JACKSON, Wyo. — Jackson Hole Mountain Resort (JHMR) proposed a development concept that would encompass the remaining parcels at Stilson and include housing to the Teton County Board of County Commissioners during a Dec. 9 workshop.
Stilson Ranch has several parcels with current ownership split between JHMR and Teton County, which has shifted over the years with a series of land gifts from JHMR to the County. In July, Commissioners approved a Conditional Use Permit (CUP) for the construction of a Transit Center, which will cover 5.4 acres of County land, donated by JHMR. The County’s second parcel is 8.5 acres and during the CUP discussions, the commission directed staff to explore a vegetation restoration plan, a conservation easement and possible recreation fields. The property is zoned under the Park and Open Space zone, with the primary purpose of “providing public recreational opportunities for residents, tourists and visitors.”
Public Works has been working with a consultant to complete that scope of work, and planned to bring the details back to the Commission on Dec. 17. With JHMR’s housing proposal on the same property, Public Works hosted the workshop on Monday to get feedback from the Commission on how they wanted to proceed; should the scope of work be modified to include all parcels at Stilson or continue to focus solely on Teton County’s 8.5-acre Parks parcel?
JHMR owns the remaining three parcels, which include about nine acres of parking, the cell tower lot and the Teton County Scenic Preserve Trust open space easement, which is about 27 acres. On Monday, JHMR’s consultant Jason Snider from Agrotis Inc., presented a concept site plan that considers all the remaining parcels at Stilson, utilizing a portion of the 27-acre conservation easement to cluster development, placing a housing development toward the northern edge of the property, closest to the Stilson Ranch Subdivision, along with a daycare facility, tennis courts, retail space and restrooms.
Mary Kate Buckley, CEO of the JHMR, spoke during the meeting, sharing the resort’s desire to build housing on the property and recounting the resort’s land and financial donations that supported securing the BUILD Grant and future Stilson Transit Center.
“So far, we’ve donated almost 14 acres to the County. And then, in addition, we have also granted a number of easements,” Buckley said. “We granted the easement to move that pathway, we’ve granted the easements to accommodate the wildlife corridor. We have also granted almost two and a half acres of easements to accommodate wildlife and to accommodate, really the community plan that recognizes the need to accommodate wildlife as well as housing.”
Buckley also shared that JHMR conducted a survey last year asking for community input on Development at Stilson. “Almost 60% of the community [survey respondents] support a JHMR housing development at Stilson, largely because it’s the perfect place to put housing that would be adjacent to a Transit Center.”
Buckley said JHMR’s current plan has been discussed with partner agencies including the County’s Public Works Department, Parks and Rec Department and the Wyoming Game and Fish Department.
“Our objective is to ask you to consider the development of the entire Stillson parcel as in a unified vision that would help us to accommodate our request for housing and that will require help from you in relocating some of the land that’s under conservation to support the community’s request to support our request for housing,” Buckley said.
Concerns about the impact development at Stilson might have on wildlife have been central to discussions, especially because of the recent construction of wildlife crossings on WY22 and WY390 aimed at reducing wildlife-vehicle collisions.
Snider explained that the plan aims to cluster development, keeping open space for wildlife to move through the property and access the wildlife crossings, adding vegetation to the northwest and northeast corners.
Neighbors and wildlife advocates have been saying no to the further development of the property, including adding softball fields to the County’s land, an idea the Commission said they did not want to pursue. During the workshop, members of the public called on commissioners to not entertain the possibility of housing at Stilson.
Stilson Ranch HOA President Baird Garrett also questioned the legality of amending the conservation easement for JHMR’s proposal, reading a provision from the governing document for the Scenic Preserve Trust Conservation easements that states, “the net result of an amendment should not confer any private or financial economic benefit.”
“The obvious place to put housing for JHMR employees is where they work, which is in the village,” Garrett said.
“There’s plenty of space up there,” Garrett said. “I realize that the economics may be different for JHMR, but just because that’s the case doesn’t mean they get to socialize and externalize the cost of putting housing at the village, which is the most logical place, at the expense of other members of the community, and particularly my constituents in the Stilson Subdivision.”
Wildlife advocates from Jackson Hole Conservation Alliance and Jackson Hole Wildlife Foundation also urged the Commission to not add housing to the property, arguing that the community’s investment in the new Wildlife crossings at WY22 and WY390 will be useless.
Renee Seidler, Executive Director of Jackson Hole Wildlife Foundation, asked the Commission to keep working together with JHMR, “but don’t make the compromises that are going to ruin our multimillion-dollar wildlife structures and/or the ability for wildlife to minister here.”
“Anything added to what’s already part of the Transportation Center under the BUILD Grant doesn’t make any sense here,” Seidler said. “There’s plenty of other places to try to fix some of the issues that we have in the county.”
