JACKSON, Wyo. — After another lengthy discussion, Town Council approved a motion to allocate $4,050,000 of Specific Purpose Excise Tax (SPET) funds to the Jackson Hole Community Housing Trust to secure rental rights on six units for 30 years at the proposed Nelson Drive project. The motion passed four-to-one with Mayor Arne Jorgensen voting against.
Prior to the ultimate motion being made by Councilor Devon Viehman for the full requested amount and six units, Mayor Jorgensen suggested a scaled-back solution of $2.7 million for four units. Similar to his comment in an earlier agenda item, Jorgensen urged community members to participate in yearly budget meetings.
“The budgets are really where we make a lot of these discussions,” Mayor Jorgensen said. “We don’t get much interaction … and I just want to highlight that.”
To begin, Executive Director of the Housing Trust Anne Cresswell took the podium at the Council meeting. She emphasized that this is a long-term project, and leverages free land from United State Forest Service (USFS). The request to the Town was for SPET dollars be used to fund the $675,000 capital gap for each of the six units that would be rented by Town employees.
The project concerns a 3.15-acre plot of National Forest land adjacent to town on Nelson Drive to build 36 units in 14 separate buildings through a 30-year special use permit.
“We are not just building this housing to meet the needs of your employees in 2027, but also 2037, 2047 and beyond,” Cresswell opened. She followed by citing decades of successful partnerships between the Town and the Housing Trust, and explained that all past Housing Trust projects have been priced in the same way. Each unit would cost $245,000 less than the actual cost to construct, she added, with no land costs or ongoing carrying costs.
The Housing Trust has raised $12.8 million in philanthropic donations for the project. Of that, $8.4 million will be used to fund building the units dedicated to USFS employees.
At the Dec. 1 Town Council meeting, Councilor Jonathan Schechter asked what the Housing Trust would do if the funding were not approved. In her opening remarks at the Dec. 15 meeting Cresswell stated: “We will proceed with 30 units now, and build remaining units next year.”
Public comment was varied. Some residents expressed concerns for wildlife in the area, traffic on Nelson Drive and costs. Others expressed concern for the national precedent being set by building housing on public lands.
Alex Muromcew, a past County Planning Commissioner, supported the project but warned against bringing in for-profit support. “I think it’s not only inappropriate, but it raises the specter of not only conflict of interest, but massive corruption,” Muromcew said.
In discussion, Councilor Kevin Regan pointed out that both Jackson Hole Mountain Resort and Snow King Mountain Resort operate for profit on a special use permit on federal land.
“I realize that there is some concern that this feels like selling public land for profit but it is not,” Councilor Alyson Spery said. “The federal government will continue to own the land, and instead of being used for profit like many of these other forest service leases, this land will be developed by a nonprofit to house community members.”
