A message from the Gill Family:
JACKSON, Wyo. —
Dear Friends, Community Residents and Commuting Local Workers,
Thank you all for your feedback regarding our request to rezone 74 acres of our ranchland to an existing Teton County Zone called “AR-TC.” As for the feedback reported on by the Jackson Hole News and Guide, there was one consistent point: housing advocates want to see a diversity of housing types.
April Norton, director of the Jackson/Teton County Housing Department, stated in last week’s paper: “We need a diverse type of housing in that area – we need apartments, townhomes and condos. We need small single-family and then larger single-family is fine too. “
Anne Cresswell, executive director of the Housing Trust, stated that building a number of units at once in a townhouse style would help to keep prices down. Ms. Cresswell has experience with this model because the Housing Trust developed Schwabacher Meadows in Wilson – a neighborhood of townhomes on land owned by the School District and ground leased to homeowners to aid in affordability – as well as Mountain View Meadows in Cottonwood.
Planning Commissioner Sue Lurie (who voted against our rezone request) was given the Guest Shot in last week’s paper, and stated: “the [2015 Jackson/Teton County Workforce Housing Action Plan] lists a diversity of creative housing types and tools such as condos, townhomes, apartments and micro-housing in a mix of ownership and rental choices.” She also stated, “most of these housing types are prohibited by the proposed zoning map amendment.”
Good News! Turns out, detached townhomes and condominiums are in fact permitted in the AR-TC zone. It also turns out that detached townhomes and condominiums are permitted in Suburban zones.
We learned this fact through the successful Lower Valley Energy rezone. On September 2, we requested and received confirmation of this fact from the Teton County Planning Staff. An example of this type of development in the AR-TC zone is the Schwabacher Meadows neighborhood.
We are glad that County Commissioners, housing advocates and the public now have this new information: the rezone we are requesting will enable building a range in size of single-family homes and detached townhomes and condominiums.
This will provide flexibility to those interested in buying land, and ultimately helps address the feedback regarding product types and innovative ways to lower pricing.
We were so happy by the planning staff’s factual update and believe those housing advocates can join us in advocating for workforce housing, through square foot limited, small-lot single-family homes, rentals in ARUs as well as townhomes and condos.
The LDRs will require product details on-site plans at a future Sketch Plan level review. If our rezone is approved by the Board of County Commissioners, we look forward to site planning the potential mix of product types during the Sketch Plan process.
Sincerely,
The Gill Family
