JACKSON HOLE, WYO — Joint town and county elected officials will meet today to discuss several big ticket issues including the approval of FY2020 budgets of the Airport, Energy Conservation Works, and the TTB, as well as awarding a consultant contract for START Bus service and taking a look at what might be on a SPET ballot this fall. One thing not on the agenda for this afternoon’s JIM that could be the biggest bombshell of the afternoon is a reconsideration of last month’s decision to deny a Comp Plan text amendment to carve out special zoning for Hog Island that in effect sunk Larry Huhn’s (Munger Mountain Residential) chance at building some 150 workforce housing units south of town.
“I saw that 7-2 vote and thought, ‘What the heck just happened?’” Larry Huhn admitted his surprise to Buckrail recently. “We’ve been talking and maybe there will be an effort to bring it up at the May 6 meeting to relook at the vote.”
Commissioners voted down the proposal 3-2, with Mark Barron and Natalia Macker in the minority. The council voted 4-0 in denial with Jim Stanford absent. Each board would have to pass the proposal independent of the other in order for it to be approved.
Public outcry since the decision has been palpable. From letters to the editor, to reaction to a Buckrail story, to questions aimed at electeds during last Thursday’s Business Over Breakfast—many in the community, it would seem, are unhappy with the decision that iced Huhn’s housing project.
“I am writing to express my disappointment? Frustration? Anger? At your recent decision to refuse to rezone the Hog Island parcel for a significant density increase to allow affordable housing to be constructed on the subject parcel,” wrote Michael Quinn in an email typical of dozens received by the town council and board of county commissioners. “Clearly, government rarely solves problems. In this case, it would seem that government could get out of the way of a private development proposal that does offer to act towards alleviating a persistent, stated goal using private funding.”
At the Chamber’s Business Over Breakfast meeting last Thursday, business leader and one-time candidate for HD23, Alex Muromcew, asked guest speaker Mayor Pete Muldoon why he voted against the project. After Muldoon offered up some of his thinking on the subject, and after council members Arne Jorgensen and Jonathan Schechter chimed in from the spectator tables, Jeff Golightly further pressed the issue, saying strict adherence to a dated Comp Plan written on the heels of an economic downturn when rentals were plentiful might not be in the best interest of the community.
“The state obviously didn’t care [about the Comp Plan] when it put a school down there. And now there is expanded sewer service down there,” Golightly pointed out. “When is it time to go back and look at the Comp Plan again? Are there different needs today than there were when this was written?”
A reconsideration would have to be brought by both the board of county commissioners and the town council. A motion to reconsider would have to be brought by someone voting on the prevailing side of the argument. For the BCC, that would be either Luther Probst, Greg Epstein, or Mark Newcomb—all of whom voted down the proposal. For the town, any of the councilmembers (excluding Jim Stanford, who was not in attendance) or the mayor could bring a reconsideration.
Watch for more on the fallout from last month’s denial of Munger Mountain Residential and its bid to seek a text amendment to the Comp Plan for an upzone in density in Hog Island in order to build a workforce housing subdivision adjacent to Munger Mountain Elementary.
“It deserves a second look and a broader discussion,” Huhn said.
