The last time the city of Ketchum considered overhauling development in its downtown, it made a big mistake.
In a misguided effort to satisfy "preservationists," the city came up with a scheme that would have increased the size of buildings in the center of town and reduced building size in so-called "transition" zones.
The whole downtown planning enterprise failed because it created two classes of property owners: winners and losers. The plan would have taken from the losers and given to the winners.
The probable winners of higher densities were ecstatic, while the losers were mad. The probable losers got self-righteous speeches from the authors of the misbegotten scheme about how they should shut up and suffer in silence for the good of the community. In the end, the city shrank all of its buildings-and everyone lost.
The whole noisy exercise was a waste of time and money. It could have been avoided if the city had sought a win-win solution to its problem.
Ketchum is again contemplating creation of some kind of special district within the existing commercial zone in order to revitalize sagging retail operations.
As city leaders work to find a way to revitalize Ketchum's fading and ever more vacant downtown, it should reject the voices of those would shut the town down in the name of some fictional romanticized past. They should get to work on enabling new hotels and affordable housing-the cornerstones for a lively and interesting town.
The town's future depends on it.
