Sun Valley Community School's Dumke Family Sagewillow Campus Rezone Application

Click on the image above to read our rezone application.

Faculty + Staff Housing at sagewillow campus

Sun Valley Community School is committed to help address the lack of workforce housing in the Wood River Valley. This is a vital effort as housing concerns are directly impacting the School's ability to recruit and retain excellent faculty and staff. Already, we have invested in 10 faculty housing units in Hailey and Sun Valley, and we also offer a rent assistance program. In total, we have helped over 40 faculty and staff with housing for the 2022-23 school year. But we know that is not enough—for our school and for our community at large. 

To address the housing issue in our community, we have been working closely with our neighbors in Elkhorn to create a potential housing plan for our Sagewillow Campus and adjacent Arrowleaf lots (combined, nearly 40 acres). This effort has been a part of our zoning application process with the City of Sun Valley. 

Gifted to the school in 1998, the Dumke Family Sagewillow Campus and the adjacent Arrowleaf lots, which the school purchased in 2011, are ideally positioned to be part of the solution. The last two City of Sun Valley Comprehensive Plans and Land Use Planning Maps have identified elements of the property as appropriate for a tapestry of uses including low and medium density housing, public/institutional, recreation, and open space. 

WHY REZONE NOW?

A few years ago, the City of Sun Valley revised City code and did away with the OR-1 zoning that covered most of Sagewillow Campus. Because that OR-1 zoning is obsolete, Sagewillow is currently without zoning. In the fall of 2021, the City of Sun Valley asked the school to submit a rezoning application that addresses both housing and potential programming needs. We have been working to that end since.  The City's requirements of landowners whose OR-1 zoning says:  

"Lands that are zoned open recreation (OR-1) prior to the adoption of the development code and the creation of the recreation and open space zoning districts (ordinance 382, 2006) and designated as OR-1 on the official zoning map shall be required to apply for and receive an official zoning map amendment consistent with the land use designation shown on the comprehensive plan future land use map prior to, or in conjunction with, the processing of any development applications for improvements on the respective OR-1 zoned lands."

An Iterative Process

The School and a working committee composed of representatives from 7 adjacent or near-adjacent HOAs developed a proposal that is in keeping with the spirit of the City's 2015 Comprehensive Plan, which anticipated a need for housing on the property. 

The proposal is a compromise solution that grew out of many conversations, workshops, iterations and revisions. As a part of the rezoning process, the School has surveyed the wider Elkhorn community twice—once in May and again in July. The process has been inclusive, extensive, and responsive. 

HOW CAN YOU HELP?

Residents of Sun Valley can write a letter of support to the City of Sun Valley or show up to speak in support of our rezone application at the public Planning and Zoning meeting on November 16 at 9:00. To submit a letter, email it to bskelton@sunvalleyidaho.gov. 

Click here for a template for a letter of support. Use this if you would like, add or edit or write your own. 

The 2015 Comprehensive Plan identifies:

- Two areas for medium density housing,

- One area for public/institutional development,

- A swath of open space land, 

- Two areas for recreational land,

- and five lots for low density housing (Arrowleaf lots). 

We have developed three options for the Sagewillow campus, each guided by the 2015 Comp Plan, comments received at two public hearings, and many conversations and workshops with neighbors immediately adjacent or near-adjacent to the campus. We are also working with a well-regarded land-use planning firm (GGLO). These plans shift some of the Comp Plan's suggested zoning/usages to satisfy the school's need for workforce housing options, honor the requests of the adjacent neighbors, and protect the character of the Sagewillow/Elkhorn area. 

It is worth noting that each plan proposed by the School increases the amount of recreational space compared to the City of Sun Valley 2015 Comprehensive Plan Land Use Map. 

The proposed option achieves: 

+ General conformity with the SV Comprehensive Plan, with some changes merited by requests from neighbors. 
+ Decreases allowable housing density for the Dumke Family Sagewillow Campus and Arrowleaf subdivision as a whole in comparison to SV Comp Plan (down from the FLUM suggested 96 units to 40). 
+ Using Arrowleaf lots utilizes existing infrastructure (electricity, water, etc.).
+ Shift and cluster density in response to requests from adjacent neighbors. 
+ Lesser environmental and wildlife impact.
+ More than doubles the Open Space acres in comparison to 2015 comp plan. 
+ Protects view corridors and the natural environment through design, siting, and self-imposed height limits for any future building application or project. 
+ If the zoning request is approved, before moving forward with a housing project, there will be intentional time for design review and a well-established process for comments / input from the community and SVEA.