Ketchum city officials are testing the waters—or at least getting someone to do it for them.
The City Council on Monday unanimously approved a feasibility study on what possibilities lie within Guyer Hot Springs, and how its development could bring a variety of geothermal uses to the city.
The resolution authorizes research into the potential development and distribution of geothermal resources in the hot springs. The city will have six months to conduct exclusive studies and ponder a business plan. If the city didn't like what it saw, or deemed it too expensive to continue, it could walk away.
Councilwoman Terry Tracy slammed the idea before being persuaded to support an initial study.
"There are no dollars attached to this," she said at the beginning of deliberations. "The feasibility study is totally the responsibility of Ketchum. We've been discussing (this) as a partnership. This to me is going beyond what we should be doing at this time."
She said her other priorities, the Fourth Street "heritage" corridor, affordable workforce housing and the town plaza, should be getting the bulk of city attention.
"We don't have unlimited resources," she said. "I don't think we can put another project on our plate."
Mayor Randy Hall said the city would likely qualify for a grant to pay for the initial study.
"I can't just shut everything off and allow us to focus on just three projects," he said. "I think we should at least ask the question."
Possibilities being explored are a hot springs pool or spa, fountains and geothermal heat to melt snow on city streets.
Hall noted that if the city had exclusive rights to the resource, it would allow for the possibility of a public utility using geothermal energy.
The city has numerous times expressed dissatisfaction over its dealings with Idaho Power.
Besides looking to use geothermal heat to melt snow on the Fourth Street "heritage" corridor, now underway, the city is crafting a master plan for Warm Springs Village. Hall said the area should become a demonstration site for how to use geothermal energy.
While the resolution doesn't obligate the city to spend money, funds would need to be secured if studies found something worth pursuing. Money could come from the Community Development Corporation—once it gets some.
This wouldn't be the first time geothermal resources were used in Ketchum.
Carl E. Brandt, an executive with J.C. Penney Co., who once managed a J.C. Penney store in Hailey, built the Bald Mountain Hot Springs Motel in 1929. A series of wooden pipes were built to transport water three miles from Warm Springs to the "plunge" in Ketchum.
The system was later used to provide hot water and heat to numerous homes in the Ketchum area.
The pipes eventually deteriorated, and the pool closed in 1988. The last of the Bald Mountain Lodge cabins were razed last year.
Tracy said she would support the initial study, but had little faith in its outcome.
Pardoning the pun, she said, "I really think it's a pipe dream."
Throngs of visitors enjoyed swimming and lap racing at the Bald Mountain Hot Springs in Ketchum, shown here in a photo by Martyn Mallory, circa summer 1930. The city of Ketchum is planning a feasibility study to see if it can tap into Guyer Hot Springs on the Cimino family property. Proposed uses are for recreation, snow melt on sidewalks and geothermal energy.
Photo courtesy of The Community Library, Regional History Department
