JACKSON, Wyo. — In a move to provide more affordable housing in the community, the Teton County Board of County Commissioners (BCC) approved the Northern South Park Area 1 Master Site Plan (MSP) with conditions on Monday, May 19. In a four to one vote, only Commissioner Luther Propst opposed moving forward with the MSP.
Prior to the vote, Commissioner Len Carlman read a letter from conservationist Mardy Murie to the Teton County Planning Commission from 1977, which pertains to the need for affordable housing in the Jackson community.
The letter reads, “I have lived in Jackson Hole for 50 years. I have witnessed the whole gamut of growth. Two years ago at the Rotary Club, I said we had reached the eleventh hour. Now, I think we are five minutes past midnight. … Rich people come and play atrocious prices for land to build expensive homes. What provision is there going to be for the people who build, plan and service these houses?”
Carlman told the BCC, applicant, housing partners and community members that the NSP neighborhood is now providing a “provision” to people who critically need affordable housing.
The conditions to the MSP require: a list of transportation mitigation fees for offsite infrastructure improvements, a right-of-way easement or east-west connector, land development regulation (LDR) compliance for all of the development blocks, park exactions, wildlife permeability, written phasing agreements for the design and development of restricted affordable and workforce housing, a housing feasibility plan and a Construction Traffic Management Plan.
BCC Chairman Mark Newcomb told Buckrail that the passing of the MSP is very significant for the community.
“The open spaces south of Jackson are a little, old graveyard for housing projects dating way back, proposing to provide more affordable housing for the community,” Newcomb said. “This is the first, very viable application that has come forward where private landowners are making such a huge commitment, taking truly a big, big risk to accommodate the community’s need for workforce housing.”
Newcomb said that as soon as the MSP is filed with the County Clerk, there will be a 70/30 land conveyance for deed-restricted housing. According to the MSP, the exact number of housing units is yet to be determined, but 70% of the homes are required to be deed-restricted.
“The Gill family will convey the land for the deed-restricted homes to non-profit developers for free, and Teton Habitat already has more than $15 million ready to build affordable homes in the neighborhood,” per the application.
According to Newcomb, the Gills have given up the right to use 74 acres of their rural land for perpetuity.
“Their family and their family estate has no more beneficial use for that land, other than committing to an outcome with 70% deed-restricted housing,” Newcomb said.
The process will now proceed with public approval of a sub-division plat and development plans for every block designated in the MSP, detailing how the 70/30 deed-restricted split will be achieved.
