Wednesday, January 23, 2008

McHanville plan starts to takes shape

Up to 650 new homes could be built under preferred development scenario


By JASON KAUFFMAN
Express Staff Writer

What types of development could take place in the McHanville area, known by many as the site of Dean Tire Co., above, are spelled out in a preferred development scenario officials from the county and the cities of Ketchum and Sun Valley viewed last week during a public workshop. Under the draft plan, mixed-use commercial and residential development could take place in the wedge-shaped sliver of land between state Highway 75 and St. Luke's Wood River Medical Center. Photo by Willy Cook

In the future, travelers arriving into Ketchum from the south may pass through an upscale mixture of residential and commercial development in what's been dubbed the McHanville and south gateway areas, which surround the St. Luke's Wood River Medical Center.

Here, in the eastern shadow of the Sun Valley Ski Resort's Seattle Ridge, live-work units would stand alongside small mom-and-pop businesses, coffee shops and perhaps a small grocery store. Nearby, hospital staff could walk a short distance to work on safe pedestrian pathways, thereby reducing the amount of traffic on an already congested highway. Living only several miles south of Ketchum would allow residents to ride their bikes into town along the Wood River Trails bike path during the warmer months.

To better control traffic in the area, a new traffic light or roundabout could be developed where Broadway Run connects with state Highway 75 south of the Meadows mobile-home park and where a proposed west-to-east road may connect Hospital Drive with the highway.

In terms of affordability, homes built here would be a lower-cost alternative to those just up the road in Ketchum and Sun Valley, allowing families to live closer to their places of employment, planners say. This would also mean fewer weekday commuters on the highway between Bellevue, Hailey and Ketchum, they say.

Taken as a whole, the redeveloped area would act as an attractive gateway for tourists arriving during the summer and winter seasons, the planners add.

That is, if elected officials from the county and the cities of Ketchum and Sun Valley are successful in their efforts to chart a new course for the high visibility, 90-acre area that falls on both sides of Highway 75 several miles south of Ketchum.

Today, the large area is a hodgepodge of residential, commercial and light-industrial development, both new and old, as well as large portions of undeveloped ground. The area officials are concentrating on covers the crescent-shaped wedge of land between the hospital and the highway, the large undeveloped bench west of the hospital in the lower Cold Springs drainage and lands south of the highway traffic signal next to the hospital.

Last Thursday, officials from Blaine County and the cities of Ketchum and Sun Valley met during a public workshop at the Ketchum City Hall to discuss a draft zoning plan for the area that's been developed in collaboration with Winston Associates, a Boulder, Colo.-based planning firm. The planning effort has been largely spearheaded by the county, which has jurisdiction over the entire area.

The draft plan is the result of two earlier meetings held last year in which the public was polled to see what vision they have for the area. Of the four development scenarios floated before the public during those earlier meetings, most seemed to prefer higher density development for the McHanville and south gateway areas.

Those plans ranged from Scenario A, which would have essentially retained the existing low-density zoning in the area. Under that plan, the McHanville area would retain its residential zoning, the upper bench would stay low-density recreational zoning and the area south of the hospital intersection would remain commercial and residentially zoned.

Alternatively, scenarios B, C and D would include increasing levels of density and mixed-use commercial and residential zoning. The three preliminary scenarios would all include a community park off Broadway Run Road, while scenarios C and D would set aside land for a future elementary school east of Highway 75 and north of the Clear Creek industrial area.

At a previous meeting in September, Winston said the preferred development scenario is most similar to Scenario C. The density envisioned by the plan, which averages out of nearly 10 homes per acre across the large area, has troubled some.

Among the most vocally outspoken against the plan during the September meeting was Sun Valley Co. General Manager Wally Huffman. Huffman lives east of Broadway Run Road.

"It's incredible to me that we would be looking at those kinds of densities," Huffman said.

But the current planning effort comes at a time when the county is expected to grow significantly in the decades to come. By county estimates, as many as 10,000 new residents could arrive in the area by 2025.

All this will mean increasing pressures to develop the McHanville and south gateway areas, regardless of whether the county has developed a guiding vision for the area, said Jeff Winston, of Winston Associates.

Also confounding the effort to create a comprehensive vision for the area is a confusing mixture of private ownership covering the area.

Winston said local officials need to act now if they want a logical road, sewer and water system that works well together across the entire, multi-ownership area.

While for now their still exists the possibility to shape the future of the area in a positive and comprehensive way, just a little more development on a few parcels in the area "has the potential to make this almost impossible to achieve," he said.

Simply put, waiting is not an option, Winston said.

"There are a lot of reasons to tackle this now," he said.

Winston laid out three different steps that could be taken to guide the growth in the area.

For one, the county could adopt a sub-area plan as part of its comprehensive plan, he said. This would lay out where infrastructure like road, water and sewer would be located.

Winston said difficulties could arise if landowners are left to come up with their own development plans independently of each other.

"They'd have trouble having roads meet," he said.

Another possibility could be to create a separate overlay zone for the area, he said.

But it was Winston's final idea that seemed to generate the most interest and certainly the most discussion during the meeting.

"We might consider a public processed PUD (planned unit development)," he said.

Winston said the final idea came from a code-writing consultant that's been working on the planning effort. He said the consultant has worked on successful public processed PUDs in other states.

Under such an endeavor, the county would essentially come up with a development plan covering the area and each one of the private property parcels. The draft PUD would then be considered by the county Planning and Zoning Commission and the County Commission with input from the public just like any other development application, Winston said.

In a sense, the county would be applying to itself, he said.

"That would become, in fact, the master plan for the area," he said.

For private landowners wishing to develop their properties, this would be a benefit because many of the studies normally required of them would be completed and paid for by the county.

Winston said this would provide greater certainty for landowners, who would only have to adhere to the larger PUD established by the county. He said this would guide the placement of parks and roads, sewer and water infrastructure.

"Then you walk in and apply for the subdivision. You walk in and apply for the building permit," he said.

Blaine County Commissioners Larry Schoen said the PUD would have some leeway built into it.

"You don't have to site every building and every street corner," Schoen said.

Rather, he said it would simply act as a framework to guide developers' plans for their individual properties.

"This is how I wish to fit in the PUD," he explained. "This might have cost savings to the landowners."

However, before county officials can even consider proceeding with a public processed PUD, they'll need to make sure Idaho law allows such processes to take place, Winston said.

A further complication created by the mixture of private property in the area is where to place public infrastructure like roads and parks, he said. The county would have to come up with an equitable way to compensate landowners who own land designated as a school site, park site or roadway, he said.

Failing that, the result could be a layout without any rhyme or reason, officials said.

"How do we create a neighborhood and not just an agglomeration of buildings?" Winston asked.

Another significant change proposed under the preferred development scenario would decrease the size of the community housing planned unit development (CHPUD) overlay in the area. The overlay has been especially controversial for homeowners living east of Broadway Run Road.

"At a minimum it will be shifted over to Broadway Run," Winston said last September.

At the end of the meeting, elected officials from Ketchum, Sun Valley and Blaine County agreed to work separately with each of their planning staffs to come up with a list of concerns and a position in relation to the draft development scenario. That will likely be followed up with another joint workshop sometime next month.




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