A controversy that started nearly eight months ago ended with little fanfare Monday as the Ketchum City Council accepted an in-lieu payment to fulfill the community housing requirement for Thunder Spring.
During its regular meeting, the council unanimously approved a proposal to provide the city with $1.3 million and the long-term rights to a four-acre piece of property.
Whereas previous meetings were marked with heated debate from residents, Monday's meeting featured not a single comment from the public.
It was the parcel of land, located between the southern end of the Bigwood Golf Course and the Ketchum Cemetery, that had caused the political and legal imbroglio over the course of the summer.
Originally, David Hutchinson, president of Valley Properties Inc. and developer of the Residences at Thunder Spring, had proposed construction of nine affordable housing units on the site, with the possibility of an additional 10 units coming in the future. But that plan met with bitter criticism from residents of the nearby Bigwood subdivision, who claim that the property's plat note required the land to remain open space in perpetuity.
The legal questions surrounding the land led the council to deny the affordable housing project in July, prompting Hutchinson to pursue the in-lieu-payment option.
The housing requirement stems from housing commitments made as part of the original Thunder Spring planned-unit development, which has already been built, as well as the balance of the housing requirement not provided onsite at the Residences, which has been approved but not yet built. The city will not issue a certificate of occupancy to the developer for the Residences until the community housing requirement is satisfied.
Consisting of 24 fractional units at the northern end of Ketchum, the Residences is scheduled for completion in about two years. The high-end project would include four units of employee housing onsite and another 3,500 square feet to be built elsewhere. Hutchinson also owes the city 7,300 square feet from the original Thunder Spring development.
In August, Hutchinson proposed an in-lieu payment of $650,000 instead of building the housing, but that was deemed insufficient by the council. Councilman Charles Conn said the city can accept the in-lieu payment and still follow a suggestion made by Vanessa Crossgrove Fry, executive director for Citizens for Smart Growth, that community housing requirements be satisfied by the purchase of existing market-rate homes.
"We haven't determined at this point what we're going to do with the land, but it would be a mistake not to take it," Councilman Baird Gourlay said.
Ketchum Community and Economic Development Director Lisa Horowitz said the deal with Hutchinson conveys the developer's 200-year lease on the property to the city. Horowitz said the city is also pursuing discussions with Bigwood Golf LLC, the property's owner, about conveyance of it to the city.
However, the issue over whether the land must remain open space has yet to be resolved. Horowitz said that if the city decides to develop the land, it would seek a declaratory judgement to determine if the Bigwood subdivision does indeed hold any rights to the land.
"I'm sure the concerned residents will continue to follow this closely," Horowitz said.
In July, Gourlay floated the idea of using the land for the location of a new fire station. As well, if Sun Valley Co. begins to develop its property at River Run, which was the subject of a recent presentation by the resort, the city will be forced to find new space for snow storage, to replace an area behind Reinheimer Ranch.
