JACKSON, Wyo. — The Teton County Board of County Commissioners and the Jackson Town Council met on Monday, May 13, to discuss the developer responses to the 90 Virginian Lane housing project.
The Town voted 4-1, directing staff to move forward with negotiations and draft a ground lease agreement with two developers, Pennrose, LLC and Elmington Affordables, LLC. County Commissioners decided to continue the discussion to their meeting next week.
This was the second meeting for the bodies to discuss the top four firms, identified by the Housing Supply Board. Pennrose and Elmington ranked as the two best developers for the project, with Pennrose receiving the staff’s recommendation as the leading candidate, based on a series of criteria outlined in the staff report by the Joint Housing Deparment.
Pennrose LLC
Elmington Affordables LLC
Notably, Pennrose is asking for an additional $10 million investment from the general fund, the lowest of all the proposals, which range from seeking $58 million to $22.5 million.
During the May 13 meeting, the Board and Council discussed the two developers and Joint Housing Director April Norton fielded questions. Councilmember Jim Rooks provided a list of negotiation topics, which he created following the first meeting.
The negotiation topics asked for more affordable units and fewer workforce units as well as broadening the affordability, reducing the subsidy, improved parking and greenspace, construction cost guarantees, a Karns Meadow Drive access point, utilization of the 4% federal low income housing tax credit, units for seniors and those with disabilities, HOA details and outlined sustainability standards.
Rooks noted that “April and her team would do a lot of this already…they intended to negotiate a bunch of these different things, and so I just thought it was important for us to ensure that that’s what happens, knowing that some or many of those elements would have happened as part of this process.”
Councilmembers and Commissioners had some differing opinions about the details of the proposals, but most of them are generally in favor of moving forward with negotiations.
Councilmember Jessica Sell Chambers and Greg Epstein said they wanted to pump the proverbial brakes.
“This makes me extremely uneasy,” Sell Chambers said. “I don’t want to continue with this process. I don’t think adding 12 months or 18 months is necessarily a horrible thing. I don’t think that this is going to be an effective or fruitful discussion or project moving forward.”
Commissioner Greg Epstein shared similar sentiments, saying he was opposed to spending the $30 million for the land purchase and does not support further subsidies from County funds.
“We’re all claiming that we don’t have money to balance our budget or it’s going to be tight, and we have no problem, all of a sudden, throwing around $10 million, $20 million, $30 million, $40 million, like it’s no big deal.”
“In reality I would put this land back on the market,” Epstein said. “ [The] capital is way too expensive, financing is going to be way too much.”
“You guys have got The Loop, we’ve got Jackson Street Apartments,” he said.
Norton chimed in, saying, “We had 236 households apply for 36 units at the Jackson Street Apartments. It’s in no way enough housing. Yes, there’s housing coming down the line but there are people living in their cars right now,” she said.
Mayor Hailey Morton Levinson shifted the conversation, saying she supported the outlined negotiations and would have preferred to just negotiate with Pennrose, but wants the project to move forward so she supports entering negotiations with both developers.
She also defended the process thus far.
“We had a full review and RFP process; we looked at it four times and I felt good going into it and knowing that when we received proposals back that it would be part of the process to refine and make sure that we moved negotiating points forward,” Morton Levinson said. “So I don’t have any heartburn about that because I think it has been a really good process and it’s all been in public. So I’m excited, and I’m really excited to get housing in this area.”
Councilmembers Jonathan Schecther, Arne Jorgensen and Rooks all supported the motion to direct staff to negotiate with both developers and bring back a draft ground lease. Sell Chambers opposed the motion. The Town recently updated the Land Development Regulations to open up the development to four stories.
Proposed timelines from both developers are about five and a half years from the time the Ground Lease and Development Agreement are executed.
