Ask 10 different individuals what they think the Hailey and Bellevue communities of 10 years from now will look like and you'll likely get 10 varied responses.
Will rising home prices continue to outpace job salaries? Will the proposed annexations of large parcels of land near the two cities further challenge city officials, who are already finding it difficult to ensure essential city services like fire, police and ambulance are provided?
Perhaps, most importantly, will these communities retain their unique small-town charm while continuing to remain affordable for everyday families or will they become the exclusive province for owners of second and third homes?
What is abundantly clear is that an influx of new arrivals to the area has, still is and will continue to shape these communities in a number of different ways. The growth is forcing city leaders and residents to consider how their cities are changing and how they hope to influence that change in a positive way.
For her part, Hailey Mayor Susan McBryant remains optimistic for her city's future. While acknowledging growth has created a number of challenges to keeping the city livable for a wide range of socio-economic groups, McBryant predicts a Hailey of 10 years from now that is a real community in every sense of the word.
"It will be where people live," she said.
McBryant, who moved to Hailey in 1979, is aware that simply wishing growth away won't solve anything.
Hailey should look both to the past and to the north to learn valuable lessons for its future, she said.
"We need to really respect the lessons of Ketchum," McBryant said. There, a focus on growing the city's downtown core commercially has over time led to the loss of residential spaces, she said.
What makes Hailey what it is today, and what McBryant hopes to preserve into the future, is what she calls an eclectic and "cobbled mix" of residential and commercial projects.
New arrivals to Hailey come here for what the city is today, not what they wish it could become, she said.
"I've never met somebody who said, 'I love Hailey, can we change it?'" McBryant said.
McBryant takes a countywide view when she considers growth, its impact on Blaine County and ways in which it can be managed properly into the future.
She said a better approach to managing growth in the Wood River Valley will require a broad consensus among the valley's municipalities and Blaine County.
"I don't think the cities are prepared to take it (growth) all on themselves," McBryant said. "There isn't a city in this county that wants to grow exponentially."
Ensuring Hailey is an affordable place for families to live will require the high-quality, good-paying jobs businesses like Power Engineers and Marketron International can provide, she said.
Those businesses fit into the business community mold Hailey desires, McBryant said. "They're clean, they're not polluting industries," she said.
Hailey already has one thing going for it in terms of attracting new businesses, McBryant said. "We have a ready pool of educated people," she said. "I think ski resorts attract that sort of people."
McBryant said the city is working on a number of ways to attract new businesses to the area. She said many businesses are looking to set up shop in livable communities such as Hailey that provide an active lifestyle in an attractive setting.
"You can go out and engage those businesses," McBryant said. "We just have to tell them about us."
Further south in Bellevue, city officials face their own host of issues related to growth and its impact on their ability to preserve the city's small-town charm and provide essential city services.
One of the primary objectives for Bellevue's current mayor and City Council is keeping the integrity of the downtown core intact, Bellevue City Administrator Tom Blanchard said.
Blanchard, who has been a resident of Bellevue for nearly 30 years, said a key part of keeping the look and feel of the downtown core undiminished is realizing "big warehouses is not Bellevue." Rather, he said the city of Bellevue should adhere to its tradition as "a smaller artisan community."
"That is what we want to see in the long run," Blanchard said. "We want to see that the architecture reflects that."
Blanchard points to the light-industrial business group on the south end of Bellevue as a model of what the city would like to encourage in other areas, specifically lands in potential future annexations.
While residents make up the heart of the Bellevue community, it's the real return in terms of the city's commercial tax base that will fund Bellevue going forward, he said. "It's critical for the future of Bellevue," Blanchard said.
Bellevue city leaders want to see "small, light industrial businesses that cater to the local community," he said.
Blanchard said the mayor and the City Council haven't made any decisions on annexation proposals for the areas of Slaughterhouse Canyon and a combined 550-acre parcel of ground south of Bellevue owned by developers Harry Rinker and John Scherer.
"This may not work for Bellevue," he said.
Bellevue is primarily a 100-year-old traditional grid community, he said. Integrating what would likely be a more contemporary neighborhood design on annexed lands with what already exists in Bellevue is critical, Blanchard said.
"Whatever we do we want to make sure they become a part of Bellevue and not Bellevue become a part of them," he said.
Any planned community for annexed lands would have to have a large affordable housing component, Blanchard said.
There is one benefit to the proposed annexations, though, he said. Because Bellevue is under no obligation to agree to the annexation the city is in the position to negotiate terms, Blanchard said. "We can ask for what are nicely called 'exactions,'" he said.
Those exactions could potentially pour much-needed funds into city coffers. And those funds could provide the boost needed to help pay for updating currently under-funded city services, he said.
"Development needs to be a positive development for the community or it shouldn't occur," Blanchard said.
Due to installation of new irrigation equipment, the owners of Quigley Canyon Ranch have decided to close the northern entrance to the Quigley Nordic Center at the corner of Quigley and Buckhorn roads. The property is under review by the city of Hailey for annexation. The growth factor for the city comes at a time when the county is seeking to foster a regional approach to managing growth countywide. A special meeting is scheduled for Nov. 30 at the Community Campus in Hailey to discuss growth matters where county and city interests overlap. The meeting is part of a county planning effort titled "Blaine County 2025: Where and How will we Grow?" County leaders and planners are hoping the gathering, which could involve as many as 90 city and county heads will be an opportunity to bring county and city leaders together in a spirit of cooperation when addressing regional growth matters. Photo by David N. Seelig
