JACKSON, Wyo. — Jackson’s Town Council and the Teton County Board of County Commissioners voted Monday at a joint meeting to approve a deadline extension for the Development Agreement of the 90 Virginian Lane affordable housing project.
This is the second deadline extension that has been requested by development partner Pennrose; the first deadline was extended from May 8 to Sept. 30 of this year. The Town’s and the County’s unanimous votes yesterday approved a deadline extension until Dec. 31, 2025. According to the meeting agenda, this was the 18th meeting at which the Council and Board have discussed the Virginian Lane housing project.
After a short presentation, Housing Director April Norton fielded clarifying questions from the Councilmembers and Commissioners, and logistics of future meetings were discussed. The next items in the project’s timeline are two joint meetings tentatively planned for November. The meetings will be an opportunity to receive staff recommendations for next steps — including unit counts and rental versus ownership mix, a parking ratio plan and a management plan — and to consider the Development Agreement and the Financing Agreement.
Members of both governing bodies expressed a desire to review the Development Agreement and the Financing Agreement at the same meeting in the future, rather than at separate times, like originally suggested by the Housing Authority.
Norton stated that the Virginian RV Park will not be open next year, as the current plan is to break ground on the housing project in July 2026. The Town and County have agreed to contribute a total of $10 million to the development, and Norton clarified that the financial contribution does not grant rights of first refusal for any of the housing units.
“The return is 221 deed-restricted homes, it is not rights of first rental,” Norton said.
A previous estimate of a $31 million funding gap is now projected to be significantly lower, Norton told the electeds, and the upcoming Financing Agreement will contain more details about financials.
County Commissioner Luther Propst told Buckrail that a “whole suite of critical issues” are still yet to be discussed and decided upon, like the product mix, financing details, the risk allocation between the developer and the Housing Authority, traffic mitigation, parking and the level of subsidy.
“It’s a slow process but I know they’re making progress on the agreements,” Propst said. “And I’m happy that we’ll have time for significant public input.”
From Propst’s perspective, the deadline extension is likely necessary in order to deal with a host of uncertainties like tariffs on steel and soft lumber, the labor force, interest rates and inflation. He expressed that there’s little or no historical context for anticipating how interest rates might change.
“That creates uncertainty, it creates chaos, and it’s a real drag on the ability to do projects like this,” Propst said.
