Friday, April 14, 2006

Moratorium extended to 2 more zones

182-day building ban set to address Ketchum's affordable housing issue


By REBECCA MEANY
Express Staff Writer

Ketchum City Administrator Ron LeBlanc, left, and Mayor Randy Hall look over a city map last week at City Hall. The City Council on Wednesday approved a moratorium on design and building applications in two zones: General Residential-High Density and Tourist. Those zoning districts join the Community Core district currently under a moratorium while city leaders work to develop a comprehensive plan for the city and address needs such as affordable housing. Express photo by Rebecca Meany

Ketchum has enacted a new building moratorium in two zoning districts so city officials can devise ways to offer incentives to developers for community housing.

The City Council approved Wednesday a 182-day moratorium in the General Residential-High Density and Tourist zones of the city. The commercial core is already under a moratorium through an interim ordinance that prevents construction of single-family homes and all-residential condominium projects downtown.

City officials invoked depleting sales taxes from disappearing retail operations that fund essential city services as reason for the emergency.

"This has to do with the community's need for workforce housing," Mayor Randy Hall said.

Having emergency personnel and other workers living near their jobs is vital, the emergency ordinance states.

"If you look at what's happening with traditional development (in the T and GR-H zones) ... the current zoning regulations are not promoting a type of development that's appropriate for this community," Harold Moniz, Ketchum planning director, said after the meeting. "They don't make efficient use of the land, they don't have an affordable housing component to them, and they're priced out of the reach of most members of the community, I suspect."

Council members in October heard from myriad community members regarding the need for affordable housing.

"(There was) a tremendous amount of testimony discussing loss of community and the need for more permanent residents in the valley, and Ketchum in particular," said Councilman Baird Gourlay. "We started going through the process and evaluating what kinds of ordinances we'd need."

The city determined that the GR-H and T zones were missed opportunities to expand the mission of affordable housing and the revitalization of the community.

"We are not trying to punish people," Gourlay said. "We're trying to create incentives."

Incentives could include allowing additional density in those zones in exchange for community housing units.

The Tourist zone, which acts as a sort of buffer between higher density in the commercial core and lower density in residential zones, flanks both sides of state Highway 75 from River Street south to Emerald Street on the east side and Serenade Lane on the west. It also includes areas surrounding the downtown area, Thunder Spring, Big Wood condominiums south of Saddle Road and the Warm Springs Ranch property in northwest Ketchum and Picabo Street and Skiway Drive at the Warm Springs base of Bald Mountain, said City Planner Stefanie Webster.

The GR-H zone includes Bird Drive in West Ketchum and condominiums off Parkway Drive and Warm Springs Road.

No one at Wednesday's hearing spoke against the moratorium.

Real estate broker Dick Fenton said some clients had been reluctant to buy property because of the moratorium in the commercial core, and he asked if similar prohibitions would be put on other zones.

Hall said he wasn't contemplating additional moratorium requests for other areas of the city.

Gourlay said increased density in the General Residential-Low Density zone isn't on tap.

"It's a big area," he said. "I'm not prepared to go there."

Moniz added that increased density has more impact on low-density zones.

"I see us progressing toward those zones ... but through the regular zoning process."

Rebekah Helzel, founder of Advocates for Real Community Housing, said she hopes the community would treat its people with the same respect afforded the natural environment.

"I challenge everyone to look at this as an investment," she said. "Our people are an asset and we need to treat them with the same regard as our other ... assets."




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