Despite expressing annoyance at last-minute objections from Blaine County, the Hailey City Council has agreed to postpone for two weeks a decision on the proposed Old Cutters subdivision. It was the latest in a series of delays for the nearly three-year-old project, proposed for a 143-acre parcel at the northeast corner of town.
The council was scheduled to vote on preliminary plat approval Tuesday. However, Blaine County Commissioner Tom Bowman and county Administrator Stan McNutt appeared at the meeting at Hailey City Hall to urge the council to allow more time for the city and county to study the impact that creation of the subdivision would have on Hiawatha Drive. They said the road is within the county, which would be obligated to upgrade it to support the increased traffic.
They also expressed concern about the configuration of the intersection at the proposed subdivision's north end. Bowman said that when the adjacent Buttercup subdivision was approved in the 1970s, no one involved anticipated an application such as the one for Old Cutters subdivision.
The objections were not well received by the three council members present.
"It's been three years since the making of this proposal and the developers have met all the conditions that the city of Hailey and the P&Z have placed upon them, and some more," Councilman Rick Davis said. "I'm starting to feel really embarrassed by this, and it's because the county at the last moment has decided to jump in with some non-proven theories of how things could be better."
However, by a vote of 2-1, the council approved a motion by Councilwoman Carol Brown to continue the matter to its Feb. 12 meeting.
"I'm frustrated on every possible level with this," Brown said. "I'm serious when I say this is our last continuation."
Brown also said that before the city approves a final plat, she would like to see modifications made to proposed trails at the subdivision, based on a recreation plan now under development by the city and the U.S. Bureau of Land Management. Lili Simpson, a resident of Quigley Lane, said moving a proposed trail to the west side of an irrigation ditch there would benefit the many birds and animals who live along it.
The Old Cutters plan calls for establishing 116 lots and building 149 single- and multi-family homes.
