Sun Valley's inability to keep pace with competing resorts dominated a discussion regarding Spring Creek, a proposed new city south of Bellevue, during a Sustainability Conference panel discussion at the Dollar Mountain Lodge Wednesday, Sept. 27.
"We're way behind the dime," Jed Gray, a Ketchum real estate agent and Wood River Valley native, said about the resort's and the community's struggles to attract and maintain new residents and visitors. "You cannot stay static in this kind of environment. It's very competitive.
"We either need to get on board or get off and become a second-home community."
Aspen, Colo., which corralled the youth-driven and wildly popular Winter X Games and is home to a successful affordable housing program that supports a large population of young, permanent residents, was just one resort the panelists believe has progressed light years ahead of Sun Valley.
Gray's comments, like the workshop, referenced several ailments plaguing the Wood River Valley, including high land and home prices, an increasingly shrinking pool of young people and service workers, a growing population of second-home owners, inefficient public transportation, and businesses that can't seem to stay afloat.
It's no secret among community leaders and elected officials that a large part of the remedy is a beefed-up affordable and entry-level housing market.
But that can't be administered without collaborative regional planning. And a new town should be included in that process, the panel unanimously concluded.
"The problem is a lot broader than just the cost of a piece of land," Gray said.
In addition to Gray, the panel comprised former Blaine County planner Linda Haavik, community activist and former Blaine County Commissioner Len Harlig, First Bank of Idaho President Bryan Furlong, Hailey Mayor Susan McBryant, former Sun Valley Mayor and builder Dave Wilson, and Blaine-Ketchum Housing Authority board member John Flattery.
Developing Green, a company that promotes environmentally friendly and sustainable development, was one of the Sustainability Conference's hosting members and is a member of the project team for Spring Creek.
Still in the conceptual stage, Spring Creek would be tucked into the Timmerman Hill area about 12 miles south of Bellevue and six miles from the planned site of Blaine County's new airport.
The town, dreamed up by George Kirk and Bob Kantor, of The Kirk Group real estate firm, would include about 2,000 housing units, its own fire and police stations, city hall, school, medical clinic, movie theater, hotel, library and stores. The development would be condensed on 800 acres of the 2,800-acre property. The remaining 2,000 acres would be preserved as open space.
Many of the development's homes would be low-cost and targeted for entry-level buyers.
"I'm not sure we missed the boat," said Marty Flannes, a co-founder of Developing Green and moderator of Wednesday's panel. "I think there has been some very good planning. Where we've fallen short is implementing those plans."
But Flannes thinks that's about to change.
During the last week of June 2006, the concept of a new town in Blaine County was scrutinized by seven members of the Urban Land Institute (ULI), an internationally recognized nonprofit organization specializing in land use and real estate development. They concluded that a new town could solve long-term growth issues in the county and that Spring Creek would be an appropriate site. They also concluded, however, that more public and government support was necessary.
"At the end of the day, a new town is a collaborative effort," ULI member James DeFrancia said in late June. "It takes patience. That might be the name of the new town: Patience."
Flannes said the Spring Creek project team heeded the ULI's advice and is leading the charge for a concerted, broad-based regional planning effort.
"The very interesting thing the ULI concluded was that this discussion of a new town could be the vehicle for broader discussions for regional planning, housing, and a diversified economy," Flannes said. "We need to get these issues out to the community and discuss them generally and see which ones a new town can help with, and possibly some that it doesn't relate to."
Flannes acknowledged that Blaine County policy currently frowns on the creation of a new town, mainly due to fears it could turn into a financial burden for the county. But with future growth inevitable—the population of the county is pegged to increase by more than 10,000 people in the next 20 years—and annexations considered by some to promote sprawl, Flannes thinks additional "discussions should begin immediately with the county."
Flannes hopes that will occur during a regional planning public workshop set for Oct. 12 at 7 p.m. at the Community Campus in Hailey.
Conference attendees watch a presentation about plans for a new city in Blaine County during the Sun Valley Sustainability Conference last week. Photo by David N. Seelig
