By MATT FURBER
For the Idaho Mountain Express
Homeowners who bought into earlier phases of the Weyyakin subdivision voiced misgivings before the Sun Valley City Council last week about the impacts of the proposed Phase IV, which is to be composed of 19 new homes.
After substantial public comment Thursday, March 16, the council voted to continue the preliminary plat public hearing to give the council an opportunity for a site visit. The aim is to give developers a chance to again address detractors' concerns, forging a window of time to find a compromise that could benefit all parties' interests.
The development located just north of Elkhorn Road and east of state Highway 75 has been phased in since the late 1970s, said project architect Nick Latham.
Latham, who has been associated with Weyyakin since the beginning when it was part of Blaine County, gave a brief history of the development as he presented the plans for the final phase. The property was eventually annexed into the city of Sun Valley about 18 years ago, he said. It has also been part of a lawsuit that went before the Idaho Supreme Court in previous arguments over whether developers were doing what they promised.
Neighbors, including Dick Fassino, whose home borders the development, voiced concern that the last phase of the development is to take some eight years to complete. According to the developers' plans, staging for construction is to be located near Fassino's home where he and his wife, unlike many of their Weyyakin neighbors, live full time, Fassino said.
"We're concerned that all the construction activity will take place next to us for most of the eight years," he said. "It seems a little unusual it's going to take eight years to build 19 houses when they built 33 houses in the first year. It seems like it's dragged out a bit."
Other issues involved questions about road access and safety, site lines, mass and scale of homes in the latest phase, impacts on view corridors and nearness of the new clusters to existing homes.
Representing the neighbors, attorney Ned Williamson said he and his clients believe that a master plan for the project upheld by the Supreme Court must still be followed.
At issue is essentially whether investors in the development will be witnessing a final phase that is significantly different that what they had originally anticipated when they purchased a Weyyakin home.
After hearing the developers out, Fassino said he was glad to hear plans for construction mitigation.
Councilmen Blair Boand and Nils Ribi asked that the hearing be continued to the council's next meeting.
The council and Mayor Jon Thorson, at City Attorney Rand Peebles' recommendation, scheduled a site visit on April 19.
Peebles said if the council decides to remand the project to the Planning and Zoning Commission for further review, the council should give the council some specificity as to what should be reviewed. The council could also choose to make a decision April 20 on the preliminary plat application.
