Can Ketchum find a way to turn on lights in Warm Springs Village and put people back on its streets?
The city hopes that a new zoning district will provide incentives for developers to look beyond building residential projects and restore vibrancy to the Warm Springs base of Bald Mountain with restaurants, retail space and hotels.
At a Ketchum City Council meeting on Monday, city officials took another look at a proposed ordinance that would allow more density and taller buildings in the area between Howard Drive and the Warm Springs lifts, and Gates Road and Skiway Drive. The new district would also include a sizable piece of Sun Valley Co. property by extending west to incorporate the Greyhawk parking lot.
The council has been working on the ordinance since April, when it was recommended for approval by the Planning and Zoning Commission.
If developers take advantage of all the incentives provided by the proposed zoning regulations, which include the creation of affordable housing, office space, conference rooms, restaurants and retail shops, they would be able to build with a floor-area ratio of up to 2.25. That means a building on a 1,000-square-foot lot could contain up to 2,250 square feet of floor space. Current zoning allows a floor-area ratio of 1.6 if workforce housing is included.
As proposed, the district would include two zones regarding maximum height, with buildings within 30 feet of Howard Drive restricted to a maximum of four floors, with the top floor contained under a sloped roof. On the north side of Picabo Street but more than 30 feet from Howard Drive, the height limit would rise to five stories and to six on the south side of the street, which is Zone B
At Monday's meeting, the council instructed city staff to look at revising the language in the ordinance once again to increase the additional permitted density gained from inclusion of a restaurant or retail space.
Sun Valley Co. General Manager Wally Huffman supported this adjustment, despite his statement that the resort has no plans to develop its Warm Springs property any time in the near future.
"The incentives have to be greater than downtown or at River Run," Huffman said. "Hotel rooms will drive everything down there."
However, developer Brian Barsotti said that even with the new incentives, attracting a hotel project would be difficult. Barsotti owns the Baldy Base Camp property at the corner of Picabo Street and Skiway Drive, the only piece of vacant land in the area, other than that owned by Sun Valley Co. He said he has been talking with hotel development and management company Columbia Hospitality about a possible project on his parcel, but that the limits in the ordinance could still keep it from being economically viable.
"I'm so frustrated I could spit," a visibly agitated Barsotti said after hearing that the council wouldn't be approving the ordinance on Monday. "It's been over three years since we began trying to codify something and get an ordinance in place so we don't have to fight the no-growth crowd in a (planned-unit development application process)."
Barsotti expressed concern over the difference in zoning between the proposed ordinance and what the council approved for the Hotel Ketchum project on Main Street, which could be built up to the property lines on some sides and has a floor area ratio of 2.4. That project was approved through a PUD process.
"We need to make a mix (to take advantage of the incentives) and see if we can fit it in the formula of the ordinance," Barsotti said. "But I think the framework is too small."
Barsotti said a traditional hotel would never be successful, as Warm Springs is a "ghost town" other than during winter. However, he said he wouldn't know what his potential project would look like until the ordinance is in place.
The council is set to consider the project again on Monday, Nov. 3, and Barsotti pushed the council hard to make a decision as soon as possible to have plans in place for his property by Christmas.
"We're the only ones down there trying to do something," he said. "Another delay would put a chilling effect on the property because no one would know what they're allowed to do there."
