V2N22: Do This Right Now (if you are against Upzoning) RIGHT NOW PLEASE
Nothing Can Destroy What is Left of Ketchum Like What CIty Hall Plans to Do
I never put out The Ketchum Sun two days in a row, but this is a unique circumstance.
TODAY at 4:30 p.m. at City Hall, the P&Z Commission will meet to discuss the Future Land Use Map for Ketchum, which calls for a massive increase in condo density near the Baldy bases. Given that no one has asked them to do this, and yet it seems to be what City Hall plans to implement, the people who live in Ketchum need to make their voices heard.
Join The Opposition to Upzoning
Michelle Stennett is organizing opposition to the Comprehensive Planning process that has bypassed Ketchum’s consensus and even the appearance of good governance to impose City Hall’s vision for our future. At the top of this email is the ad she plans to run in the IME. Please email her at stennett.michelle@gmail.com and say you want to add your name to the list of people who support this approach.
What Is Upzoning? DENSITY DENSITY DENSITY
Upzoning is City Hall’s plan to turn Ketchum into the next Aspen. See the previous issue of The Ketchum Sun for details on how it works. Then try to figure out who it works for! (Hint: your quality of life is not a consideration).
More You Can Do to STOP Upzoning
Show up at the P&Z meeting. Again, it is at 4:30 p.m. TODAY, 3/25, at City Hall. Speak up at the meeting and let them know your views.
Send a Public Comment to the City Council: As the ad at the top says, email participate@ketchumidaho.org and tell them NO to UPZONING.
Write a letter to our newspapers: send less than 300 words to letters@mtexpress.com, and go to the 5b Gazette site, and leave a note.
Get everyone you know to do something.
From The 5b Gazette Today
I am sharing the below with the permission of the author.
Speak up now Ketchum: March 25 Draft Comp Plan meeting
By Sarah Lurie
On March 25, Ketchum residents face a pivotal moment at the Planning and Zoning Commission’s public hearing on the 2025 Comprehensive Plan. This isn’t just routine paperwork—it’s a chance to defend the character, property values, and way of life in neighborhoods across the city. Voices like Luanne Mandeville of Sunshine Subdivision, Tom and Jody Beckwith of Rocking Horse Ranch, and 57 property owners from Bordeaux and Sabala Streets are already ringing out in public comments, warning that proposed density increases could unravel the low-density fabric they treasure. If you share their unease, the March 25 meeting is your shot to make it known: attend, speak, and shape the outcome.
The stakes are steep. Idaho’s Local Land Use Planning Act (Idaho Code Section 67-6502) demands that comprehensive plans safeguard health, safety, and welfare—protecting property rights, curbing overcrowding, and preserving community identity.
Yet, as Ketchum’s Draft Comprehensive Plan nudges neighborhoods toward medium- and high-density zoning, residents see a disconnect. They’re not wrong to worry: Idaho courts treat these plans as more than aspirations—they’re legal anchors to subsequent zoning changes. Indeed, Idaho Code Section 67-6511 requires governing bodies to zone in accordance with their comprehensive plan. That is why Ketchum residents must speak up now.
For Ketchumites resisting upzoning, a loud, united front on March 25 could sway the commission. The concerns cut deep. Luanne Mandeville is “extremely disturbed” that her single-family home will sit in a high-density zone. She dreads losing the right to rebuild as a single-family residence post-disaster—a blow she says would “destroy” her quality of life. Citing Section 67-6502(a), she’s prepared to escalate this to the courts.
The Beckwiths and their Rocking Horse Ranch neighbors, meanwhile, decry a “Medium Density Residential” label that trades single-family homes for townhomes and multi-family units, straying from the 2014 comprehensive plan’s ethos. They fear for their property values and neighborhood soul.
The Bordeaux and Sabala Street group, backed by 57 signatures, begs for a “Low Density Residential” tag to protect their “special place” from traffic and density creep, arguing it better fits the small-town vision.
Process matters too. The Beckwiths and countless others slam the March 25 meeting—slotted during a major ski race—as a rushed, poorly timed stab at public input.
Tomorrow isn’t just a meeting—it’s a tipping point. The Draft Comprehensive Plan can still shift before adoption, and a strong showing can demand answers: How does upzoning safeguard property rights? Does it prevent overcrowding? Does it honor Ketchum’s essence? Weak responses could doom the plan in council chambers.
Don’t sit this out. Silence now could cost the neighborhood later. The Planning and Zoning Commission convenes March 25 at 4:30 p.m. at City Hall or online.
*This article appears in the March 24 5b Gazette.
Everybody please make sure Perry reads the following.
Another well-established pattern of the corrupt local establishment is to schedule meetings and votes on levies and referendums when everyone is either distracted or out of town. The scheduling of this meeting tonight at 4:30 is so DIRTY it is exploiting both the distraction of the FIS World Cup AND the absence of everyone with children over Spring Break. First scold them harshly for this devious manipulation letting them know how underhanded it is and how common a tactic used by the corrupt local establishment in this valley. Then demand they reschedule this meeting to a time when both of these deterrents to healthy public participation are not limiting attendance.
"The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don`t have any."
Alice Walker