JACKSON, Wyo. — The Teton County Board of County Commissioners (BCC) approved a development plan for Area 1 of Northern South Park (NSP) on Tuesday, marking another milestone in a massive project that has stretched out for six years.
Emotions ran high at the meeting, and Commissioners acknowledged the weight of their decision in the moments leading up to the vote. The discussion of the development plan had been continued from a September BCC meeting that lasted nearly all day. During the interim three weeks, County staff and developers met to find compromises on a handful of conditions that were not yet satisfactory to Commissioners. Ultimately, the BCC voted in favor of the development plan in a 4-to-1 vote, with Commissioner Len Carlman casting the only dissenting vote.
Carlman’s vote hinged on the amount of money that the developer agreed to pay up front for safety and infrastructure improvements along High School Road. At last month’s meeting, the County requested a $3.5 million payment for traffic-calming upgrades, including crosswalks, pedestrian islands, and a pathway on the south side of the street. The Gill family, which serves as the developer, and its representative Amberley Baker, told the BCC that paying $3.5 million up front would render the project unviable.
Since then, Teton County Engineer Amy Ramage and Teton County Transportation Engineer Charlotte Frei determined that a minimum of $2.2 million would be necessary to complete the “best project and safety improvements.” On Tuesday, a compromise was presented allowing the developer to pay $1.3 million for its initial payment, followed by a fee payment schedule for the remaining $1.8 million, to be paid for by nonprofits in charge of building the affordable residential units.
“When I hear professional staff say 2.2 million bucks is the minimum viable amount for public safety and transportation, that just gets my respect,” Carlman said. “And I hope it gets everybody else’s respect in this room. You’re going to have four yes votes and one no, and my no is intended to – in some fashion, maybe an upside-down way – help you find that 900 grand between the 1.3 [million] and the 2.2 [million] that our staff has identified in consultation with you all to do the minimum viable project. For goodness’ sake, our community deserves that, so I want you to produce that, even if my colleagues aren’t insisting on it.”
The idea of developing a portion of ranch land at the corner of High School Road and South Park Loop Road has been on the table since 2020, when the Gills asked Teton County for a rezone in exchange for a large number of deed-restricted housing lots. That initial request was denied by Commissioners, who wanted to see a neighborhood plan first.
The development plan at the heart of Tuesday’s meeting was the most recent step after Teton County approved land development regulations (LDRs) for the future neighborhood in 2024 and a master site plan in 2025. Commissioners Luther Propst and Natalia Macker, and BCC Chair Mark Newcomb have served on the Commission through the entire project. All of them voted against the original 2020 rezone request.
“In summary, this project is not a balanced win-win contribution to mitigating our housing crisis, but it’s where we are at this point,” Propst said in his closing statement on Tuesday. “The die is cast. We determined the fate of this project in March of 2024, with the approval of the LDRs, and in May of 2025, with approval of a master site plan. Nevertheless, this approval is significantly better for the public than the original application the County Commission rejected in September of 2020 on a 4-to-1 vote.”
Area 1 is anticipated to contain 557 housing units: 70%, or just shy of 400, will be permanently deed-restricted affordable units and the remainder will be market-rate. The plan contains about 20 acres of land set aside for schools and parks, and 5 miles of pathways and sidewalks. Nine blocks in Area 1 will be conveyed to two housing nonprofits — the Jackson Hole Community Housing Trust and Habitat for Humanity of the Greater Teton Area — to construct the affordable homes.
“I [have] closely watched the community, and I’ve seen the conviction that getting the right kind of housing will happen and can happen, and that it doesn’t always have to be dictated every exact step of the way by the government,” Newcomb said in his statement. “And I wanted to let that conviction of mine play out in Northern South Park, but it has felt like a big risk. We’re not through it yet.”
Other topics of discussion at the meeting included the locations of pathways and landscape buffers, wildlife permeability through the development, the East-West Connector roadway design, and restrictions for construction traffic. The applicant agreed to monitor traffic and submit a report on the Construction Traffic Management Plan, which could be revised by County staff if necessary. Another condition that was added Tuesday states that any adjustment in the number of units will require an amendment to the development plan.
Teton County Planning Director Chris Neubecker told Buckrail in an email that the Gill family will need to apply for grading and erosion control permits next, which will be reviewed by the County Engineer. Once those permits are approved, construction of roads and utilities can begin.
“Hope and trust is not a housing strategy,” Propst said. “Nevertheless, I hope and trust that Habitat and the Housing Trust will raise the necessary funds quickly.”
