Members of the Blaine County Commission are praising many of the design features for a high-end subdivision proposed for one of the county's most prized rural properties located along the Big Wood River in the heart of the Bellevue Triangle.
Among the aspects of the plan the commissioners seem to like most is a massive habitat rehabilitation plan developers hope to complete on areas of the Crystal Creek Ranch property that have been grazed by cattle for more than a century.
"I hope the vision becomes a reality," Blaine County Commissioner Sarah Michael said during a special meeting of the commission held Wednesday night.
If approved by commissioners, development plans for the 1,620-acre undeveloped piece of property formerly known as the Diamond Dragon Ranch would allow builders to construct 38 homes in 11 separate "clusters" near the property's north end. In late March the development proposal was recommended for approval by the Blaine County Planning and Zoning Commission in a 4-to-2 vote.
Noting the project's proposed habitat rehabilitation work, the P&Z commissioners said the Crystal Creek Ranch subdivision would contribute to wildlife habitat and fisheries in the south county. They said the plan to permanently preserve more than 80 percent of the large ranch as part of a permanent open-space conservation tract would conserve a very important part of the county.
Voting against the plan were P&Z commissioners Doug Werth and Pat Murphy.
The Crystal Creek Ranch developers are proposing to limit their development footprint to approximately 230 acres, or just 14 percent of property. The remaining 1,384 acres of the ranch would be permanently protected as part of the conservation tract.
The 38 residential lots would range in size from 3.01 acres to 5.16 acres under the plan.
Located northeast of the intersection where state Highway 75 meets U.S. Highway 20 at Timmerman Junction, the ranch is drained by four scenic spring-fed creeks. One by one, Black Slough, Crystal Creek and Spring Creek feed into Willow Creek, which itself flows into the Big Wood River just downstream from Stanton Crossing, where Highway 20 crosses the braided river channel.
Using proceeds from the development of the ranch as the economic engine to drive the large-scale restoration effort, the developers are proposing to repair the streams and let overgrazed lands heal.
But before all this can happen, the developers must first convince the county commissioners that allowing the project to proceed will not negatively impact the many agricultural and natural features of the surrounding rural area. The ranch is zoned A-40, which permits only one home for every 40 acres.
Within the large property—whose ranching history stretching back to 1880 makes it among the oldest in the area, its current owners say—native habitats ranging from riparian stream banks to wet meadow to upland dry pastures support numerous species of wildlife.
But decades of agricultural use have degraded many of the ranch's most prized natural features, said George Kirk, one of the principles of Sun Valley Ranch LLC, the local development company that controls the property.
"All is not exactly right with the land," Kirk told the County Commission Wednesday.
He said the vision for the property is to restore these natural features, while still allowing the ranch's agricultural heritage to endure.
"It's our vision to balance those two things," he said.
Before the P&Z commission in January, Kirk said grazing cattle have contributed to a drastic decrease in the amount of streamside vegetation on the property's four spring-fed creeks as well as an increase in the width of the creeks.
He said this has created a warmer and less desirable habitat that is far less suitable for fish and other species of wildlife. Altogether, there are a total of about seven to nine miles of degraded creek on the property, he said.
But for all their support for many aspects of the development proposal, the county commissioners noted several concerns with the plan.
Among these is a question of how the county's recently approved setback standards calling for a 200-foot separation of residential and agricultural uses should be interpreted. Blaine County Commissioner Tom Bowman, who sat on the commission when the standards were approved, said they were intended to protect agricultural activities on adjacent properties more than internally on properties like the Crystal Creek Ranch.
As part of their cluster development application, the developers are asking the county to relax its standards for how far apart each of the development clusters must be separated from one other. Under county ordinances, developers can ask for as little as a 400-foot separation between clusters under certain circumstances.
For his part, Blaine County Commissioner Larry Schoen, who is himself a farmer nearby in the Bellevue Triangle area, said he hopes to see the agricultural uses of the ranch continue.
"I want the cows to be there," he said.
Before adjourning for the night, the commissioners voted to continue their discussion of the development plan at 1:30 p.m., Tuesday, July 15. The public meeting will be held in the upstairs meeting room at the Old Blaine County Courthouse in Hailey.
