JACKSON, Wyo. — A legal dispute that arose last year over housing mitigation fees has come to a close.
Shelby and Vernon “Trey” Scharp had filed a complaint in the Federal District Court of Wyoming in May of 2025 protesting the affordable workforce housing mitigation fees applied to construction projects in Teton County. The Scharps had been charged a $25,000 fee in their endeavor to build a new home in Hoback. According to the Pacific Legal Foundation, which was representing the Scharps, the couple bought five acres of land with a “modest cabin in rural Teton County” in 2021, with plans to move into the cabin, build a new home for the family, and then convert the cabin into a rental.
According to a statement issued by Teton County on Monday, “the Teton County Planning Department discovered that the computation of the affordable housing fee for this specific home had been incorrectly calculated by the planning staff. The residential site included a historic structure, and credit for the historic structure was applied incorrectly. When this credit was properly applied, the floor area for the overall project dropped below 2,500 square feet, negating the affordable housing mitigation fee.”
Including the historic cabin in the total square footage calculation was the root of the error, according to the Jackson Hole News&Guide.
The Board of County Commissioners sent an apology letter to the Scharps, which says the Commissioners “regret every minute of distress this litigation caused.” The County’s statement includes the assertion that updated internal review protocols for building permit processing and affordable housing fee calculations have been implemented to avoid similar errors in the future. Staff are also reviewing applications dating back to 2022 to check for similar errors.
“So far, staff have found the circumstances of this case to be unique, and that all other mitigation fees were applied properly,” the County’s statement reads.
The Scharps and the County will jointly ask the Federal Court in Cheyenne to dismiss the case. The two parties reached a settlement last Wednesday, specifying that the Scharps will be refunded the workforce housing fee plus 7% interest, totaling $29,909, according to the Pacific Legal Foundation. The County noted that the settlement agreement includes the concession “that the fee was calculated in error but contends the County’s Affordable Housing Mitigation Fee program is constitutionally permissible,” and that the agreement “specifically admits no liability associated with the dispute.”
The Pacific Legal Foundation describes itself as a public interest law firm defending Americans threatened by government overreach.
“This isn’t about our $25,000,” Trey Scharp says in a blog post by the foundation posted prior to the settlement announcement. “It’s about the principle that a property owner has the right to do what they’d like with their property.”
According to Attorney Austin Waisanen, the Scharps began renting out the existing cabin in January to a family that works locally.
Affordable housing has become a central issue to life in the wealthiest county in the U.S.
