For the week of August 21 - 27, 2002

SV arts campus advocates search for alternative site

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By GREGORY FOLEY
Express Staff Writer

Reacting to continued opposition by Sun Valley residents, advocates of a controversial proposal to build a multi-million dollar arts campus on five acres of city-owned open space have put the plan on hold while they weigh their options to use an alternative site.

Dan Drackett, chairman of the Sun Valley Arts Foundation that is seeking to raise money and support for the project, said Friday that he has decided to put on hold a formal "Needs Assessment" that would have helped determine whether the arts campus was necessary for the community and appropriate for the five-acre site along Sun Valley Road.

"We essentially pulled the plug on the Needs Assessment because there was such a distinct reaction to putting the campus on that site," he said.

Drackett said that the SVAF still intends to move forward with researching the viability of an arts campus in the Sun Valley-Ketchum area.

However, he said the group wants to be cautious in conducting a formal assessment of such a project so the research is not influenced by public opposition to a particular site.

Drackett noted that many Sun Valley-area residents at a series of public meetings to discuss the plan have expressed support for an arts campus, but not on the city’s open space parcel next to Our Lady of the Snows Catholic Church.

Drackett said he told the Duncan Webb Group of New York City, the consultant hired to do the $40,000 study, that the SVAF wanted to delay it so project proponents can "look at other alternatives."

Drackett explained that the SVAF is now contemplating moving forward with a "non site-specific" Needs Assessment that would determine whether such a facility could be built and kept viable somewhere in the general area.

"Right now, it’s on hold, but there is renewed sentiment to go forward with the study and get it done."

The decision to postpone the study by Duncan Webb—which was previously slated to begin on Monday—came after a surge of opposition to the proposal that peaked at a public meeting Aug. 13 at Sun Valley City Hall.

During the gathering attended by some 50 area residents, Sun Valley resident Bea Longley presented Sun Valley Mayor David Wilson with a petition signed by approximately 300 residents asking the city to leave the five-acre site as open space.

Several members of the crowd spoke out against locating the campus on the proposed site, while a handful of arts proponents argued in favor of the plan.

Wilson said he has heard comments from " a lot of people that don’t want to build on that property," but said many of the city’s roughly 2,600 property owners had not given their opinions on the matter.

Wilson said at the meeting he is concerned that cultural events typically held in Sun Valley have gradually started being relocated to new sites outside of the city.

Wilson said the city likely lost more than $15,000 in tax revenue because the Sun Valley Arts Center’s annual wine auction relocated to Ketchum. He added that the field used to host the annual Sun Valley Arts and Crafts Festival could soon be developed by Sun Valley Co. owner Earl Holding, leaving that event without a guaranteed venue.

In terms of leasing locations for community events, Wilson said Sun Valley organizations have little choice other than to work with the Sun Valley Co. and Holding. "We’re in the hands of one person," he said.

Wilson said this week he feels the petition represents a small number of Sun Valley residents, and that a formal Needs Assessment is still necessary. "I’ve gotten an indication from people that we should move forward with an assessment that is non site specific," he said Monday.

Wilson said that he will propose to the Sun Valley City Council next week that the city leave open an offer to the SVAF that it will pay for half of the cost of the study if it is done before the end of the year.

Glenn Janss, who leads a concerned citizen’s group called the Local Advisory Board, said she would "definitely" support a non site-specific study.

Drackett said he is confident the SVAF can raise enough money to move forward with the study, and will continue to research whether an alternative site is available. "The most exciting thing that could happen at this time would be if someone would offer us another site," he said.

 

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