Hailey officials have chosen the Ketchum-based Ruscitto, Latham, Blanton architectural firm to redesign the rodeo site at the southern gateway to the city.
A familiar Western mural marks the rodeo grounds, which were built in 1948. Improvement of the property ranked as the highest-priority city development project in a recent citizen survey.
The new design will include a hockey rink, an expanded skatepark and improved seating for the Sawtooth Rangers' Fourth of July Rodeo. The new and improved rodeo grounds could also be used for concerts, farmers' markets and other community events.
"Our objective is to listen to the Parks Board, Sawtooth Rangers and Hailey Ice and generate some concepts and ideas based on that conversation," said Nicholas Latham, a partner at the architecture firm.
The Sawtooth Rangers Riding Club is a major stakeholder in the rodeo grounds. Hailey Ice is a group seeking to build a new public ice rink in the city.
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City Engineer Tom Hellen said the city will pay for initial design plans after a series of meetings takes place between the firm and a group of rodeo grounds users.
"This is a long-term design plan because there are a lot of people with a lot of opinions," he said.
Ruscitto, Latham, Blanton is an award-winning architecture, engineering and planning firm specializing in residential, commercial and resort architecture, with a staff of 20 architects, engineers, planners and interior designers.
"This is an exciting project for us, and a great project for the city of Hailey," Latham said.
Tony Evans: tevans@mtexpress.com
