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1) Preliminary
draft of Comprehensive Plan raises concerns • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 1) Preliminary draft of Comprehensive Plan raises concerns In May, our community got its first look at the countywide preferred land-use plan and policies recommended by Clarion Associates, the Comp Plan consultant. (The full draft of the preferred plan and comment forms were posted online at www.jacksontetonplan.com/surveys on June 5. Online comments are due by July 11.) While the preliminary plan includes some positive elements, the Conservation Alliance is concerned that it pays lip service to community goals without laying the groundwork to accomplish them. Making the transition from broad goals, such as managing growth responsibly and protecting wildlife, to lines on the map is challenging. And granted, this is just a first draft of the plan. But it needs to start on the right track if it’s going to help sustain our unique community. Our initial comments (available at www.jhalliance.org/Library/Alerts/DraftCompPlanComments.5-08.pdf)
include these key areas of concern: In mid-June, in response to concerns raised by the Conservation Alliance and others, county and town planners decided to hold a number of Comp Plan meetings in various communities in June and July. A schedule is available at www.jhalliance.org/Library/Alerts/CompPlanMeetings.JuneJuly-08.pdf. In addition to these meetings, Alliance community planning director Kristy Bruner will be available to answer Comp Plan questions 4 to 6 p.m. every Tuesday from June 24 through July 22. Just stop by the Alliance office at 685 S. Cache St., at the base of Snow King ski hill. (Visit www.jhalliance.org/contact.htm for a map.) Even though the draft plan comment period is
tentatively set to end July 11, RIGHT NOW is
the time that county and town planning commissioners
and electeds need to hear what you think about
how the Comp Plan update process is going. Teton Board of County Commissioners: commissioners@tetonwyo.org Teton County Planning Commissioners: planningcom@tetonwyo.org Teton County lead planner Alex Norton: anorton@tetonwyo.org Mayor Mark Barron, Town of Jackson: mbarron@ci.jackson.wy.us Jackson Town Council: electedofficials@ci.jackson.wy.us Jackson Planning Commissioners: Email care of
Annette Despain, assistant planner, at adespain@ci.jackson.wy.us Town of Jackson planning director Tyler Sinclair: tsinclair@ci.jackson.wy.us Town of Jackson principal planner Jeff Noffsinger: jnoffsinger@ci.jackson.wy.us Letters to the editor will also help during this critical time. Remember to include your full name, hometown and a means of contacting you for verification: Jackson Hole News&Guide: editor@jhnewsandguide.com Planet JH: grace@planetjh.com The Conservation Alliance will continue to monitor and comment on further drafts of the Comp Plan as they become available. For further information, contact Alliance community planning director Kristy Bruner at Kristy@jhalliance.org or (307)733-9417. Meanwhile, for background information, please check out “Balancing Act,” our publication on growth and the Comp Plan update. Look for it around town or pick up a copy at the Alliance office, 685 S. Cache. It’s also available online at www.jhalliance.org/Library/Alerts/CompPlanUpdate.2-08.pdf. • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • (Back to top) 2) Temporary freeze on some upzones eases development crush On May 6, the Teton Board of County Commissioners voted 3-2 to enact an immediate moratorium through the end of 2008 on new residential subdivisions and zone changes on parcels greater than 20 acres, which included Teton Meadows Ranch (see below). A moratorium is a common planning tool used by communities in the process of working on their comprehensive plans. Conditions in Teton County -- a rapid influx of large development proposals at the same time as our Comp Plan update -- warranted this move. Although the moratorium doesn’t include the Town of Jackson, and excludes parcels smaller than 20 acres in the county, it should still help give our community some elbow room to shape future development before development shapes us. In related news, on June 4, Teton County Planning Commissioner Tony Wall announced that he plans to propose a countywide moratorium on commercial development at the commission's June 9 meeting, 6 p.m., County commissioners' chambers, 200 S. Willow. (On June 17, the Teton Board of County Commissioners voted 3-1 to hold a hearing on July 1, 9 a.m., 200 S. Willow, on the county planning commission's recommendation to temporarily ban commercial developments larger than 3,450 square feet and those that don't promise to house all of their workers. County commissioners also will consider whether to allow redevelopment projects to proceed if the new building's size is more than 10 percent larger than what's being replaced.) Wall said commercial development is creating a need for more employee and affordable housing than developers are required to build, making the valley's housing problems worse. As quoted in the June 5 Jackson Hole Daily, Wall said, "We can't keep adding to the problem by permitting more commercial construction and development that doesn't mitigate its own need for employee housing." Wall added that it's the combination of resort and town development -- specifically large-scale planned mixed-use developments in Jackson -- that led to his decision to call for a moratorium. (See #4 below for more on PMUDs.) • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • (Back to top) 3) Developer pulls Teton Meadows Ranch proposal On May 23, following months of controversy, Sequoia Development officially withdrew its development application for Teton Meadows Ranch, a proposal to put 500 homes on 288 acres of the rural-zoned Seherr-Thoss property in South Park. County commissioners had voted on May 6 to include Teton Meadows in a temporary moratorium (see above), but seemed to leave the door open for the developer to request a “reasonable exception” to the moratorium, especially since the commissioners did not cancel a Teton Meadows Ranch hearing set for May 7. However, the county was notified on May 7 that the developer was not going to appear at this hearing, and it was cancelled one hour before it was set to begin. The Conservation Alliance had opposed the Teton Meadows proposal for reasons outlined at www.jhalliance.org/Library/Alerts/TetonMeadowsFAQ.3-20-08.pdf, and because it came at a time when it would have compromised our community’s Comp Plan update process. We would like to thank the more than 850 people who spoke up for strong, smart land-use planning for Jackson Hole by signing our petition asking commissioners to deny the proposal. For more information, please contact Kristy Bruner at Kristy@jhalliance.org or (307) 733-9417.• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • (Back to top) 4) Other community news includes mixed-use developments, affordable housing, Wilson In addition to the above items, the Conservation Alliance is monitoring several other county and town private lands matters. Here’s a brief roundup, however, the following meetings are subject to change. Please call Teton County at (307) 733-8094 or the Town of Jackson at (307) 734-3993 for confirmation, or contact Alliance community planning director Kristy Bruner at Kristy@jhalliance.org or (307)733-9417. 156,000-SQUARE-FOOT HOTEL PROPOSED NEAR 5-WAY -- Jackson Town Council, June 16, 6 p.m., Town Hall, 150 E. Pearl. (This hearing has been continued to July 7, same time and place.) On May 21, Town planning commissioners voted 4-0 to recommend approval of a planned mixed-use development proposal for a hotel complex at the current Painted Buffalo site at 400 W. Broadway. The applicant, Mills Wyoming Hotel LLC, wants to build a four-story, 163-room luxury hotel (including a spa and fitness center, meeting space, restaurant, bar and some retail) using Jackson’s planned mixed-use development standard, rather than apply as a hotel, even though the development is nearly 93 percent lodging. (Under the PMUD, larger buildings and more dense development are permitted if parking and employee housing requirements are met on site.) The Conservation Alliance questions the bulk and scale of this proposed 156,000-square-foot hotel, particularly given its prominence at the main gateway to downtown. The application for a 70,000-square-foot-plus Marriott Hotel proposed at Pearl and Broadway, adjacent to the Mills project, is currently on hold. Either development would affect Jackson’s character. Also, consideration of such projects detracts from the current Comp Plan update process, which is supposed to take into account the community’s input about the kinds of development preferred in the downtown area. In all the recent Comp Plan surveys (available at the Comp Plan website, www.jacksontetonplan.com), the majority of the public has consistently said they don’t want four-story buildings along major corridors. Adopted in 2001, the planned-mixed use development tool was intended to encourage redevelopment that would allow people to live, work and shop in Jackson, but a rash of PMUD applications and approvals has raised concerns. Planning tools are supposed to carry out the community vision laid out in the Comp Plan. If they’re not working as intended, they should be modified or eliminated. On June 2, the Conservation Alliance submitted a letter to the Jackson Town Council recommending that they enact an immediate, temporary moratorium on all development proposals using the PMUD. This would give planning staff time to 1) focus on the Comp Plan update, and 2) evaluate the PMUD to determine if or how it can be modified to better implement community goals. (A PDF of the letter is available at www.jhalliance.org/Library/Alerts/PMUDmoratorreq6-2-08.pdf.) CONDOMINIUM CONVERSIONS AND AFFORDABLE HOUSING -- During a May 19 discussion about the town’s apartment-to-condo conversion policies, the Jackson Town Council decided that a study should be conducted on rental housing in Jackson to see if a problem exists, and if so, what the extent of the problem is. (A moratorium on condo conversions is set to end July 13, so the study is under a time crunch.) As real estate prices have shot up, more apartment building owners are converting rental units to condos, and displaced renters have fewer options for places to live. The Conservation Alliance promotes diverse strategies to address affordable housing, including preserving current inventory and increasing mitigation rates for residential and commercial development. Policies that don’t protect existing workforce housing exacerbate the demand for additional affordable units. (Plus, to date, the Town Council continues to stall discussions on the need for increased affordable housing mitigation rates. (The county raised the rate from 15 to 25 percent last year, but Jackson's is still 15 percent.) The 2007 Housing Needs Assessment, available from the Teton County Housing Authority, recommends increasing the mitigation rate to a minimum of 40 percent just to “keep up” with housing needs associated with new growth.) Get informed about the strategies our community can use to address affordable housing at www.jhalliance.org/Library/Alerts/AffordableHousing.2-08.pdf. Voice your support to adopt policies that protect the workforce housing we already have on the ground. For more information, contact Kristy Bruner at (307) 733-9417 or Kristy@jhalliance.org. COUNTY AFFORDABLE HOUSING “FEE IN-LIEU” INCREASE -- On May 20, the Teton Board of County Commissioners voted to increase the affordable housing “fee in-lieu” for residential development, as proposed by the Teton County Housing Authority. In effect, commissioners voted to gradually increase fees by basing them on 2006 market conditions rather than the 2007 market conditions recommended by planning staff. Regardless, the intent was for residential developers to pay fees that are closer to covering the costs of providing affordable housing (in the event they opt to not actually build the number of affordable homes required to mitigate for the impacts of the new development). According to an April planning staff report, "Projects using an in-lieu fee are currently paying to house only about one-tenth of the population required to be housed by the regulations. As a result, either the required percentage of people to be housed in each new development is not met, or the public subsidizes the remainder of the developer's obligation." However, on June 3, after hearing complaints from valley real estate agents and developers about the burden the increased fees would create, the commissioners decided to reconsider the fee increases on July 1. In a related matter, the Teton County Planning Commission is scheduled to consider an amendment to increase the in-lieu fee for commercial employee housing mitigation on June 9, 6 p.m., County commissioners' chambers, 200 S. Willow. WILSON COMMERCIAL ZONING DISTRICT -- Teton Board of County Commissioners, July 1, 9 a.m., County commissioners’ chambers, 200 S. Willow. Commissioners will continue to discuss a proposal to create a commercial zoning district for Wilson on July 1. County planners say some of the development allowed in Wilson’s commercial core under current zoning could drastically change the town’s character, while some types of development desired by residents is prohibited. At this meeting, more discussion is expected on how the commercial use will be restricted and what percentage of commercial is appropriate. For details, visit www.tetonwyo.org/plan and click on “Link to Wilson Planning Page” in the Announcements box. TEXT AMENDMENT REGARDING ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENTS -- Teton County Planning Commission, June 23, 6 p.m., County commissioners' chambers, 200 S. Willow. County planning commissioners will consider a proposed text amendment to the land development regulations on June 23 that would require the county to hire the consultants who conduct environmental assessments on properties. (Developers would still pay for the required studies.) Currently, developers hire and pay consultants to do assessments required for certain developments, such as those within the Natural Resource Overlay. This amendment would avert potential conflicts of interest. The Conservation Alliance strongly supports a change in policy that would require such consultants to be hired by Teton County rather than the developer. • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • (Back to top) 5) Path of the Pronghorn amendment leads Bridger-Teton news Here’s a roundup of current issues regarding the national forest that surrounds Jackson Hole: PATH OF THE PRONGHORN -- At the Conservation Alliance’s Party for the Pronghorn on May 31, Bridger-Teton National Forest Supervisor Kniffy Hamilton signed an amendment to the 1990 forest management plan officially designating the Teton pronghorn herd’s migration corridor as an area to be protected. Calling the act “one of the highlights of my whole career,” Hamilton said it would allow for continued successful pronghorn migration through Forest Service lands. The legally binding amendment won't change many current activities in the corridor, but it's designed to make sure future activities won't harm the migration. For some 6,000 years, antelope have used a 90-mile-long crucial artery between the herd’s winter range in Sublette County and summer range in Grand Teton National Park. But several places along the path make passage difficult. Rivers, trees and steep cliffs pinch the route down to just meters wide at some points, increasing the pronghorns’ exposure to predators. Even worse, human development has caused additional bottlenecks. Oil and gas wells, roads, houses, fences -- all make a dangerous journey even more perilous. Designation of the “Path of the Pronghorn” is a major step forward for conservationists, federal land managers and state wildlife agencies’ efforts to permanently protect the pronghorns and their ancient route. NORTH ZONE MOTORIZED TRAVEL PLAN DRAFT EIS -- Currently, there are no restrictions on motorized travel from May 1 through Nov. 30 on more than 255,000 acres of the northern part of the Bridger-Teton. This has led to disturbed wildlife, degraded habitat and miles of user-created trails. To address these problems, in early May, Forest Service officials unveiled parts of a draft environmental impact statement on a travel plan for off-road motorized vehicles. Comment forms and the chapters of the draft that are complete so far, including maps of five alternative trail systems ranging from decreased motorized recreational opportunities to greater access, are available at www.fs.fed.us/r4/btnf/projects/travelrevision/index.shtml. The preferred Alternative D “falls somewhere in the middle,” according to Bridger-Teton staff. Once the plan is finalized, summertime motorized use will only be allowed on designated routes. (The plan doesn’t address wintertime snowmachine use.) The remainder of the draft is expected to be released in mid-June, after which people will have 45 days to make further comments. We’ll keep you posted. GOLD MINING ON THE B-T -- Forest Service officials recently approved an application to allow gold mining on 5 acres along Cottonwood Creek in the Gros Ventre drainage of the Bridger-Teton. Claim owners now have permission to dig 15 test pits this summer and, should the site prove commercially profitable, they could then seek to expand operations to more than 340 adjacent acres. B-T officials said an 1872 mining law made it difficult for them to deny the test trenches, which they allowed via a “categorical exclusion” -- a project considered too small to merit environmental review under the National Environmental Policy Act. For more information about the General Mining Act of 1872 and efforts to reform it, visit www.earthworksaction.org/1872.cfm. CONTESTED WYOMING RANGE LEASES -- Responding to charges questioning the integrity of allowing an energy company to fund and participate in an environmental analysis of leases it partly owns, Bridger-Teton officials have cancelled an agreement with Stanley Energy. (See Item #5 in last month’s Alliance Action at www.jhalliance.org/Library/AllianceAction/May08AA.htm for background information.) This company -- with arguably something to gain if some 44,700 acres of contested drilling leases on the Wyoming Range are validated -- had a memorandum of understanding with the forest that allowed it to influence the current supplemental environmental impact analysis. (The contested leases have been suspended since 2006, when the federal Interior Board of Land Appeals ruled that an earlier National Environmental Policy Act analysis didn’t adequately consider impacts to wildlife and the environment.) Although B-T officials have since terminated the agreement and say they will publish notes from planning meetings that Stanley Energy representatives attended to alleviate the public’s concerns, they are nevertheless proceeding with the SEIS process. The draft SEIS is expected in September, and the final SEIS and Record of Decision in December.• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • (Back to top) 6) Snake Headwaters, Wyoming Range legislation advances Both the Snake Headwaters Legacy Act and the Wyoming Range Legacy Act moved out of committee in May and onto the U.S. Senate floor for an as-yet-unscheduled vote. On May 7, the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee passed the Snake River bill by a 12-10 vote, and the Wyoming Range bill cleared by a 13-9 vote. Both bills now must be acted on by the full Senate before moving to the House of Representatives. U.S. Sen. John Barrasso has brought these bills instigated by the late Sen. Craig Thomas a long way, but they still have a ways to go. We encourage everyone to contact the senator and express your appreciation for his work to protect these special areas of Wyoming. If passed, the Wyoming Range Legacy Act will protect more than 1.2 million acres of the Wyoming Range of the Bridger-Teton National Forest by prohibiting future oil and gas leasing. There’s also a process in the bill that would allow current leases to be bought out so that they could then be retired. Visit www.wyomingrange.org for more information on efforts to protect the Wyoming Range. The Snake Headwaters Legacy Act would designate almost 400 miles of the Snake River and its headwaters as wild, scenic or recreational. Visit www.snakeheadwaters.org for details. Comments can be made to: • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • (Back to top) 7) Hunting season for Wyoming’s wolves? Pending the outcome of a May 29 injunction hearing, the Wyoming Game and Fish Department is planning a series of statewide public meetings to determine the 2008 wolf-hunting season. A draft of the proposed season is available at http://gf.state.wy.us/services/education/wolves/index.asp. The meeting schedules and locations are as follows: The hunting proposal extends across the Trophy Game Area, which is divided into 4 hunt units. The Gros Ventre unit, which encompasses the Jackson area, has a quota of five wolves and a season running from Oct. 1 through Nov. 15. The season for the Francs Peak hunting unit to the north, which encompasses the Teton Wilderness, runs from Oct. 1 through Nov. 30 and has a quota of 10 wolves. These two units overlap the majority of the territories of the six wolf packs using Grand Teton National Park and the greater Jackson Hole area. Under the worst-case scenario, the 60-plus wolves in this area could suffer as many as 15 deaths. If there’s any good news in this proposed hunting season, it’s that for now, there will be no trapping allowed and the season will end when the quota for each unit is met, regardless of whether or not the closing date has been reached. All comments must be in writing and must be
submitted at the public meetings or be received
at the following address by 5 p.m. on July 3: • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • (Back to top) 8) Coming Events Friday, 6/6 Saturday, 6/7 Tuesday, 6/10 Sunday, 6/15 Wednesday, 6/18 Wednesday, 6/18 • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • (Back to top) 9) Valley Echoes “No matter how much cats fight, there always seem to be plenty of kittens.” -- Abraham Lincoln
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • Alliance Action is a publication of the Jackson Hole Conservation Alliance. The Jackson Hole Conservation Alliance is dedicated to responsible land stewardship in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, to ensure that human activities are in harmony with the area’s irreplaceable wildlife, scenic, and other natural resources. The Alliance is a nonprofit, 501(c)(3) organization. (If you no longer wish to receive this e-newsletter, please send a note saying you’d like us to remove your email address from our list to: allianceaction@jhalliance.org.)
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