforce Housing Linkage Ordinance in April 2005.

"I didn't agree with including single-family housing and remodels without having the whole community at large involved with the solution. I asked to maybe tie in that particular ordinance to a bond issue," Laird said.

Agnew remains in support of the measures. "We voted for the ordinances we thought were the best at the time," she said.

As a member of the Planning and Zoning Commission, Ribi voted in favor of recommending that the City Council adopt the two multi-faceted ordinances.

"I thought they were very reasonable," said Ribi, who is currently chairman of the Sun Valley P&Z.

Former Sun Valley city administrator Pincetich and political activist Adam said they also support the ordinances.

Sun Valley Co. General Manager Wally Huffman cornered the candidates on their view of affordable housing on "sacred space."

The question came in light of the approved 2005 Comprehensive Plan Update that permits residential housing in the Gateway Land Use Planning Area-the area stretching from Ketchum along Sun Valley Road to Saddle Road. During evaluation of the plan, the possibility of affordable housing located on Sun Valley's entrance lands emerged.

"Not in the Gateway," Agnew said.

"There are a lot of areas in the Wood River Valley that could support community housing," Laird said. "Areas zoned open space would be a trade off."

Laird has stated he is not in favor of placing housing on the rear portion of the city's five-acre park parcel, next to Our Lady of the Snows Catholic Church.

Adam's response was that he had proposed to set aside land for community housing during the comprehensive plan discussion process.

Looking to an additional location for workforce housing, candidates responded to placing housing on another contentious land parcel-the fifth phase of the Crown Ranch subdivision. The parcel sits along Crown Ranch Road in Elkhorn.

"Other areas would be better suited for community housing," Laird said.

Most of the candidates agreed it would not be a viable option for the city to purchase the Crown Ranch land to build high-density workforce housing.

"I think it would be very difficult. The cost of the property would be very expensive," Pincetich said. He also pointed to the obstacle of the single access road that runs through the single-family residential neighborhood.

Minimum density requirements call for at least 13 units to be built, with a maximum of 69 units constructed on the property.

"Crown Ranch zoning was a mistake," Agnew said. "To me it is an example of what we are going to be watching out for in the future as we go forward."

Ribi presented an option of buying the property to preserve it as open space, if the community was in favor of in doing so.

Adam said he was unaware of the issue and offered no comment.




 Local Weather 
Search archives:


Copyright © 2024 Express Publishing Inc.   Terms of Use   Privacy Policy
All Rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission of Express Publishing Inc. is prohibited. 

The Idaho Mountain Express is distributed free to residents and guests throughout the Sun Valley, Idaho resort area community. Subscribers to the Idaho Mountain Express will read these stories and others in this week's issue.