Friday, December 28, 2007

Fire, elections hot stories in Sun Valley

Feds approved big plans for Baldy


By GREG STAHL
Express Staff Writer

The Trail Creek Fire, which burned 290 acres in late June east of Sun Valley Resort, set the stage for a hot, dry, fire-prone summer. Photo by Willy Cook

From grappling with affordable housing to an election-year coup at City Hall, the city of Sun Valley and Sun Valley Resort made several prominent news articles in 2007.

Fire sets stage for hot summer

Signs that summer 2007 would be dry and fire-prone came early, when on June 22, a wildfire began to pick up steam in the bottomlands near Trail Creek east of Sun Valley Resort.

Before it was contained, it burned 290 acres at a cost of $680,000. However, no homes, structures or lives were lost.

When the fire began, local fire departments were quickly dispatched. As it grew and crossed over the city line, efforts were taken over by the U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management.

High winds compounded by 85-degree weather pushed the fire through the relatively wet creek basin and into a large expanse of sagebrush and tall grass on the south side of the creek.

By June 23, the brush fire lapped against the base of Morgan Ridge and exploded. In an instant, 100-foot-tall fir trees were ablaze under 200-foot flames. Thick gray and black smoke filled the Trail Creek Valley. Within five minutes, the fire reached the summit of the ridge, charring all the trees in its path.

The fire was contained by June 25, but officials knew the early-season blaze could be a precursor of things to come.

Investigation of the clearly human-caused fire was inconclusive.

'Linkage' shot down

Precedent was set in Sun Valley in July when a 5th District Court judge granted summary judgment to two Tacoma, Wash., residents, effectively ordering the city to refund the $11,989 in-lieu fee imposed when the couple applied for a building permit for a home in the Lane Ranch subdivision.

The decision was a blow to efforts throughout the Wood River Valley to link construction of new homes to the creation of jobs. The in-lieu fees collected were to be spent on construction of affordable, workforce housing.

By the time the decision was handed down, Sun Valley had collected $364,348 worth of in-lieu fees, which it set about refunding. Other municipalities throughout the Wood River Valley followed suit, repealing similar laws and refunding money collected.

Elections feature upsets

One-term Sun Valley Mayor Jon Thorson was upset in the November election by Wayne Willich, who ousted the incumbent in a race decided by only 43 votes.

The race pitted Thorson's grasp of regional planning issues, including affordable housing and public transportation, against Willich's questioning of the city's use of taxpayer dollars.

Thorson had said "most of the people said they had no major issues" with his tenure. Those who did criticized the city's handling of recycling fees and payments totaling $125,000 in local option tax dollars for YMCA recreation services.

The election included a three-way race for two full-term City Council seats among incumbent Blair Boand, challenger Dewayne Briscoe and Planning and Zoning Commission Chairwoman Joan Lamb. Boand was narrowly but summarily ousted.

In a separate race for a two-year council term between incumbent David Chase and challenger Milt Adam, Chase, owner of a blog and news Web site, retained his two-year seat, beating Adam by a slim margin of 245 votes to 238.

Resort reinvents its mountain

As 2007 came to a close, a vision for the future of the Bald Mountain ski area, on land leased from the U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management, became clearer.

Barring successful appeals, which could surface in early 2008, the facelift will include a gondola from the River Run base to a remodeled Roundhouse restaurant, a terrain park in Frenchman's Gulch, 99 acres of additional snowmaking, a new beginner ski run on Seattle Ridge and more tree skiing on the Warm Springs side.

The improvements were outlined in a Nov. 5 decision by the U.S. Forest Service approving the first of three phases of an update to the Bald Mountain Master Development Plan. Sun Valley Co. could begin implementing Phase 1, which covers the next three to five years, as early as next winter.

The entire plan is to be implemented over the next decade.

Elk feeding ends in Elkhorn

A long-standing tradition came to an end in 2007. The Community School, a private prep school, was prompted by the filing of a lawsuit to stop feeding wild elk at the Sagewillow Barn in Elkhorn.

After the Sagewillow Homeowners Association filed the lawsuit on Nov. 14, calling for a plan to wean elk from being fed at the barn, the school responded by removing 4 tons of hay that was to be used for that purpose.

"We do not agree with the Sagewillow decision. But The Community School is in the position of education, not litigation," wrote Fritz Haemmerle, an attorney representing the Sun Valley school, in a letter to Sagewillow attorney Ed Lawson.




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