Blaine County Commissioner Sarah Michael and county planner Jeff Adams met this week with Sun Valley city officials to introduce their proposed Transfer of Development Rights program, a key component of the county's 2025 plan for future development.
"We are here to introduce the concept ... so that we can act regionally. We are reducing the density in our agricultural lands so we don't have urban sprawl," Michael said.
The TDR program is a key component in the 2025 planning proposal, which is designed to discourage growth in environmentally sensitive areas, such as Silver Creek, while focusing it closer to the cities.
"The Silver Creek area is a huge part of the Sun Valley experience," Adams said.
The county approached the city at a special council meeting, Monday, June 12, to initiate dialogue with the council. A major component of the plan depends on regional cities' willingness to accept increased density. Essentially, development rights would be retired in the county and then purchased for development in cities. County representatives emphasized the importance of regional cooperation, while fielding questions as to how the concept would look in Sun Valley. The city's 2005 Comprehensive Plan Update adopted last year gives the city direction to downzone, rather than upzone.
Adams said transferred density would be appropriate in areas such as Sun Valley's Area of City Impact and McHanville, a mixed-use area along Highway 75 south of Sun Valley and Ketchum, in Blaine County.
City Administrator Virginia Egger said density transfers in the McHanville area would likely change the parameters of an $85,000 master plan study that is under way. Land-use planning firm Winston Associates is expected to complete the master plan study in August. It was funded in part by the city of Sun Valley.
The city of Sun Valley also hired Winston Associates to provide a comprehensive review of the city's land-use regulations in the Commercial Center zoning district. The city has enacted a moratorium to write the mass and scale guidelines for Sun Valley Resort and Elkhorn Village. Egger said the city should evaluate the TDR program in context with new mass and scale guidelines.
SARAH MICHAEL
