Wednesday, August 15, 2007

Bulk, traffic concerns raised for Warm Springs Ranch

Developers proposing 800,000-square-foot complex


By ANDY STINY
Express Staff Writer

Courtesy Allen + Philp architects, Scottsdale, Ariz.-- Conceptual plans for the Warm Springs Ranch Resort show that the bulk of the development would be on land located near the property?s entrance off Warm Springs Road.

A big chocolate lab romped outside a tent at Warm Springs Ranch on Monday night, chomping on a 4-foot-long branch that stuck out far beyond both sides of its mouth. It was almost more than it could handle.

Ketchum Planning and Zoning commissioners meeting inside to review the preliminary design of the proposed Warm Springs Ranch Resort seemingly felt the same way.

While commissioners and some area residents praised a plan for a hotel/homes/golf course complex at the site beneath Bald Mountain, they had many concerns about what the big development would do the character of Ketchum's largest residential neighborhood, including its impact on traffic traveling on a sub-standard road. More than 100 people, sitting and standing, crowded into the tent next to the ranch's defunct restaurant to hear the pre-application presentation and make their views known.

"That's pretty large¾whoa¾you guys are really brave," said Commission Chairwoman Anne Corrock at the conclusion of an almost four-hour presentation and public hearing.

It was the first public forum before the P&Z for the DDRM Greatplaces LLC development team to present its conceptual plans to a town whose leaders have said needs to change for its economic survival. The 11 or so team members listened to feedback, said nothing was cast in stone and said they will go back to the drawing board before confronting questions over size, bulk and traffic at a Wednesday, Sept. 12, meeting before the P&Z.

"I didn't visualize this at all," said Corrock, noting that the 400,000-square-foot hotel would be four times the size of the Wood River Community YMCA, currently nearing completion in Ketchum. The entire complex, including townhomes, single-family dwellings, estate lots and parking is over 800,000 square feet.

With their full design team in attendance, including the project's "deep pockets" backer Anton Vonk, who flew in from Europe, they assured the commission and public that traffic and size studies would be done and concerns addressed.

The process is an exercise in "squeezing the toothpaste tube," said local design team member and architect Dale Bates. He meant the constant process of finding the optimum scenario for using the 77 plus acres to spread out or contract the units of development, to accommodate concerns of neighbors and officialdom. At the same time, the hotel complex has to pencil out economically for the backers.

"Hotels are hard to develop¾there are a lot of moveable parts," said Stan Castleton, CEO of DDRM Greatplaces LLC.

Over thirty acres of the 77.4 acres that comprise the ranch are developable, said team architect Mark Philp. Castleton called it a "spectacular hotel site" and Bates said his job was to ensure it would be eco-conscious and "green." Bates said 93 percent of the acreage would be open space.

Though much of the discussions and a walking tour of the existing golf course centered on pointing out where various housing would be located, plans for tree removal, location of an interior access road and building heights, the devil could lie in the recreational details. The plan now calls for two tennis courts and a executive, nine-hole golf course with public access.

Corrock threw out a major recreation caveat as the team scribbled notes. The Ketchum City Council derailed prior hotel proposals from previous owners two years ago, saying there should be "no net loss of recreation," Corrock said. Neighbors questioned whether nine holes was really enough to satisfy guests at five-star resorts, but design team members said their information showed that hiking trails were a bigger guest draw than tennis or golf.

The hotel would have about 300 employees, and several commissioners, including Rich Fabiano and Deborah Burns, said they would press for on-site employee housing. Fabiano called it a "great project" but added that having on-site housing was "really important." Burns said she wanted a resort in Ketchum to rival Sun Valley.

Neighbors were concerned about density and how, with a proposed realignment of Bald Mountain Road, some residents would access their homes through the project's parking lot.

"This is a residential neighborhood," said Wally Limburg. "This has just gotta go away," he added, referring to the road access.

Karen Haynes had environmental and traffic concerns.

"Do we want to be Europe?" she asked. "We're Sun Valley."

Bob Brennan said he was concerned about "the enormity of the project," adding that hotels like this should be downtown.

Commissioner Curtis Kemp has favored allowing more height for hotels but said the proposed height was "maybe too much." The hotel, at its highest point, would be 90 feet tall or 60 feet above the level of Warm Springs Road. Kemp agreed with the Bald Mountain Road concerns.

The height limit for any building in the Tourist Zone is 44 feet and 35 feet in the GR-L zone. The hotel includes both zones and a variance from zoning regulations would be required.

Project architect Bates said there was flexibility on the hotel configuration and that the hotel could be one large building rather than several structures as now conceptualized. He noted that Warm Springs was a "resort" hotel not a downtown "boutique" hotel.

The proposal includes a 75- to 100-room hotel, 30 condos, 30 fractional units, 50 to 70 homes, a 25,000 square-foot spa, 12,000 square feet of meeting space, two to three estate lots with homes limited to 12,000 square feet and a " high-end" restaurant in addition to a "re-vitalization" of the old Warm Springs Restaurant.




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