Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Going, going, gone

Workforce housing ordinance off the books in Sun Valley


By JON DUVAL
Express Staff Writer

After a recommendation from the Planning and Zoning Commission in June, the Sun Valley City Council officially wiped its Inclusionary Workforce Housing Regulations ordinance off the books.

At a meeting on Thursday, July 17, the council unanimously agreed to rescind the ordinance, which requires developers of subdivisions to dedicate 15 percent of the total number of dwellings as workforce housing units.

This decision comes after similar recent decisions by the Blaine County Commission and Bellevue City Council to repeal their respective inclusionary housing ordinances.

In addition, last summer, a 5th District Court judge ruled that the city's linkage ordinance, which required developers of single-family homes to pay an in-lieu fee for workforce housing, was illegal.

Likewise, a court ruling in February that deemed McCall's affordable housing ordinance, requiring 20 percent of all new development be set aside for deed-restricted housing, was unconstitutional and amounts to an illegal tax.

While the city has yet to face a legal challenge on this issue, these rulings were enough to convince the council that Sun Valley's ordinance could be found unconstitutional.

"Our ordinance is in need of substantial revision if we want something viable," City Attorney Rand Peebles said. "However, no court has stated what viable is at this point."

The council agreed with this sentiment to point that Councilman Dewayne Briscoe successfully recommended waiving the required three readings of the ordinance to repeal the housing regulations in order to expedite the creation of a workable replacement.

"We need to start working on an incentive-based ordinance that will meet the test of law," Briscoe said.

While no date was set for a workshop on a new ordinance, Councilwoman Joan Lamb stressed the importance of a new ordinance.

"I hope this is a priority work item so that we can get to it be the end of the year," Lamb said.

In other Sun Valley news:

· The fifth phase of the proposed Crown Point townhouse development was back before the City Council at Thursday's meeting, continuing a saga that dates back to a lawsuit filed by the developers against the city in 2003.

The developers of the 3.3-acre parcel of land, which would be located on a new road on the hill overlooking The Ranch neighborhood in Elkhorn, are proposing an 11-unit subdivision as an addition to the existing 26 homes.

The council continued deliberation on the issue to the August 24 meeting, after deciding that additional information was needed.

In 2003, the developer proposed a 13-unit subdivision, which was approved by the Planning and Zoning Commission, but denied by the council. The applicant subsequently filed an action for judicial review and that litigation is ongoing. The current proposal is an attempt at a condition settlement, which would end the litigation.

However, the Crown Ranch Homeowners Association, represented at the meeting by Stephen Cannon, opposed the proposed design, arguing that the houses are too large, especially due to their hillside location.

Because of the original date of the application, Sun Valley Community Development Director stated that the development would not come under the regulations of the city's hillside ordinance.

· The council also deliberated on a settlement agreement with Stilwyn Inc., the developers of the proposed fourth phase of the Weyyakin subdivision.

The council approved a phased development agreement in which the developer gained the right to build 19 units over the course of three phases in return for a $380,000 in-lieu payment for inclusionary housing.

As well, the developer agreed to forgo the right to contest this payment, despite the fact that the city repealed its workforce housing ordinance.

The city will receive $20,000 per house, with construction of the first five scheduled to begin this summer.




 Local Weather 
Search archives:


Copyright © 2024 Express Publishing Inc.   Terms of Use   Privacy Policy
All Rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission of Express Publishing Inc. is prohibited. 

The Idaho Mountain Express is distributed free to residents and guests throughout the Sun Valley, Idaho resort area community. Subscribers to the Idaho Mountain Express will read these stories and others in this week's issue.