Bureau of Land Management officials continue to explore options for a new office in Challis.

Now under consideration is construction of a new field office, warehouse, storage area, parking lot and housing units for government employees. The BLM is eyeing that development on two parcels of BLM-managed public lands in Challis. If either option advances, the buildings and improvements would be owned by the BLM.

The BLM’s preferred option is to build a 10,000-square foot building, a 5,000-square foot warehouse, an 18,000-square foot ware yard, a parking lot and about 3,600 square feet of living quarters on 12 acres about 3 miles south of Challis, across U.S. Highway 93 from the Challis Bridge recreation site. Corrigan Lane crosses the proposed site, BLM Public Affairs Officer Bruce Hallman said.

The BLM is looking at options because it has a temporary lease for space in the Challis middle school building. BLM offices were relocated in late 2016 after a fire destroyed the former office building on Blue Mountain Road.

The BLM was housed for about seven months in the Challis Community Event Center before renting space in the school in May 2017. At that time, BLM officials said the plan was to stay in the middle school for two or three years.

School board members had discussed possibly selling the middle school, and the gym that’s next to it, to a company which was interested in remodeling the building to meet BLM needs and then leasing the building to the BLM for decades. But, school officials were unhappy that the possible sale price of the two buildings was nowhere close to enough to pay for a new auditorium or gym at the existing schools. The school district regularly uses the auditorium in the middle school and the gym and replacement space was needed if those buildings were sold.

An alternate option for a new BLM office that’s also under review is to build on about 5.5 acres on Valley Avenue now used by the Forest Service. That parcel is across the street from Challis Mini Storage.

BLM officials have extended the deadline for people to comment on the plans to July 29. Comments may be submitted to BLM Challis Field Office Realty Specialist Lisa Scheirer at lscheirer@blm.gov or 208-879-6218. After the comment period closes, an environmental assessment will be prepared to evaluate the effects of the plans.

Last month, Challis City Council members discussed a request they’d received from TOK Commercial Real Estate, about leasing city-owned land near the airport to TOK. In turn, TOK was considering constructing buildings and storage areas which it would lease to the BLM. While the mayor and council members indicated they were OK with such a lease, no formal action was taken.

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