It may take an act of Congress to get more affordable housing units in Ketchum—and that's just what the city is counting on.
A plan is in the works to swap two triangular city-owned lots near Hemingway Elementary School with two lots on Second Avenue and Seventh Street owned by the Blaine County School District.
"The school district wants to expand, (so) it makes sense to swap that land," Ketchum City Administrator Ron LeBlanc said Monday.
But to make best use of the parcels, he said, Congress has to release a patent on the land dating from the time trains ran through town.
"It's complicated for a number of reasons," he said. "All parcels have different restrictions to them."
When trains ceased operation here, the easement expired and the federal land reverted to local jurisdiction to be used for educational purposes.
City officials need to ask Congress to release the patent to free it up for other uses, LeBlanc said.
The city is in touch with congressional representatives, who could submit the request as a rider and present it in committee in the next legislative session.
The district's lots, approximately 50 feet by 150 feet each, are currently being used to store a big pile of dirt.
A duplex sits on one of the city's lots and houses two city employees. But Ketchum officials plan to tear down the structure next spring due to disrepair, LeBlanc said.
If the city acquires the district's land, up to 25 housing units could be built there, LeBlanc estimated. The units would be used to house teachers and city employees.
LeBlanc said approximately 30 percent of people on the waiting list for affordable housing are school district employees.
"If we take them off the list, everyone else moves up," he said. "It would be a good thing for everyone."
If the restrictions are not taken off after the land exchange, the city could still build housing but the units would have to be used by teachers or school district staff.
Additional workforce housing units are in the works for the city's light industrial zone.
Property owner SWC LLC submitted Nov. 8 a pre-application design review for a 113,000-square-foot mixed-use building, including a parking garage.
Plans include space for Scott USA offices, 11 market-rate housing units and 17 community housing units.
The city this summer amended requirements in the LI-3 zoning district to allow market-rate housing, with 33 percent of that to be dedicated to affordable housing.
Community housing supporters are looking at additional ways to increase such units for valley residents.
Last month, Ketchum city staff met with the Blaine/Ketchum Housing Authority and Citizens for Smart Growth to discuss ways to increase affordable housing units in the area, including ordinance amendments.
BKHA agreed to look at affordable housing ordinances throughout the valley and in other resort communities to see how they might be implemented in Ketchum.
"We're taking a look at everybody's ordinances and hoping to put together a document for Ketchum," Drew Sanderford, BKHA associate director, said Monday. "It's in progress."
