JACKSON, Wyo. — During the Town Council meeting on Monday, Feb. 27, Council Members unanimously approved Jorgensen Associates to move ahead with a Sketch Plan, and the continuance of a Conditional Use Permit (CUP), in order to design a new 20,500 square foot school for the Central Wyoming College (CWC) Jackson campus.
CWC’s proposed campus would be located on the school’s two acre parcel adjacent to High School Road just west of Jackson Hole High School.
In 2022, the community voted via the Special Purpose Excise Tax (SPET) to allocate 10 million dollars to fund the acquisition of land and construction of a new CWC facility in the Town of Jackson. The school structure is slated to provide programs in nursing, culinary arts, science and computer science. The the floor plan will include science laboratories, nursing labs and lab space for allied health programs.
Town Council Member Jim Rooks applauded CWC’s acquisition of the land in 2022 and found the draft sketch plan to be ideal for the community.
“This is a time for celebration,” Rooks said during the Town Council meeting. “CWC was ranked the top community college in the State of Wyoming and ranked the top 20th in the nation. We are very fortunate to have them in our community. The option for local youth to immediately go to CWC or for our high school students to receive dual credits that can be transferred to colleges and universities is phenomenal.”
Jorgensen Associates will now be required to submit a Development Plan, along with the Sketch Plan, that will also be reviewed by the public, Planning Commission and Town Council.
A Sketch Plan is required because the development’s qualifying floor area exceeds 15,000 square feet. The purpose of the plan is to ensure that the design complies with the Town’s Land Development Regulations (LDRs) before development. Sketch Plan approval permits the submission of a Development Plan, not construction.
Because the area is a P/SP zone, which is intended for school or hospital facilities that are under the control of federal, state or local governments, it will provide flexibility in construction, so the Town is recommending continuance of the CUP based on a lack of information on how the developers will minimize adverse impacts on transportation in the area. The purpose of a CUP is to ensure that the site’s construction is compatible with the character of the area, and it will review the project’s off-site impacts related to traffic impacts on public roads, bike access and pedestrian movements/safety.
The campus will be accessible by a new two-way private road that will connect to the current three-way intersection of High School Road and Corner Creek Lane. Town Council is supporting a cost-share agreement with Jorgensen to improve off-site pedestrian and bike improvements that would connect the development to the Middle School and High School Road intersection (approximately 80 feet). Staff has added a condition requiring the applicant to work with the Town to design a safe connection for bikes and pedestrians to the Middle School/High School intersection and present the design as part of the Development Plan. An addition of a crosswalk will likely be necessary at the intersection of Corner Creek Lane and High School Road to provide bus riders and pedestrians a safe way to access CWC to/from the north side of High School Road where the closest of two nearby START bus stops are located.
According to the Town, the 20,500 sq. foot single-story building is modest in size, especially compared to the nearby school buildings, which are larger. Staff finds that the proposed building height, which is primarily 16 feet tall with some portions reaching 24 feet and 6 inches tall, is compatible with the two-story apartment complex to the north across the street and the two-story school to the east.
While the Town staff has assessed that the CWC Jackson campus’s size and location is compatible with the existing neighborhood character, and will be similar to the neighboring schools, the design plan needs some adjustments, according to the Design Review Committee (DRC). The DRC commented that the structure needs to have more of a street presence and do a better job of making the entrance easy to locate.
For instance, Charlotte Frei, Regional Transportation Planning Administrator, commented during the Town meeting that a pedestrian entrance should be located on the north side of the building, so bikers and pedestrians would not be forced to walk past the main entrance which faces the parking lot.
This section of High School Road is located within Town limits but is owned by Teton County, and the Planning Commission approved the Sketch Plan, along with the following conditions:
- Provide a Final Traffic Demand Management plan
- Provide a landscape plan prepared by a Wyoming Landscape Architect
- Provide a fully dimensional parking lot plan
- Provide a safe connection for bikes and pedestrians to the Middle School/High School and a pedestrian access connection (e.g., crosswalk) to the nearest START bus stop
- As part of the Development Plan submittal the applicant shall work with Town Planning, Town Engineering, and Jackson/Teton County Pathways Coordinator to determine the final curb location and final streetscape plan consistent with the Community Streets Plan
Jorgensen Associates will be required to address all of the DRC’s concerns as part of the final DRC submission that will run concurrently with the Development Plan.
