The parking and housing issue in Ketchum sparks debate

KETCHUM, Idaho (KMVT/KSVT) – There is a growing debate over plans to renovate a parking lot in downtown Ketchum. One group says it would negatively impact businesses and wants the city to put the measure on hold.

“Maybe we’ve all been asleep at the wheel during the entire COVID crisis, I don’t know, but we looked and we saw that we had a lot of black boxes and no parking,” Julie Johnson said.

Julie Johnson is the owner of Nourish Me on Main Street in Ketchum. She is also a board member of the Ketchum Business Advisory Coalition, which is calling on the city to stop plans to redevelop a parking lot on Washington Street.

They argue that there already isn’t enough parking downtown — and that the city needs to approve a new parking management plan before it can move forward with the project.

“We wanted to keep that parking lot available and not allow it to be built over,” Johnson said.

Johnson said the city lost 25 parking spaces due to renovations on Main Street earlier this summer, which has already impacted local businesses.

The current plan for the Washington property calls for it to create 66 new residential units – which means the loss of another 120 parking spaces. But the city says it doesn’t own the property – and is just leasing it.

“It is owned by the Ketchum Urban Renewal Agency and the city of Ketchum leases it for use as a parking lot. So it wasn’t used as a parking lot before and their intention for the land was to always develop it, so parking was definitely an issue in that area.” “It’s a short-term project,” Daniel Hansen said.

Daniel Hansen is Ketchum’s community engagement manager. He says it is up to the authority that owns the property to stop the housing project plan.

“Any project-related questions should be directed to them. What I can say more generally is that we are trying to address our housing, just as the agency is trying to address housing,” said Ketchum Mayor Neil Bradshaw.

City leaders say they are constantly assessing whether there is enough parking, and they say there is currently enough parking. Ketchum’s mayor also said that the city is also dealing with a housing crisis and that the city needs at least 660 units over the next decade to address it.

“There is no panacea to combat the housing crisis, but we can gradually improve our situation by taking action,” said Mayor Bradshaw. “This includes new construction and the preservation of existing apartments as well as long-term rentals and short-term rentals.”

The city says it has plans to build an underground parking garage. As for the redevelopment of the Washington parking lot, it is still only in the proposal phase and has not yet been completed.

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