Our business is the business of the outdoors, and as such, Sun Valley Co. values and appreciates the open space and land around the resort. The growth of the resort and the entire Sun Valley community is based on a passion for the outdoors. Whether it be hiking Ruud and Proctor mountains next to one of the oldest chairlifts in the world or skinning up Dollar Mountain in the evening for sunset, there is much to appreciate in Sun Valley, and both the Holding family and Sun Valley Co. continue to support the growth as well as the preservation of this special community.
The current issue before the Sun Valley City Council is part of an ongoing process of comprehensive land-use planning in the city of Sun Valley. It is the last step in updating the Sun Valley land use map and the zoning map to match the 2015 Sun Valley comprehensive plan, which was approved by the Sun Valley Planning and Zoning Commission and adopted by Sun Valley Council resolution in September 2015. The plan was a product of more than a year’s worth of Citizens Steering Committee meetings, public hearings, citizen surveys and workshops.
Sun Valley Co.’s position is one of good faith in holding up our end of the deal agreed upon in the 2015 city of Sun Valley comprehensive plan. That plan includes an agreement that transferred the development potential from Penny Hill and Penny Pasture to Prospector Hill. Or more simply, Sun Valley Co. agreed to retain the pastoral nature of the “gateway” between the iconic Red Barn and Sun Valley Village, with the understanding that development potential be moved to another area of land owned by the company, Prospector Hill. That consensus was made with the understanding that the reclassification of Prospector Hill would be upheld.
Sun Valley Co. is committed to that agreement and to the density outlined in the comprehensive plan, which is 32 single-family and 60 multi-family units on the northeast side of Elkhorn Road and 20 multi-family units on the southwest side of Elkhorn Road, 112 units in total. This is the final step in a comprehensive plan process that began in 2013, and was ultimately approved by the Sun Valley Planning and Zoning Commission and adopted by resolution of the Sun Valley City Council.
Our goal is to continue to support the healthy economic growth of the community and to uphold the integrity of our partnership with the city of Sun Valley. This longstanding relationship, and the Holding family’s commitment to acting in good faith, will live on beyond Thursday’s City Council meeting. And our hope is that the city of Sun Valley and its residents understand the entirety of the situation and our position on the matter.
To access and read through the Sun Valley comprehensive plan (updated in 2015), please visit the public record document at bit.ly/38TZ1fv.
Thank you from the entire Sun Valley Co., and we hope this season continues to be as safe, healthy and enjoyable as possible for you and your family.
Tim Silva is president and general manager of the Sun Valley Company.
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(6) comments
This really only impacts a few homes, those owners should have done their due diligence and therefore should have known that SV Co planned to develop. Why is it OK for other private property owners to subdivide and develop, yet, people are against SV Co developing their own properties? I think SV Co has done an excellent job with their developments thus far and I look forward to their continuing in the same high standards we have seen in their projects over the many decades. Just because SV Co has land that has not been zoned for development does not mean that it will not be zoned for development in the future.
The Sun Valley Company and the Holding family have been more than generous in supporting Sun Valley, Ketchum and the other communities in the Wood River Valley. It would be very bad mistake to treat them in a way that would cause them to loose their enthusiasm for these efforts. And that’s particularly true since it is their other properties that are most impacted be a development of Prospector Hill.
@57F- Intetesting perspective, even if off point.... OTOH, OMG! Wouldn!t it be tmut be terrific to have a company.that woulld metely run a hotel and ski lifts on public land?
@TimSilva - "Sun Valley Co.’s position is one of good faith in holding up our end of the deal agreed upon in the 2015 city of Sun Valley comprehensive plan. That plan includes an agreement that transferred the development potential from Penny Hill and Penny Pasture to Prospector Hill. Or more simply, Sun Valley Co. agreed to retain the pastoral nature of the “gateway” between the iconic Red Barn and Sun Valley Village, with the understanding that development potential be moved to another area of land owned by the company, Prospector Hill. That consensus was made with the understanding that the reclassification of Prospector Hill would be upheld."
Tim, you've been had.... My understanding of the Idaho Local Land Use (LLUPA) statutes and Idaho caselaw clearly prevents any group of comp plan folks, particularly appointed folks like you and Huffman, from making future backroom deals over land use by your local employer, the landowner. Even if elected officials like Henricks, Saks, Conard and Griffith served on the plan's committee, along with appointed P&Z members like Heinrik, Boeger and Commer, backroom deals you might think you made with these folks are unenforceable. Sun Valley Resort, like any landowner, must be subject to the due process rights of Sun Valley city and, in particularly, the nearby landowners that you will harm dramatically. For the Resort to think that just because Holding bought an undeveloped high mountain ranch resort, the resort was part of the City when that purchase occurred. I was here at the time and on one I know thought "good faith" was involved in Holding's astute purchase. Now you're alleging the city made a deal with you and Huffman five years ago - privately and out of the public eye over a future zoning change and density transfer from miles away - and to a hillside of more than forty degrees in places, a hillside that will require terracing and strip mining the hill to provide for streets and emergency access for hundreds of people, and further, the City agreement with the Resort (and you) was done privately and out of the public's oversight. If you have such a "good faith" agreement from these local officials, please provide us a copy. Just leave it by the courthouse door.... Thanks for your letter today. B.C. Young, Elkhorn
Said like a true carpetbagger who doesn't even live here full time any longer, but probably "has a place" near this land (unless you're back bc of covid, carpetbagger). Shameless selfishness, BC.
Thank you Tim for your clarity of the agreement. Well done.
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