Ketchum city leaders made a list and checked it twice. On that list were five goals they hoped to accomplish within three months. With their first deadline come and gone, they've been able to cross off four out of five.
The Ketchum City Council, Mayor Randy Hall and economic development consultant Tom Hudson and several city staff members attended a two-day retreat in mid-August to lay out short- and long-term goals for the city.
First on their list were five immediate tasks.
"We had a half billion dollars' worth of development on the drawing board," Hall said Monday. "There was a train wreck coming. We needed to get into position to handle the development."
Following are the items and their status:
- Approve Downtown Master Plan. The City Council approved the plan on Sept. 4. The plan, in the making since October 2005, lays out a system of city-guided initiatives to rebalance Ketchum's physical environment, housing and economy.
- Approve inclusionary zoning ordinance. The city on Oct. 30 enacted multiple text amendments, added a new chapter for workforce housing linkage and replaced the entire chapter governing the Community Core zoning district.
Inclusionary zoning applies to the community core, Tourist and General-Residential-High Density zones. It requires 20 percent affordable housing for the increase in square footage above set minimums for each zone.
- Approve form-based code zoning regulations. This was approved in the Oct. 30 overhaul.
- Release Tourist, Community Core and General-Residential-High Density zones from building moratorium. The city was under pressure from an initiative vote Nov. 7 that would have required municipalities to compensate property owners if new land-use regulations devalued land, so public hearings and council debate were squeezed into a few-month period. Although the amendments overhaul was approved before Election Day, the council is going back to make a few changes before lifting the moratorium.
"We are going to dot our 'i's' and cross our 't's,'" the mayor said. Changes to the General Residential High Density zone are among considerations.
"The moratorium will sunset once we adopt code changes in all the zones," Hall said.
- Start an Urban Renewal Agency. The City Council unanimously voted to approve the plan Nov. 15.
The City Council is for now serving as the Urban Renewal Agency board of directors.
Council goals for next phase, November through April, include:
- Create an affordable housing demonstration project. The Urban Renewal Agency's first project, the purchase of a half block on Washington Avenue and First Street closed Friday, Dec. 15. The purchase price for the 11,000-square-foot parcel is $2.25 million, or $204.50 per square foot. Living Architecture, a Ketchum-based firm, was awarded the bid to design the building, as well as two others. The projects will likely include a mix of affordable and market-rate units, and possibly micro retail space.
"If they are all affordable, we're out of business after the first three projects," Hall said. "With some market rate, we get our money back and can pull enough money out of the projects to buy more land, so it keeps propagating itself."
Construction could begin on the first project next summer.
- Start a streetscape project. This, the first project of the downtown master plan, is being coordinated by the Ketchum Community Development Corporation. A design for the Fourth Street heritage corridor has been agreed upon and the project will go out to bid soon.
"This is the kind of product we hope to get from all our CDC committees," Hall said.
Construction should begin next spring.
- Craft a master plan for Warm Springs Village. The city is in negotiations with Sun Valley Co. about certain aspects of this plan, Hall said, and is discussing it with other business and property owners in the area.
"We're trying to come up with a plan that revitalizes that neighborhood," Hall said. "It will absolutely blow everybody's minds if we can pull it off."
The following items scheduled to be completed before April are in need of public hearings, staff recommendations and Planning & Zoning Commission review, Hall said.
"It's going to take a considerable amount of public input for us to be able to cross these off the list," he said.
- Implement a downtown parking system through the form-based code.
- Develop a holistic policy on ordinance enforcement.
- Craft a construction mitigation ordinance.
- Create signs to help people find their way around town.
- Draft a tree ordinance and find ways to offer incentives for tree preservation.
- Enact a noise ordinance.
- Improve safety on the south side of the bike path on Warm Springs Road.
- Work on downtown circulation.
- Study round-abouts for safety and circulation in select downtown spots.
- Deal with noxious weeds.
- Begin using Sketch-Up, which is 3-D design software used to create architectural and landscape models so the public and city officials can better visualize projects in their preliminary stages.
- Trade land with the school district for affordable housing possibilities.
- Restore the city's hisotric ore wagons, a remnant from the city's mining heyday.
- Issue business licenses.
The city has completed a business inventory but is looking for more input on a related issue, Hall said. Fees for business licenses could help pay for a public wireless Internet system. With a better understanding of businesses' needs, the wi-fi system could be customized. The city is considering making it free to users in the downtown area, with advertisers helping to defray expenses. Hall said the system could be up in six to 12 months.
"The retreat proved to be the catalyst of these things, and we are working diligently to cross these things off the list," Hall said.
