Bellevue pushes back against splitting ACI with Hailey

The ACI map, along with a conceptual zoning plan presented Monday, is being used to determine which areas are to be annexed by which city, thereby granting control of municipal zoning in those areas.

Though both cities and the Blaine County Recreation District have been involved in communication with the Oppenheimer group about ACI boundary renegotiations, the plan presented Monday to split the areas equally between the two cities took City Councilman Chris Johnson by surprise.

“I find it a little insulting,” Johnson said of the proposed split. “I think we would be doing ourselves a disservice.”

Johnson noted that in 2021, the city of Hailey wanted most of the area in its ACI, a move that Bellevue successfully fought. Bellevue now controls the entire 227 acres in its ACI.

Johnson recommended reducing Hailey’s proposed new ACI in Flying Hat by about a third, shifting the boundary northward to beyond a planned commercial automobile development in Bellevue on the west side of Highway 75.

City Councilman Doug Brown agreed with Johnson. He also asked why Bellevue should relinquish a good portion of its ACI to the Blaine County Recreation District for a nonprofit sports complex proposed between the two cities that would not provide the city with development revenue.

BCRD Executive Director Mark Davidson said the complex would take up 25 to 30 acres, and that the BCRD would work with Bellevue whether or not Hailey was involved in the overall development.

The Solomonic goal of splitting the ACI evenly between the two cities was recently hatched by Flying Hat landowners Skip and Doug Oppenheimer, ostensibly to satisfy the desires of two cities that have historically fought over control of development of the stretch of vacant farmland along the east side Highway 75.

After years of wrangling, Bellevue leaders now have the upper hand, but signaled on Monday a desire to work with Hailey and the Oppenheimers, so long as Bellevue’s interests are safeguarded.

“We need an open forum, with the landowners and the city of Hailey,” Bellevue Mayor Kathryn Goldman said.

Brown said he had felt “steamrolled” by the ACI splitting process, and that Bellevue’s sewer capacity—or lack thereof—had been used as a cudgel in meetings with Hailey and Blaine County to reduce the size of Bellevue’s ACI. Johnson said he believed Bellevue’s sewer facility could eventually handle development of the entire area, “whether it’s 227 acres or 30 acres.”

The Bellevue Planning and Zoning Commission recommended a renegotiation of the ACI last month, but with a word of caution about the possibility that Hailey could quickly implement commercial zoning that might impact Bellevue.

“There has to be a level of trust,” P&Z Chair John Kurtz said at the Monday City Council meeting.

The developers showed up on Monday to quell fears.

Oppenheimer Companies Chairman and CEO Skip Oppenheimer and President Doug Oppenheimer waited during the council discussion Monday before addressing the concerns expressed, in a conciliatory tone.

Doug Oppenheimer said they intend to help solve the affordable housing crisis, and that Hailey leaders have expressed a desire to “not compromise or diminish Bellevue’s position.”

Skip Oppenheimer said detailed planning could not take place until they know where the ACI line is.

Doug Oppenheimer said it would not behoove the City Council to focus overly much on the line itself.

“It’s a line, not a wall,” Doug Oppenheimer said. “We want a fluid plan that harmonize with the entire community.”

The developers agreed with Goldman’s plan to participate in the workshop for “all interested parties” before moving ahead with further ACI discussions.

The workshop’s date and time have not yet been announced.