The fate of 138 acres at the base of River Run that Sun Valley Co. wants to develop into a ski-mountain base village will have to wait for the new year.
The Ketchum City Council held two meetings this week to deliberate on what the city needs from Sun Valley Co. in order to annex its land into the city, but adjourned the second meeting on Wednesday without a decision.
The council still has much to discuss in detail, but the discussion will be paused until Jan. 13 at 5:30 p.m. It may even take another meeting after that.
"Tonight was a good meeting, but there are mountains to climb," said Wally Huffman, Sun Valley's director of resort development.
In this week's meetings, the council addressed important but less-contentious topics—the proposed village's affects on traffic and the environment. Neither caused a huge amount of controversy when the Ketchum Planning and Zoning Commission took on the project in early November.
After three meetings, the P&Z unanimously approved the proposed annexation, but its decision was only a recommendation to the council, which now has the final say.
The P&Z fully supported Sun Valley Co.'s proposed roundabout at the intersection of state Highway 75 and Serenade Lane to handle traffic that would come into the base village. The council didn't express any substantial concerns about it.
The City Council also expressed agreement with a compromise reached on setbacks proposed by the P&Z that were wider than Ketchum's usually required minimum of 25 feet along the Big Wood River to protect the riparian area and give room to migrating animals.
"I feel encouraged on those two fronts," said Councilman Charles Conn.
But the hot topics still wait to be brought forward. The biggest is a request for an active park for a soccer field. Sun Valley Co. development consultant Becky Zimmerman told the P&Z in its first meeting a month ago that the company "can't accommodate that here or bear the cost of that anywhere."
After hearing repeated public comment from Ketchum residents and the city's Parks and Recreation Department—as well as receiving a petition signed by 40 people—in support of the park, Sun Valley Co. came to the P&Z and offered to donate a 1.2-acre parcel to be made into a park.
With that compromise reached, the P&Z recommended the annexation, also wanting the option to buy two adjacent acres at market price to make the park three acres.
However, Sun Valley Co. changed its tune in the month interim. Huffman told the council on Tuesday during an overview of the entire project that the company couldn't afford to leave any land open for a ball field.
"It's an inconsistent use of land for ball fields to be in an upscale housing development," he said.
The Idaho Mountain Express also confirmed in an interview with Huffman after Tuesday's meeting that a petition circulating through Sun Valley disapproving of the active-park requirement was created and dispersed by Sun Valley Co.
Huffman said about 150 signatures have been gathered, and the petition would be presented before the council if it he feels it's necessary.
"It's not my intent to create some kind of contest," Huffman said, but added that he wanted to show that "there's two sides of the coin."
And he said he doesn't see the need for the park.
A part of Sun Valley Co.'s petition reads, "Approximately 75 of 138 acres are set aside as open space and/or recreation, green space. We consider this to fulfill Sun Valley Co.'s obligation under the annexation development agreement."
But active-park supporters argue that most of that open land is forested and can't be used for playing sports or landing paragliders, which often launch from the top of Bald Mountain.
On the other hand, Conn advised the city that even though this is a negotiation between Ketchum and Sun Valley Co., the city should only go so far in its demands.
"Keep in mind, developers aren't piggy banks," he said, later adding, "We're talking about private property. This isn't our property."
However, Conn encouraged Sun Valley Co. to "seriously consider P&Z's recommendation" of providing land for an active park.
"I think it's in your interest to bring in youth from town," Conn said.
Councilman Larry Helzel echoed this perspective and said that if Sun Valley Co.'s "guiding principle is to connect to Ketchum, it must be locally friendly, not isolated."
Sun Valley Co. developers have repeatedly emphasized that they're not referring to the proposed development as a "village" but a "neighborhood," because it's being designed as an extension of the town and Ketchum's city grid.
The other issue that will likely require some negotiating in upcoming meetings is community/employee housing.
Nathan Welch, executive director of Citizens for Smart Growth, said the council shouldn't hurry to reach a decision.
"What's our hurry?" he said. "Sun Valley Co. has talked about a construction time of 10 to 15 years. We don't have to lower our expectations by approving this in a hurry because of the recession."
Trevon Milliard: tmilliard@mtexpress.com
From left to right, Sun Valley Co. consultant Becky Zimmerman, attorney Evan Robertson, and Director of Resort Development Wally Huffman sit in front of the Ketchum City Council on Wednesday.
