PAVE TRAIL CREEK ROAD NOW! Custer County has received a federal grant to pave Trail Creek Road to the summit! That leaves Blaine County Roads the last couple of miles to pave the road and put in Avalanche shelters so TCR can be open year round! Grants are available! Why?
Opens up year round access to Mackay only 50 miles away vs 100. It Lessens traffic and ton of cheap land and affordable housing. It also makes the area more acessable and attractive for tourism!
Blaine County stop waffling and delaying the project as Custer County said Blaine County won’t work with them and will not start the project until they committ! ….we need closer year round access, recreation, affordable housing! Not to mention the traffic on hyw 75!
Conflicts of interest seem to occur way too often in local governments across America. Officials need to understand that an appearance of conflict is just as bad (maybe worse) than an actual conflict because it destroys public trust.
As to the Lift Tower Lodge property....do you know how large that parcel is compared to one of the other suitable parcels? If we can get a larger piece of land for the proceeds from Lift Tower, that seems like an idea that should be explored.
I would sell the LTL site to a ski condo developer. I know that may sound mercenary, but I think that is the highest and best use of the site to its owners (us! the residents of Ketchum who own it). Given that it is within walking distance of the ski lifts, this land is incredibly valuable. The City values it at $7mm (that’s the number they reported to the Federal government in their grant application for the money to develop it).
If fully developed for the condo market, a building there could be worth $50mm or more. That’s a lot of property tax for us. Under the current zoning code, we would also get some workforce housing there. But for the best return on our investment…..
…..I would take that $7mm and buy one of the trailer parks. You would get 2-4x as much land. You could put up workforce housing of 4-8x as many units as what the City plans for LTL.
LTL is at a major traffic choke point that is going to get worse as traffic builds, and ITD puts the light at Serenade; right now, there are only a couple of cars at LTL, and it has its own parking lot. If it gets developed, there will be potentially 100 cars there (1.3 cars per unit) and NO parking. How is that going to work? The impact on rush hour traffic at that location is likely to be much worse than traffic closer to the hospital.
So, I think you can get a lot more housing for taxpayer dollars at a better location for many of the residents with a lot less impact on the taxpayers who will be funding the development.
Spot on. When I lived in LA, it never entered my mind that I was “entitled” to live in Beverly Hills, because I, like most, had an hour commute on I-5. Guess I was wrong…and, the drive on 75 is nothing compared to most American cities traffic
PAVE TRAIL CREEK ROAD NOW! Custer County has received a federal grant to pave Trail Creek Road to the summit! That leaves Blaine County Roads the last couple of miles to pave the road and put in Avalanche shelters so TCR can be open year round! Grants are available! Why?
Opens up year round access to Mackay only 50 miles away vs 100. It Lessens traffic and ton of cheap land and affordable housing. It also makes the area more acessable and attractive for tourism!
Blaine County stop waffling and delaying the project as Custer County said Blaine County won’t work with them and will not start the project until they committ! ….we need closer year round access, recreation, affordable housing! Not to mention the traffic on hyw 75!
Thanks for this comment. Have you taken this topic up with the Blaine County Commissioners? What are they doing about it?
Also, it would be one of Idahos best scenic drives! Perfect loop drive from SV to Mackay up to Chalis, then to Stanley and down to Sun Valley!
Conflicts of interest seem to occur way too often in local governments across America. Officials need to understand that an appearance of conflict is just as bad (maybe worse) than an actual conflict because it destroys public trust.
As to the Lift Tower Lodge property....do you know how large that parcel is compared to one of the other suitable parcels? If we can get a larger piece of land for the proceeds from Lift Tower, that seems like an idea that should be explored.
I would sell the LTL site to a ski condo developer. I know that may sound mercenary, but I think that is the highest and best use of the site to its owners (us! the residents of Ketchum who own it). Given that it is within walking distance of the ski lifts, this land is incredibly valuable. The City values it at $7mm (that’s the number they reported to the Federal government in their grant application for the money to develop it).
If fully developed for the condo market, a building there could be worth $50mm or more. That’s a lot of property tax for us. Under the current zoning code, we would also get some workforce housing there. But for the best return on our investment…..
…..I would take that $7mm and buy one of the trailer parks. You would get 2-4x as much land. You could put up workforce housing of 4-8x as many units as what the City plans for LTL.
LTL is at a major traffic choke point that is going to get worse as traffic builds, and ITD puts the light at Serenade; right now, there are only a couple of cars at LTL, and it has its own parking lot. If it gets developed, there will be potentially 100 cars there (1.3 cars per unit) and NO parking. How is that going to work? The impact on rush hour traffic at that location is likely to be much worse than traffic closer to the hospital.
So, I think you can get a lot more housing for taxpayer dollars at a better location for many of the residents with a lot less impact on the taxpayers who will be funding the development.
If someone has a better idea, I am all for it!
Open trail creek road year long!
Spot on. When I lived in LA, it never entered my mind that I was “entitled” to live in Beverly Hills, because I, like most, had an hour commute on I-5. Guess I was wrong…and, the drive on 75 is nothing compared to most American cities traffic
Wow