Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Ketchum could see peanut-shaped roundabout

Proposed Ketchum Market brings to light traffic and zoning concerns


By TREVON MILLIARD
Express Staff Writer

During a Ketchum City Council meeting Monday, engineers presented a preliminary design for a peanut-shaped roundabout along Warm Springs Road to moderate expected traffic increases. Courtesy graphic

Engineers are proposing that a peanut-shaped roundabout be added to Warm Springs Road to solve the road's awkward intersections at Tenth and Lewis streets, and mitigate expected traffic increases to the already busy road.

This move comes in response to the proposed Ketchum Market on the former Stock Building Supply property between Lewis and Tenth streets. Ryan Hale, of Lehi, Utah-based Hale Engineering, said at a Planning and Zoning Commission meeting on Monday that the market is calculated to have a minor impact on Warm Springs Road, increasing traffic by only 5 percent. But, he said, other forces are foreseen that will greatly increase use of Warm Springs Road, including the Warm Springs Ranch Resort to be built down the road.

Also, the Warm Springs area is only 50 percent built out, according to Lisa Horowitz, Ketchum's director of community and economic development. She said computer simulations show state Highway 75/Main Street's northbound traffic at a gridlock all the way through downtown if Warm Springs is built out, due to cars waiting to turn left onto Warm Springs Road at the intersection with Main Street.

Hales said the number of cars turning left at Warm Springs Road compared to those continuing north is already dominant at two to one.

To solve that problem, Hale and City Engineer Steven Yearsley's plan calls for severing Warm Springs Road's connection to Main Street and rerouting that south bound Warm Springs traffic down Seventh Street.

Warm Springs Road would no longer be North Ketchum's connector to downtown. Yearsley said that job would fall to Tenth Street, another reason for a roundabout at this intersection. He said Tenth Street would be regraded to a more gradual decline from Highway 75, and a stoplight would be added there.

Horowitz said regardless of the market, the road needs a change.

The roundabout plan is most agreeable to the market's developer, Friday Harbor, Wash.-based Valmark, because it takes less of its land for road right-of-way than would straightening Warm Springs Road and adding stoplights at Tenth and Lewis streets, as a previous plan outlined.

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"I think the double roundabout is really intriguing," said Commissioner Steve Cook, "and there are definite possibilities there."

The three other commissioners echoed his approval of the roundabout but expressed concern about pedestrian travel. Hale said he'd return with a plan.

Commissioner Deborah Burns said she also wasn't "sold" on using steep Tenth Street as the main highway connector, a concern expressed by many in the audience.

The road is only the beginning of the issues surrounding the proposed Ketchum Market. Before the market can even be considered, the city would have to amend its rules for the Light Industrial zone.

Jim Laski, attorney for the developer, has suggested an amendment that would allow retail—such as a grocery store—as long as the business employs at least 25 full-time workers and operates year round. The amendment would also require businesses to be under single ownership and provide community housing equal to 20 percent of floor area.

On Monday, city staff presented its version of the amendment, which would allow only food stores.

Horowitz said the zone is already a "mess," allowing non-traditional light-industrial uses, such as exercise and dance studios and Laundromats. Horowitz said the big question is: Where does the city want grocery stores? City code only allows them in the commercial core, where Atkinsons' Market is located.

Laski and others have argued there isn't room for a market and parking in the commercial core, evident with Atkinsons' Market. Commissioners Rich Fabiano and Sam Williams said they like Atkinsons' Market downtown because they can drive there, shop and then walk around to all the other stores, providing a "synergy."

The P&Z will return to these issues at its next meeting on Monday, July 26.

Trevon Milliard: tmilliard@mtexpress.com




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