After wading through pages and pages of numbing technical and legal minutiae, the Sun Valley Planning and Zoning Commission was well on its way Tuesday afternoon to giving its nod to Sun Valley Co.'s massive new expansion on the former Gun Club property along Trail Creek Road.
The commission's vote was to recommend approval of a proposed rezone of the site plus the platting of the project by the full Sun Valley City Council at a future meeting.
Some 350 acres is involved in the project, including a 9-hole golf course, 30 single-family residential home sites, room for some 250 condos and a new golf pro shop and clubhouse.
Although no project costs have been revealed, some idea of the financial scope was hinted during the P&Z hearing when acting City Administrator Robert Van Nort told the commission that estimated annual tax revenues of $321,380 from homes and condos, plus sales tax income from the golf course, would pay for new costs incurred by the city for extending fire, police and street services to the new subdivision when the project is fully built.
P&Z members began their day of deliberations on the project by slogging through inch-deep mud on one of three winding dirt paths that would eventually become one of three main thoroughfares when initial work is completed. The roads will be named Sun Peak Drive, Diamond Back Road and Monarch Lane.
From the highest point, commissioners and resort consultants had a view that arguably in time will be a premier vista in the Ketchum area for golfers and residents.
Resort General Manager Wally Huffman, who accompanied commissioners on the climbing tour and attended the later meeting in City Hall, said the resort would sell lots for development as homes, while the company would build the multi-family units.
Van Nort told the commissioners he estimates residential lots will sell for $2 million each.
In recent years, privately owned Sun Valley Co. has launched a surge of improvements and expansion with more yet to come.
Sun Valley Planning & Zoning Commission members John Gaeddert, center, and Joan Lamb, center-right, were among a group of city officials who toured the former site of the Sun Valley Gun Club Tuesday with Sun Valley Co. planning consultants. Photo by Willy Cook
