After nearly three years of intense wrangling between the city of Hailey and developers, the Hailey City Council on Monday voted to approve the annexation of the 143-acre Old Cutters property northeast of town.
"Thank you for your two and a half years," Hailey Mayor Susan McBryant said to Old Cutters representatives after the City Council voted to approve the annexation.
"I think we've chewed it up and spit it out," McBryant added.
Barring any unforeseen holdups, actual building on the Old Cutters property could commence as early as this summer, said John Campbell, who co-owns the property along with Steve Brown.
Although exact details of the development have yet to be finalized, Campbell and Brown have proposed to construct a total of 149 residential units on their property. The mixed-residential subdivision would include a variety of townhouses and single- and multi-family dwellings.
With their yes vote on the annexation, the City Council also approved which zoning districts the property will fall under. The approved districting includes 27.06 acres as Limited Residential zoning, 32.82 acres as General Residential zoning and 82.74 acres as Recreation and Green Belt zoning.
For their part, Campbell and Brown have agreed to several developer concessions required by the city. Perhaps the most significant of these is an annexation fee of $3,832,500 the developers will pay to the city in periodic installments. The developers have also agreed to convey to the city several parcels of land of various sizes for park space, open space and a possible future fire station.
The largest of the land conveyances—78 acres east of Hiawatha Canal—would be designated as community open space. The 78 acres are composed primarily of undeveloped hillside lands.
The developers have also agreed to convey and develop a 5.08-acre parcel of land as a city park complete with a bathroom connected to city sewer services and construct a sidewalk on Myrtle Street and a turn lane at the north intersection of South Hiawatha Drive and Buttercup Road.
Under the annexation agreement, the developers will retain ownership of all water rights attached to the property.
As significant as the council's yes vote is, however, the annexation won't be completely finalized until both the city and Campbell and Brown have signed the annexation agreement, the agreement has been filed with the state tax commission and McBryant has read the third public reading of the annexation ordinance.
"Only then is the annexation final," Hailey city clerk Heather Dawson said.
Once that takes place, Campbell and Brown will then have to submit a subdivision application to the Hailey Planning and Zoning Commission. The application will initiate what is likely to be a somewhat lengthy subdivision planning process before both the P&Z and City Council.
In other Hailey news:
· Mayor Susan McBryant named five Hailey residents to a newly formed Development Impact Fee Advisory Committee. Those residents include Taylor Walker and George Kirk, both members of the Hailey development community, and Stefanie Marvel, Nancy Linscott and Pat Cooley, all three of which are either current or former P&Z commissioners.
· McBryant also announced her approval of a city beautification project that will place flower baskets in the city's downtown core on Main Street. McBryant announced she will pull $2,000 from the mayor's discretionary funds to pay for the purchase and installment of brackets to hang the baskets on. The baskets will be paid for through sponsorship by local businesses.
