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1) Draft
Comp Plan way off track -- please help get it
back • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 1) Draft Comp Plan way off track -- please help get it back Nearly a year after the community weighed in on the first draft of the Jackson/Teton County Comprehensive Plan, the long-awaited second draft was released on April 13. Without fundamental changes, this new draft WILL NOT protect what makes Jackson Hole world-renowned -- our rural landscape and the irreplaceable wildlife that it sustains. The draft does not represent the will of the community, and it fails to provide good, predictable planning in fundamental ways. (Click here for our special 8-page report that outlines our concerns and suggestions.) The draft plan rests on a number of weak assumptions -- assumptions that could doom many of its intended goals. For example, at a basic level, it doesn’t address drivers of growth, such as commercial development, and their impacts, such as workforce housing shortages. If a plan doesn’t recognize these impacts and doesn’t address the likely results of different land-use decisions, how can it offer policies to solve growth-related problems? Real solutions require real assessments. Our community said that the Comp Plan’s top priority should be protecting wildlife throughout Jackson Hole. This necessitates a unique planning approach. So far, this draft seems founded too much on wishful thinking and not enough on ecological realities. As development occurs on the valley’s private lands, their key role in providing winter range dwindles, putting local wildlife populations that are already in decline at even more risk. And wildlife habitat is everywhere, not just in outlying rural areas. Given this basic information, why would the new draft suggest, as it does, that it’s okay to place high-density residential development in and adjacent to crucial wildlife habitat? Major discrepancies between the Comp Plan’s policies and its recommended future land use plans highlight how much this new draft needs work. JACKSON HOLE NEEDS YOUR HELP TO GET THE PLAN BACK ON TRACK. Please speak up by May 15 and demand that the new plan will do what our community has repeatedly said we want it to do -- protect Jackson Hole's wildlife, natural resources, scenery and character. Comments received by May 15 will be compiled for planning commissioners as they begin hearings in early June. If you can’t hit May 15, please make sure to comment by May 29 at the latest. The draft and links to online comment forms are available at www.jacksontetonplan.com. Please visit www.jhalliance.org/issuescompplan.htm to find out how to get your hands on a printed copy, and for specifics about our concerns. The Conservation Alliance will continue to analyze this new draft and work to bring forward constructive and specific suggestions to fix it. We will post our recommendations here later this month -- please check back. Questions? Come to our weekly Comp Plan discussions, 4 to 5:45 p.m. each Thursday through May 21 at the Alliance office, 685 S. Cache. Or contact Alliance community planning director Kristy Bruner at (307) 733-9417 or Kristy@jhalliance.org. Also, town and county planners have scheduled
the following meetings in May on the Comp Plan.
They say they’re presenting the same information
at each meeting and answering questions, but they
will not be taking public comments: • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • (Back to top) 2) Town gateway developments raise concerns; affordable housing sidetracked In addition to the Comp Plan, the Conservation Alliance keeps an eye on many other community planning matters. Here’s a brief roundup, however, please note that all meetings are subject to change. Call the Town of Jackson at (307) 733-3932, Teton County at (307) 733-8094, or reach Alliance community planning director Kristy Bruner at Kristy@jhalliance.org or (307) 733-9417 for confirmation. If you’d like to comment on any of these issues, contact information for all local public officials is available at www.jhalliance.org/takeactioncontacts.htm. “Y” INTERSECTION DEVELOPER TRIES AGAIN -- Jackson Town Council workshop, May 18, 3 p.m., Council chambers, 150 E. Pearl. On March 2, town councilors voted 3-2 to deny the Sandhill Ridge planned unit development application for an 87-unit residential condo complex next to the strapped Broadway-Hwy. 22 intersection. On March 16, the applicant asked councilors to reconsider their vote. They didn’t, so normally the developer would have to wait a year before trying again. However, on May 18, the Town Council is scheduled to hear a "successive application" for the Sandhill Ridge PUD. Basically, the applicant will present a revised project plan (including fewer total units), and councilors will decide if the project is different enough from the version that was voted down in March that the applicant doesn’t have to wait a year to get it back on the table. We’ll keep you posted. (UPDATE: The developer withdrew this application shortly before the May 18th meeting.) NORTH CACHE PLANNED MIXED-USE DEVELOPMENT -- Jackson Planning Commission, May 20, 5:30 p.m., Council chambers, 150 E. Pearl. On May 20, North Cache Investments, LLC, will ask planning commissioners for final approval of its 45,492-square-foot planned mixed-use development project in the 300 block of North Cache. (Town councilors approved the master plan for the four-story project on Feb. 2.) The Conservation Alliance continues to question the approval of large, precedent-setting upzones, particularly at Jackson’s gateways and during our community’s ongoing comprehensive plan process. The Comp Plan can’t protect something that’s already gone. We urge you to read our special report on development in the Town of Jackson, available at www.jhalliance.org/Library/Alerts/2009/TownDevelopment.3-09.pdf, and to visit www.jhalliance.org/library.htm#comments for links to our comments on gateway development and the North Cache and Sandhill Ridge projects. STAGE STOP APPLICATION -- Jackson Town Council, May 4, 6 p.m., Council chambers,150 E. Pearl. As a follow up to their April 20 meeting, councilors are scheduled to continue discussing sketch plan approval of this 31,494-square-foot above-grade lodging and retail facility at 135 N. Cache and 120 N. Glenwood. (UPDATE: This discussion has been continued again to May 18, same time and location.) For the Town of Jackson planning staff’s report on this application, visit www.jhalliance.org/Library/Alerts/2009/Stagestop.3-09.pdf. TOWN AFFORDABLE HOUSING MITIGATION ORDINANCE SIDETRACKED -- An ordinance to increase affordable housing mitigation rates in town from 15 to 25 percent was set back during its second hearing on April 20, when town councilors directed planning staff to add an exemption for single lot splits. (UPDATE: On May 4, the Jackson Town Council approved the first reading of an ordinance that gives single-lot splits a one-time exemption from affordable housing requirements for residential developments. Councilors arranged for this ordinance and the one raising mitigation rates to be heard again on May 18, 6 p.m., Council chambers, 150 E. Pearl.) Please visit www.jhalliance.org/Library/Alerts/AffordableHousing.2-08.pdf for background information about affordable housing issues. A related item: The Teton County Housing Authority asked us to let our readers know that they can sign up for TCHA’s new newsletter at www.tetonwyo.org/housing/nav/202715.asp.• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • (Back to top) 3) Comments sought on Jackson Hole Airport lease extension As the only airport operating in a national park, Jackson Hole Airport does so under a lease agreement with Grand Teton. The current agreement was signed in 1983 and expires in 2033, but it’s being proposed for extension because the Federal Aviation Administration requires airports to either own their own land or have at least a 20-year lease before they’ll help fund capital improvements. Unless the lease is extended, the FAA would no longer fund projects at Jackson Hole Airport after 2013, and major projects, such as those intended for safety, efficiency or expanded capacity, would likely not occur without FAA assistance. A draft environmental impact statement is available at www.nps.gov/grte/parkmgmt/planning.htm; it’s open for public comment until June 10. The DEIS offers two alternatives. Under the first “no action” alternative, the lease would not be renewed and the airport would close operations in 2033, when the site would be restored to its former natural condition. The second “preferred” alternative, which includes noise and construction restrictions, would extend the lease for two 10-year periods expiring in 2053. Please contact Franz Camenzind at (307) 733-9417 or Franz@jhalliance.org for more information.• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • (Back to top) 4) Other public lands news BRIDGER-TETON MANAGEMENT PLAN REVISION UPDATE -- At the Alliance’s Feb. 5 forum on the B-T’s management plan, Rick Fox explained that forest officials had decided to make amendments to the forest’s 1990 plan rather than revise the whole thing because legal wrangling over federal rules had stymied that process. Fox recently told the Alliance that the B-T expects to publish an evaluation of the forest early this summer, and that scoping on some proposed actions for amending its 1990 Plan Standards and Guidelines will likely begin June 1. We’ll keep you posted. B-T OFF-HIGHWAY MAPS NOW AVAILABLE -- New rules for dirt bikes, ATVs and other motorized vehicles take effect May 1 on more than 255,000 acres of the northern part of the Bridger-Teton. The result of years of work, the North Zone OHV summer travel plan restricts motorized vehicles to designated trails and roads, with additional seasonal closures. This reduces their effects on wildlife and habitat, and provides a safer and better trail system for all recreational users. Maps of the changes are available at www.fs.fed.us/r4/btnf/maps and at the Visitors Center on North Cache. ELK REFUGE IRRIGATION PROJECT -- The National Elk Refuge has released a draft environmental assessment on a project to increase irrigation on the refuge. Refuge managers say that expanding the irrigation system by 3,400 acres will increase forage and help reduce the herd’s reliance on supplemental feeding, thus reducing the potential for disease transmission. However, efforts to transition elk to protected native ranges may prove more effective. The Alliance’s scoping comments are available at www.jhalliance.org/library.htm#comments; we’ll post our comments on the EA there later this month. Comments are due by May 28 to: National Elk Refuge, Attention Irrigation EA, P.O. Box 510, Jackson, WY 83001 or nationalelkrefuge@fws.gov with Irrigation EA in the subject line. NORTHERN ROCKIES ECOSYSTEM PROTECTION ACT -- NREPA
is a federal act that would designate 24 million
acres in the states of Wyoming, Idaho, Montana
and Oregon as wilderness. The bill, in one form
or another, has been introduced in Congress off
and on since 1994. This latest version, H. R. 980,
includes less acreage than previous versions and
will be considered by the National Parks, Forests
and Public Lands subcommittee on May 5. Maps of
the proposed areas are available at www.wildrockiesalliance.org/issues/nrepa/mapIndex.shtml.
(Some areas included in these maps are currently
developed and would not be eligible for inclusion
in the Wilderness Preservation System. Final boundaries
would be determined depending upon existing roads,
development and other wilderness criteria.) To
comment to the subcommittee, call (202) 226-7736
or fax (202) 226-2301. Wyoming’s U.S. Rep.
Cynthia Lummis is a member; please consider asking
her to pass the bill on to the full House of Representatives: • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • (Back to top) 5) Rule limiting Endangered Species Act protections overturned In a welcome move, the Obama administration in April overturned a rule enacted in late 2008 that allowed federal agencies to police themselves on many projects that formerly required independent review. Now, federal agencies will again have to consult with scientists from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service or the National Marine Fisheries Service before taking actions that could harm animals and plants that are in danger of extinction. “By rolling back this eleventh-hour regulation, we are ensuring that threatened and endangered species continue to receive the full protection of the law,” said Interior Secretary Ken Salazar. More than 250,000 people commented on the rule change last fall; the vast majority opposed it because it left too much discretion to agencies whose mission was not species conservation. • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • (Back to top) 6) Coming Events Each Thursday through May 21 Entire Month of May Saturday, May 9 Tuesday, May 19 Wednesday, May 20 Saturday, May 30 Friday, June 5 Friday, June 12, and Saturday, June 13 • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • (Back to top) 7) Valley Echoes “At the smallest levels of political infrastructure
-- -- Brad Mead, Generation IV column,
4/22/09 Jackson Hole News&Guide
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • Alliance Action is a publication of the Jackson Hole Conservation Alliance. The Conservation Alliance is a nonprofit, 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to responsible land stewardship in Jackson Hole to ensure that human activities are in harmony with the area’s irreplaceable wildlife, scenic, and other natural resources. We’re located at 685 South Cache Street in Jackson, Wyoming. Our mailing address is P.O. Box 2728, Jackson, WY 83001-2728 and our phone number is (307) 733-9417. If you'd like to sign up to receive our monthly Alliance Action via email, please click here. |
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