It seems there is a constant, irrational urging that Ketchum somehow has to squeeze as much as it can out of Sun Valley Co. for any development it may propose and construct at the company's River Run properties. There is the specter that Ketchum urgently needs three acres of land for soccer fields in the midst of the future developments at River Run.
Immediately adjacent to River Run are 47 acres of open, vacant land of the Reinheimer Ranch properties owned by the Idaho Foundation for Parks and Lands. (Total parks foundation land in Ketchum, on both sides of the highway, is 114 acres.) Ketchum has never, again irrationally, considered and used any of that land for park facilities for Ketchum, including soccer fields.
Instead, a distant future three acres of soccer field land at River Run seems to be held hostage for squeezing more out of Sun Valley Co. If Ketchum were to be realistic and rise to the occasion and challenge, three acres of soccer fields could be created on the Idaho parks foundation land and be in use by summer of this year.
The Idaho parks foundation land is tax exempt and produces no income to Ketchum. Three acres of developed land at River Run will produce upwards of $430,000 per year just in property taxes for the school district, Ketchum and other taxing districts. Taking three acres of productive, taxable property for a park when lots of tax-exempt park land acreage is already available next door—now, that is irrational.
Milt Adam
Sun Valley
