There are up to nine hotel proposals for the city of Ketchum, but three sites are getting a little more attention than the rest, and that is because those sites are all at the southern entrance to downtown Ketchum.
The three "gateway" hotels would be built at the corner of Main and Rivers streets, on the southeast, southwest and northwest corners. Three separate developers are contemplating the projects.
Planning consultant Nore Winter, of Winter & Co. based in Boulder, Colo., has embarked on an extensive computer modeling study to examine how hotels at the sites would look under the city's new downtown master plan and to compare that with how current, though preliminary, proposals would look at the three sites.
"For many people who participated in the downtown master planning process, they may not know how that came together, and this may be the first opportunity to see how it can work," Winter said during a presentation to the City Council Monday evening.
Winter modeled three-, four- and five-story concepts at the three sites and discussed how the buildings could help transition from a "village in a forest" feel to a more urban sense from south to north. He also worked into his modeling the downtown master plan concept of a four-corner gateway at the intersection of Main and Rivers streets.
The gateway would consist of corner courtyards at each of the four corners.
"That four corners idea is one of the big ideas in your downtown master plan, and it ought to be a starting point for your discussions," Winter said.
Ketchum partnered with the three potential hotel developers to study the gateway properties.
The City Council unanimously voted in March to pay $6,705 as its one-quarter share of the $26,820 study.
"This massing study is going to help us with at least the first part of it," said Ketchum Mayor Randy Hall. "The city's a stakeholder on this. We're a partner in it."
Of the three proposals, Jack Bariteau is planning an 80-room condominium hotel where Trail Creek Village is located. He took preliminary concepts to the city Feb. 20 to discuss employee-housing requirements.
Steve Burnstead has proposed four- and five-story hotel options on the old Bald Mountain Lodge site, and the city is continuing to meet with him to refine plans.
Matt Cosgriff is representing a project called The Gateway Hotel, a 200-room hotel planned for the site across Main Street from Trail Creek Village, between Trail Creek and Rivers Street. The proposal will be presented to the Ketchum Planning and Zoning Commission on Monday, May 14, at a meeting that begins at 5:30 p.m.
Winter pointed out that the overall height of a building is not as important as the way facades of the first two to three stories are constructed. If lower-story facades are broken up by interesting design elements, set back upper stories become less of an issue, he said.
"By the time you get to three stories that are not articulated in some way, the issue is not the fourth and fifth floors; it's the third floors," he said. "Variation on the street may be as important as stepping back."
City leaders asked Winter to offer more detailed three-dimensional models of how potential hotels—not the hotels proposed—might look. Councilman Steve Shafran stressed that the council will need to understand where or if five stories of height could be appropriate on any of the three sites.
"I think this is an important interpretation of the downtown master plan," said Councilman Baird Gourlay. I think it's important to note that the intersection is the key to the gateway."
A local planning consultant, Lisa Horowitz, said the City Council will ultimately have to decide whether they like the visual manifestations Winter concocted based on the city's own master plan guidelines.
"We need to give the developers guidelines," she said. "We have an incredible opportunity. This is an exciting moment in time, where we can have a lot of influence on three major projects at the same time."
This is not the first time Winter & Co. has worked in Ketchum. The company helped the city rewrite its downtown design review standards about six years ago.
Modeling of the Ketchum gateway area shows what hotels at the site might look like when adhering strictly to Ketchum downtown master plan guidelines.
