Downtown extension
Ketchum P&Z recommends six months of construction regulations
Mayor Guy Coles underscored he was out in the cold on the issue, and
as the city’s CEO, he was frustrated.
By GREG STAHL
Express Staff Writer
Ketchum Mayor Guy Coles says he was not in the loop when the Ketchum
Planning and Zoning Commission went ahead with plans to extend the city’s interim
regulations on building height and bulk for six months.
The commission unanimously endorsed the six month extension of downzoning
Monday night in the form of a recommendation to the city council to adopt an ordinance
that does so.
Commissioner Rod Sievers was not present at the regular P&Z meeting.
Coles underscored in an interview yesterday he was out in the cold on the
issue, and as the city’s CEO, he was frustrated. All city business at least needs his
blessing, he said.
Coles received a memo on the issue from planning administrator Lisa
Horowitz, dated yesterday, the day after the commission considered the matter.
Horowitz maintains that she informed the mayor verbally on Monday
afternoon.
The six-month extension is an attempt to buy enough time for the city to
revise its design review standards for regulating architectural style and size of downtown
commercial buildings, planning and zoning commission members said Monday.
The six-month regulations would be modeled after the city’s emergency
ordinance, which lowers allowed floor area ratios (FARs) and building height in the
city’s downtown.
FARs are one means by which planners can calculate building size and bulk.
The emergency ordinance, which lasts for 120 days, was adopted on Feb. 7.
It would be canceled out by adoption of the six-month ordinance.
In essence, the emergency ordinance—and the proposed six month
extension—downzoned the city’s downtown.
The city council is scheduled to consider the matter at a joint planning
and zoning and city council meeting on April 27 at 5:30 p.m.
Coles said he was "very surprised" to hear of the proposal. In
previous interviews, Coles said he is in favor of displacing the emergency ordinance with
permanent regulations in some form as soon as possible, within the 120 days allotted by
the emergency ordinance.
Part of the city’s plan in addressing downtown construction is to
contract with a design review consultant to help draw up new design review guidelines. A
consultant should be "on board" in about six weeks, Ketchum planning
administrator Lisa Horowitz said.
In the city’s comprehensive plan hearings thus far, local residents,
business owners and city officials have said they would prefer tighter design review
standards to the emergency measure or similar permanent regulations. The emergency
ordinance dictates tighter floor area ratios (FARs) and lower building heights in
Ketchum’s downtown.
Part of new design review standards, however, could be a reduction in
permitted FARs or allowed height, similar to those contained in the city’s emergency
ordinance, Horowitz said at the meeting.
Or, commissioner Peter Gray added, FARs could be done away with
completely.
When asked if the interim FAR and height restrictions are the best means
by which to regulate downtown construction while the city pursues tighter design review
standards, Gray answered, "at the moment it’s the best tool we have."
Declared Ketchum resident Mickey Garcia of the city’s action:
"For the life of me, I can’t figure out what FAR has to do with how buildings
look."
It’s a point that’s been made repeatedly by different residents
in comprehensive plan hearings.
Gray said that comments taken at the comprehensive plan hearings thus far
are quite clear: FARs aren’t the whole ball of wax when it comes to regulating
building bulk.
But he said he thinks the interim regulations are working. Massive
projects have not been proposed since the emergency ordinance’s adoption.
Ketchum residents at the hearing, in general, favored the extension of the
interim regulations. Only Garcia questioned it, though he concluded that the P&Z was
in need of a time out to better deal with the projects arriving at city hall.
Coles, after researching the issue yesterday morning, said he understands
why such an action could be appropriate. He was still dismayed, however, as to how he
could have been left out of the loop.
"We’ve got egg on our face again, and I’m not going to be
the fall guy," he said.
