Ketchum's Planning and Zoning Commission gave Sun Valley Co. the go-ahead Tuesday for its 19-acre hotel core to be built at the River Run base of Bald Mountain. It would include a 110-foot-tall hotel, retail space, plaza and parking garages.
But it didn't come easy with P&Z commissioners demanding more breathing room between the Big Wood River and the southernmost building (designated as C2), and Sun Valley developers not wanting to budge.
"One of the major assets of the community is the river," Commissioner Sam Williams said.
The 19-acre area sits along the east side of the Big Wood River, a little northeast of the existing River Run Day Lodge. It would be the centerpiece of Sun Valley Co.'s proposed 138-acre base village, which includes residential units, condominiums and small cabins.
Commissioner Steve Cook was adamant about moving C2's five-story nose from about 60 feet from the river's high-water mark, where plans originally placed it, to 100 or 125 feet.
But Sun Valley Co. consultant Becky Zimmerman said "that's pretty hard to accommodate," claiming that the building couldn't be merely pushed back but would have to be cut off at that nose, reducing it considerably.
"You don't have to be that brutal about it," replied Cook, who said Zimmerman's reaction was exaggerated, and the building and parking garages behind it could just be shifted.
Cook said he was surprised that developers were being so "inflexible" and "resistant" seeing that not a building has been designed yet. In the plan at issue, singularly colored blocks in tent diagrams represent the buildings, meaning nothing has been settled, not even building footprints.
"It's a bubble diagram. There's nothing definitive about it," Cook said. "But it seems like (developers are saying) everything is caste in stone already."
Zimmerman, president of Design Workshop, a Denver-based resort-planning firm contracted by Sun Valley Co., admitted that the buildings aren't designed and developers are uncertain whether the hotel would be four or five stars.
However, after more than an hour of deliberation between the P&Z and developers, Zimmerman said moving the building's nose back by about 15 feet so that it's 75 feet from the river would be a "done deal," but 100 feet wouldn't do.
The P&Z agreed to the compromise and voted unanimously in favor of the 75-foot setback from the river, which enabled it to then vote in favor of granting Sun Valley Co. a conditional-use permit for the 19-acre property.
The P&Z's unanimous approval of the project is only a recommendation to the Ketchum City Council, which will have the final say on issuing a conditional-use permit for the planned-unit development.
The P&Z has already recommended that the entire 138-acre base village property—in the county's jurisdiction—be annexed into the city of Ketchum. The City Council is scheduled to rule on that recommendation during a trio of evening meetings Monday through Wednesday, Dec. 7-9.
Trevon Milliard: tmilliard@mtexpress.com
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Sun Valley Co. consultant Becky Zimmerman argues with Ketchum Planning and Zoning commissioners. Wally Huffman, director of resort development, sits next to her.
Photo by Willy Cook
