{"id":17224,"date":"2022-01-12T01:45:25","date_gmt":"2022-01-12T01:45:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/?p=17224"},"modified":"2022-01-11T20:57:59","modified_gmt":"2022-01-11T20:57:59","slug":"almost-preserved","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/2022\/01\/12\/almost-preserved\/","title":{"rendered":"Almost Preserved"},"content":{"rendered":"

Nearly $7.6M raised since beginning of Warm Springs Ranch preservation<\/i><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

By Eric Valentine<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"
A City of Ketchum illustrated map reveals where a parking lot is envisioned for the 65-acre lot. Image credit: City of Ketchum<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

If there\u2019s any question that natural history and its man-made counterpart can\u2019t coexist, recent events in Ketchum suggest otherwise. On the heels of reaching a multimillion-dollar fundraising milestone to preserve 65 acres of open space, Ketchum City Council made the latest effort to preserve historically significant buildings in the downtown core official.<\/p>\n

Specifically, on Jan. 3, City Council reconstituted the so-called Historic Preservation Commission\u2014a five-member panel made up of Planning and Zoning officials and other members of the public. In addition to maintaining and updating a list of historically important downtown structures, that panel will deep-dive review any proposed changes to those structures. A temporary ban on changes to potentially historic buildings had been in place since October of 2020.<\/p>\n

And on the natural preservation side of city business, the city announced it had reached the $6.5 million mark by the Dec. 31 deadline set by the current owners of the pristine property known as Warm Springs Ranch near Bald Mountain Road. The fundraising effort is part of an attempt to turn the property into a preserve, where both restoration efforts and a limited set of public uses could coexist.<\/p>\n

A special fundraising committee was set up last year to raise funds from residents and others to purchase the 65-acre property for, initially, a total of $10 million\u2014$9 million for the property and $1 million for the irrigation and site upgrades. Soon after, the committee announced a $1 million reduction in the sale price, which had a timeline contingency attached. Finally, a fundraising committee member also ponied up a $1 million time-contingent offer toward the effort. Both timeline benchmarks were reached successfully.<\/p>\n

\u201cThanks to the generosity of 687 donors, the total raised since the start of the campaign is now $7,599,446.90,\u201d the city announced in a press release last week. \u201cWith this much raised, the city is essentially $400,000 away from the $8 million purchase price of the property, and $1.4 million away from the full campaign goal.\u201d<\/p>\n

The full amount to purchase 65 acres of the Warm Springs Ranch property must be in hand by April 2022.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t thank this community enough for responding so generously to the two year-end incentives,\u201d said Mayor Neil Bradshaw. \u201cWe don\u2019t have much further to go and with the support we\u2019ve had so far, I\u2019m confident we will get where we need to be.\u201d<\/p>\n

Warm Springs Preserve will be kept as open space in perpetuity for the community if the campaign to purchase the property succeeds.<\/p>\n

Priorities for the Preserve include off-leash dog access, creek and habitat restoration, new water-conscious irrigation system, walking trails, informal gatherings and activities, Nordic ski and snowshoe trails, and public restrooms. Development, organized sports and reserved private or commercial events would be restricted.<\/p>\n

Currently, the property is zoned to allow significant development. However, a subdivision application and approval from the city would still be required.<\/p>\n

For more information and to find ways to give, visit www.warmspringspreserve.org. If you have questions about the fundraising campaign or the city\u2019s plans for the property, please email warmspringspreserve@gmail.com<\/p>\n

WARM SPRINGS PRESERVE<\/b><\/p>\n

Proposed Allowable Uses<\/b><\/p>\n

\u2022 Dog Park \u2022 Picnics \u2022 Connector Trails \u2022 Riparian Zone<\/b><\/p>\n

\u2022 Water-conscious Irrigation \u2022 Nordic Skiing \u2022 Snowshoeing<\/b><\/p>\n

\u2022 Green Space Preserve \u2022 Public Restrooms<\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Nearly $7.6M raised since beginning of Warm Springs Ranch preservation By Eric Valentine If there\u2019s any question that natural history and its man-made counterpart can\u2019t coexist, recent events in Ketchum suggest otherwise. On the heels of reaching a multimillion-dollar fundraising milestone to preserve 65 acres of open space, Ketchum City Council made the latest effort […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":17230,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","_pvb_checkbox_block_on_post":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[72,5,86,18,28],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-17224","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-community","8":"category-environment-2","9":"category-ketchum","10":"category-news","11":"category-recreation"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17224","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17224"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17224\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17245,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17224\/revisions\/17245"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17230"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17224"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17224"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17224"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}