The Ketchum City Council unanimously, and without debate, has agreed to make the community core—where Atkinsons' Market is located—the only place that grocery stores are permitted outright in the zoning code.
The decision was made on Thursday, Sept. 16.
Grocery stores can still be approved in other areas of town, but would need a conditional-use permit, meaning more hoops to jump through and more municipal restrictions. One example is the proposed Ketchum Market, which developers would like to build at the former Stock Building Supply property between Lewis and Tenth streets on Warm Springs Road in the Light Industrial zoning district. Ever since its pre-application submittal at the beginning of the year, the market has been held up in controversy over whether it would lead to the demise of Ketchum's industrial area.
However, Roxy's Market—planned for the Williams Market site on Main Street—didn't need to worry about these holdups since it's in the retail-oriented community core, and simply applied for a building permit to begin renovations. The owners have said Roxy's should open sometime in the second half of the upcoming ski season.
Before the recent zoning change, grocery stores were not automatically allowed anywhere as a "permitted use," a problem in the eyes of city officials because they believe developers should be given a clue as to where grocery stores are preferred. The issue rose to the city's attention during discussion of Ketchum Market's pre-application.
In the end, the council decided, at the request of the Planning and Zoning Commission, that the town's traditional retail area, the community core, should be the place. The community core, for the most part, extends from Spruce Avenue to Second Avenue with a northern boundary of Eighth Street and southern boundary of River Street.
Trevon Milliard: tmilliard@mtexpress.com
