Wednesday, May 9, 2007

City prioritizes hotel qualifications

Nine potential hotels force city to sort out details


By GREG STAHL
Express Staff Writer

It was a small slice of an hour-and-a-half meeting, but it was a window into the crux of the debate over new hotel construction in Ketchum.

That ongoing sticking point is a matter of improved economics versus land use and hotel design.

At a special noon meeting, Monday, May 7, at Ketchum City Hall, hotel consultant Richard Caplan, owner of Richard Caplan Associates, asked City Council and Planning and Zoning Commission members to prioritize the factors most important to them in considering new hotel applications for Ketchum.

There are up to nine hotel developments under various stages of consideration or contemplation in Ketchum: three at the Highway 75 gateway to town, one at Warm Springs Ranch, one at the Simplot lot in West Ketchum and one in Warm Springs. Sun Valley Co. may propose up to two more.

The three "gateway" hotels are relatively far along in the process. Developer Steve Burnstead has been working with the city for more than a year to work out plans for the old Bald Mountain Lodge site. Another project, The Gateway Hotel, will be presented to the Ketchum Planning and Zoning Commission on Monday, May 14. Still another, planned by developer Jack Bariteau, is planned for the Trail Creek Village site on the north side of Highway 75 between Trail Creek and Rivers Street.

Because of the glut of simultaneous proposals, the city has undertaken several studies to work out details. Kaplan is a member of the city's "hotel team," which is studying land use, economic, housing, transportation, natural resources and infrastructure related issues regarding potential new hotels.

The purpose of the noon meeting, he said, was to seek consensus from the city so that members of the "hotel team" can give potential hotel developers better guidance before they submit plans to the city.

To a person, city leaders pointed to high-quality design and improved economics as paramount. The problem is that's the ongoing crux of the issue. The city is interested in improving the local economy, in part, by courting new hotels. But potential hotel developers have consistently asked for more density and more floors, and that is something city leaders and the community at large have a difficult time swallowing.

As an example of the debate, when confronted with lists of land-use and economic considerations, Ketchum Mayor Randy Hall placed high priorities on appropriate bulk and scale, property ownership by an applicant and ground-floor retail in a list of 11 land-use considerations. Of a list of six economic considerations, he placed high priority on all items listed.

"Does this mean that economic considerations are more important than land-use considerations?" Kaplan asked.

Hall's answer was quick: "No."

"If we don't honor the land use, we kill the goose that laid the golden egg," Hall said. "We have to honor the land use part of it first."

Details are lengthy, but other items listed by city leaders as highly important were affordable housing, parking, infrastructure considerations and a highly skilled and proven hotel development team.

Without those things, in effect, a potential hotel developer is not likely to make much headway in Ketchum.




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