As part of the parking lot development, FAPO will also install a bike path adjacent to a diagonal parking area, as well as a sidewalk, curb and gutter. The parking area will be accessed through the alley.

The commission approved the plan while leaving some flexibility for local circumstances. The ultimate goal is to establish standards for separate pedestrian and bike paths, as well as a planting strip on both sides of the street, according to designs approved by the Hailey City Council in 2019.

“Now that we have this set design, is it going to work everywhere?” said P&Z Commissioner Owen Scanlon. “What works on one piece of property may not work an another. We only have little sections here and there being built.”

Some public comment revolved around challenges faces by people parking near Jersey Girl restaurant on the other side of Main Street, where a bike path has come into conflict with adjacent parking. A similar design is planned for FAPO.

P&Z Chair Janet Fugate wanted to make sure the new street-side improvements built by FAPO will hold up alongside other contiguous street improvements expected in the future.

“We don’t want a curb that we have to remove five years down the road,” Fugate said.

In 2019, the Hailey City Council approved conceptual designs for a $4 million, four-block renovation of River Street between Walnut and Galena streets, and a new sidewalk from River Street to Hop Porter Park. The River Street concept calls for new lighting and bike paths and sidewalks on both sides of the street, separated by a planting strip with new trees every 40 feet.

Work currently underway between Galena and Carbonate Streets is not in compliance with the design concept. The work includes one 12-foot-wide asphalt bike path on both sides of the street. The block that contains Black Owl Café is a temporary “sacrificial” solution, said Community Development Director Robyn Davis.

“It is being installed to function as an interim solution for bike and pedestrian activity along the River Street Corridor until the River Street Concept can be constructed as designed,” Davis said.

P&Z Commissioner Dan Smith said it will take some time for the concept to come to fruition because the city doesn’t the funding to complete it in one sweep.

“It will be an improvement over what we had, but final completion of the project is ways out,” said Smith, who mentioned that some asphalt could be removed in the future.

“And that asphalt can be recycled,” Smith said.