Two years ago, a previous owner of Warm Springs Ranch withdrew its application for development of the property when the city of Ketchum advised that it would not approve a plan that did not comply with the city's comprehensive plan as it related to active recreational facilities.
Now a new owner has proposed a massive development, which, if permitted, would negate most provisions of the comprehensive plan as it relates to the property. For instance, the comprehensive plan directs the city to "pursue or acquire" active recreational lands for public use in the Warm Springs area and, with specific reference to the Warm Springs Golf Course, "to preserve the community's recreational values." The comprehensive plan also requires preservation of wildlife corridors and existing open space.
The present golf course property meets these requirements. The applicant's proposed golf course, which includes a road and 28 3,000-square-foot houses within the southern boundary of the existing golf course, does not.
The applicant also seeks to build a 90-foot-tall structure, four times larger than the new YMCA, which it calls a "hotel." In fact, this is a fractional-ownership and condominium project masquerading as a hotel. The building is to contain a total of 275,000- to 330,000 square feet of for-rent and for-sale units. The plan calls for 75 to 100 hotel rooms, which likely would not exceed a total of 50,000 square feet. The remaining 225,000 to 280,000 square feet would consist of sellable units including 30 condominium suites, 30 fractional ownership residences, and 50 to 70 condominium residences.
In addition to the golf course houses and the "hotel" development, the applicant intends to build 20 to 35 town homes averaging 2,200 square feet and create two to three estate lots with houses to be built of approximately 12,000 square feet each.
A development of this magnitude, scope, and density is not "...consistent with the small town character of Ketchum and the goals of the Ketchum Comprehensive Plan." This is the last undeveloped property in Warm Springs large enough to meet the requirements for open space and active recreational facilities. The city should require that any development comply fully with the comprehensive plan and all relevant existing zoning laws.
Joseph L. Young
Ketchum
