After spending two and a half years grappling with the issue, the Blaine County Commission appears to be one meeting away from approving a new zoning ordinance for the McHanville and south gateway areas.
Commissioners made final adjustments Tuesday to a draft ordinance for the 90-acre area of partially developed land south of Ketchum. The ordinance includes incentives for the creation of affordable housing.
While the ordinance has been deliberated at several meetings over the past month, the commissioners made a significant change when they decided not to exempt St. Luke's Wood River Medical Center from future housing requirements.
Commission Chairman Larry Schoen said he expected the ordinance to be approved at a commission meeting on Tuesday, Oct. 13.
Under the ordinance, the area would be broken into zones, some allowing commercial and residential uses, others just residential and some allowing residential and light industrial.
Current zoning allows developers to exceed allowed density—one unit per acre in most of the area—to 10 units with the inclusion of community housing. The new ordinance would increase that to 15, with the stipulation that 15 to 20 percent of the units, depending on zone, be community housing, either for sale or for rent.
Many existing businesses in the area are non-conforming to their zones, and are therefore unable to legally expand. By re-zoning much of the area, the new ordinance would allow those businesses to expand. Existing businesses would be granted the increased density allowance without a requirement to provide community housing for any expansions of 15 percent or less.
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County Regional Planner Jeff Adams said 600 to 800 housing units are projected for the area, with about 100 dedicated for community housing.
While the foundations of the ordinance, such as the separate zones and the density incentives, were constructed and vetted in earlier deliberations, the commission cleared up some remaining issues this week, most notably on how to handle the hospital.
At previous meetings in September, county officials had considered both the creation of an individual zone just for hospitals that wouldn't follow the same community housing requirements as the rest of the area or simply exempting any hospital in the McHanville area from the requirements. The idea of a new zone was quickly scrapped out of concern that it could lead to litigation on the grounds of illegal spot zoning, but the exemption was included in the most recent draft of the ordinance.
However, the commission reconsidered that in the wake of opposition from the Blaine County Housing Authority, ARCH Community Housing Trust and the Ketchum City Council.
"All community stakeholders should do their part in addressing the community housing need, especially one of the largest employers in the county," said Kathy Grotto, housing authority executive director. "They're not exempt from paying for their impacts on water or sewer services, so why housing?"
Ketchum Councilman Larry Helzel said the city could have a hard time explaining to taxpayers why their money is going to a $70,000 contribution to the housing authority if the county didn't listen to the authority's advice.
After the meeting, however, Schoen called the issue a "tempest in a teapot." He said hospital CEO Bruce Jensen has repeatedly told the commission that there are no plans for St. Luke's to expand. In addition, with the allowed 15 percent, the hospital would be allowed to develop about 18,000 square feet before having to provide community housing.
"I'm just really thrilled that we're about to pass this ordinance," Schoen said. "We're achieving goals we set out to accomplish two and a half years ago, and allowing densities that are economical and affordable to develop."
Jon Duval: jduval@mtexpress.com
As part of a proposed plan for the McHanville area, St. Luke’s Wood River Medical Center could be required to provide community housing if it expanded. Photo by David N. Seelig
