Public opposition to the proposed Cove Springs subdivision in the Bellevue Triangle area remains strong as the Blaine County Planning and Zoning Commission continues its review of the development plan.
During a public hearing at the Old County Courthouse in Hailey Thursday, March 22, those opposed to the Cove Springs subdivision outweighed supporters of the development by a roughly 2-1 margin. Similarly, public comments mailed to the Blaine County P&Z indicate a 34-73 spread between those for the development and those against it, Blaine County Planner Stefanie Webster said at the beginning of the meeting.
Since the beginning of the application process, opposition to the proposed 338-unit Cove Springs subdivision has focused on the development's potential impacts on wildlife habitat, irrigators and other Bellevue Triangle water users, and traffic on Gannett Road.
The proposed development is located five miles southeast of Bellevue, and would be capable of supporting more than 1,000 residents. The subdivision's development footprint would cover 600 acres of the massive 4,630-acre Cove Ranch.
Perhaps most contentious during last week's meeting was a claim by the Cove Springs developers that the P&Z should halt any discussion about where Blaine County's Mountain Overlay District lies in relation to the proposed subdivision.
The developers' basic issue is with a recommendation by Blaine County planner Tom Bergin on where the boundary of the overlay district crosses the Cove Ranch property. The mountain overlay ordinance encompasses all slopes of 25 percent or greater, as well as the land above them, that are located on private land.
County code prohibits development on such slopes unless the developer can prove that no other buildable site exists on the property.
Based on Bergin's recommendation to the County Commission, the boundary crosses over several portions of the Cove Springs development footprint. During Thursday's meeting, the developers requested that the P&Z delay any discussion of the mountain overlay issue until an appeal they've filed with the County Commission is considered.
However, the P&Z commissioners elected not to delay the mountain overlay discussion. "I don't think (the appeal) keeps you from going forward tonight," said Blaine County Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Tim Graves.
In addition, the P&Z heard results from a Gannett Road traffic study completed by a consultant of the Cove Springs developers. The study indicated an additional 2,895 vehicle trips per day on Gannett Road if the development is built.
As a comparison, the study noted some 3,620 vehicle trips per day would take place on Gannett Road in 20 years based on existing traffic and expected growth.
Not surprisingly, the issue of traffic generated much of the testimony during the public hearing portion of the meeting.
Hailey resident Julie Cord was among several speakers who doubted the traffic figures quoted by the developers' consultant.
In her opinion, the development would impact traffic on Gannett Road to an even greater extent, Cord said. The study also didn't take into account the amount of traffic generated by tractors, bailers and other farm machinery that uses the road, she said.
"It is a rural road," Cord said. "It is a farm road."
Gannett Road can't take the kind of urban traffic Cove Springs will generate, she said. "That's too much.
Besides traffic, impacts on water resources, quality of life and wildlife were hot topics during the meeting.
In the hopes of gaining development waivers on lot sizes, building setbacks and road widths, the Cove Springs developers chose to submit a planned unit development application in 2004 with Blaine County.
The PUD process gives the county greater discretion on various aspects of the development approval process in exchange for considering various types of development waivers.
The County Commission, not the P&Z, will make the final determination as to whether the project should be approved.
Outside of the proposed PUD, the property owners do have other options to develop the site. County planner Stefanie Webster said Monday that any new development applications by the Cove Springs developers would have to adhere to the county's new subdivision and zoning ordinance standards approved by the County Commission during the recent Blaine County 2025 process.
"They would be under the new ordinances," Webster said.
What this would mean in real terms for the developers would be somewhat less dense development on the property.
Under the 2025 changes, zoning on the undeveloped hillside areas of the Cove Springs Ranch, like much of Blaine County, was changed from A-10 zoning, or one home on every 10 acres, to RR-40, or one home on every 40 acres.
Density in the hillside areas could potentially be lessened even more because of new zoning passed within the 2025 process for the Mountain Overlay District. Lands included in the district—of which some of the Cove Ranch falls into—now allow for the development of only one home on every 160 acres.
Because homes can't be built on hillside lands with a 25 percent slope, the developers could instead place them on nearby buildable areas of the property.
On the flat agricultural portion of the Cove Springs Ranch along Gannett Road, A-20 zoning, or one home for every 20 acres, was retained during the 2025 process. However, because the portion of the ranch north of an imaginary line drawn east of the Pero Road falls into the county's new receiving area under its Transfer of Development Rights (TDR) program, that area could potentially receive added density above the A-20 zoning.
The P&Z's next meeting on the Cove Springs application is set to take place on April 5. At that meeting, an economic analysis of the proposed development by a Cove Springs consultant and a subsequent review of that analysis by a county consultant will be discussed. During the meeting, the public will be able to comment on the economic studies, as well as traffic impacts specific to Gannett Road and the Mountain Overlay District.
The P&Z will then meet again on April 12. During that meeting, the Cove Springs developers will be allowed to give a one-hour rebuttal before the commission begins its official deliberations into the application. The P&Z has set aside every remaining Thursday in April for their Cove Springs deliberation.
Photo by David N. Seelig
