The debates under way about Blaine County 2025 and Ketchum's Downtown Master Plan are more than arcane debates for local policy wonks.
They are debates about core values shared by people who live and work here.
Most of all, they are debates about legacy: what people here today will bequeath to the people of tomorrow.
The bedrock surveys of values that are the foundation upon which both proposals are built showed that people here appreciate the land, rivers and wildlife that surround them. They like the character of valley communities—and the characters who live in them.
They want to find ways to deal with growth that will preserve for the future the things they love about the valley.
But dealing with growth is hard.
The easy answer—just slam the door on growth—is no answer because the nation's laws won't allow it. Had that been allowed, the door would have been slammed long ago and half of the people reading this page wouldn't be here.
The other easy answer—just let the type and location of new structures be determined by an unfettered and blind economy—is no answer either because it would damage our core values.
Had unfettered growth been allowed, Highway 75 would be lined with big box stores, access to the river would be non-existent and homeowners would have no protection from heavy industrial uses moving in next door. Life here would be far uglier than it is today.
So, that leaves Ketchum and Blaine County to confront a middle ground. Both must change, or live with the consequences of doing nothing.
If they do nothing, Ketchum will continue on the road to becoming some kind of toy town, visited but largely uninhabited, with lights on only part of the year.
Blaine County lands that today support cattle, hay and barley operations will disappear, replaced by ranchettes and suburban sprawl. With them will go the wetlands that create the crystal clear waters of the world-class fishery called Silver Creek.
Blaine County and Ketchum must get new development plans in place before their moratoriums expire and leave them vulnerable to irresistible economic pressures that could leave both in a shambles. Getting plans in place will require elected officials to be courageous in the face of the proclivity of Westerners to dislike any kind of restraint.
How smart the people of today will look to successive generations will depend on what we pass on—vibrant cities and a sweet county where a fine balance has been struck between people and nature. Or a place trashed by blind and thoughtless growth, devoid of the things people once loved.
