Support for an affordable-housing project on a city-owned lot near River Run was part of a daylong, joint retreat between the Ketchum City Council and Community Development Corporation on Wednesday, Jan. 23.
The intent of the retreat, which took place at the Wood River Community YMCA in Ketchum, was to discuss the city's priorities and goals.
The mayor and council members were joined by the chairs of the CDC's five teams: Affordable Workforce Housing, Town Design, Economic Development, Village Technology and Transportation.
"We want to figure out what the CDC can do and where the city can help," said Neil Bradshaw, president of the CDC, in his introductory comments.
Councilman Baird Gourlay had previewed the affordable-housing proposal at a City Council meeting on Tuesday. He said the parcel of land is a former railroad right-of-way deeded to the city by Union Pacific Corp. and lays south of Wood River Drive, between Sun Valley Co. property at the River Run area at the base of Bald Mountain. He said the lot is approximately 1,300 feet long by 200 feet wide and that the new development would measure around 300 feet by 200 feet. He said it would be located on the east side of the southern end of the lot.
"This might come as a rude awakening to people who thought this would remain open land," interim City Administrator Jim Jaquet said during the joint meeting.
However, Community and Economic Development Director Lisa Horowitz said the parcel was not simply the result of random selection.
"The city has been analyzing all of the properties in its inventory for over a year and this parcel was deemed to be the easiest on which to get a project moving," Horowitz said the following day. "It wasn't picked out of the blue."
Michael Carpenter, chairman of the CDC's Affordable Workforce Housing Team, said a project should get underway as quickly as possible to alleviate the growing and glaring need for this kind of housing in the north valley.
"There's no project we will look at that won't have some political backlash," Carpenter said.
The future of the development is not certain, though, as City Attorney Ben Worst said Union Pacific reserved mineral rights to the property.
"We would like to pursue due diligence on the lot to see if it's feasible," Horowitz said.
That would include a title report, determining where the water and sewer line are located and contacting Union Pacific to ensure that the company has no plans to mine the land.
As well, construction could require relocation of a section of the bike path.
In addition to workforce housing, the CDC listed the completion of Fourth Street and the initiation of the Town Center project as priorities for 2008.
The Economic Development Team brought forth the goal of improved snow removal on downtown sidewalks as a way to help local businesses.
Jason Miller, chairman of the Transportation Team and executive director of the Mountain Rides public transportation system, said the CDC was also looking into potential sites for a transit center in the city, but that that will be an ongoing discussion throughout the year.
Ketchum City Councilman Baird Gourlay, left, and CDC Affordable Workforce Housing Team Chair Michael Carpenter took part in a joint meeting between the council and the CDC to discuss the priorities of the two groups for 2008. Photo by Willy Cook
