Targhee, county continue talks today

Wednesday, December 19, 2007

By Ben Cannon

Jackson Hole, Wyo.-The give and take between Teton County Commissioners and Grand Targhee Resort officials continues this morning, with the ongoing conditioning of the resort’s expansion proposal that the board and resort owner Geordie Gillett worked to fine tune last week.

At 9 a.m. in the board chambers of the county administration building, commissioners and Gillette and company will continue, with the end in sight, to hammer out the conditions the board will vote on in a matter of a meeting or two.
In a change from the format of previous meetings, the board opted to go through a list of about 30 conditions, voting on each point, with an opportunity each time for input from resort officials and planning staff.

Though the amount of residential units remains uncertain, last week saw some board members appearing to stand firm on a cap of 450 units, though Gillett had maintained the scale of a 525-unit development on which to relatively base a host of mitigations and exactions.

The board agreed to allow more commercial space, bringing the total to 150,000 square feet from the 120,000 sq. ft. it had earlier favored. That space excludes employee housing, underground parking and basement space.

The board last week got about halfway through the list of conditions, but did not resolve points dealing with construction phasing and whether or not to put employee housing on-site.

Commissioners did maintain a ban on dogs and cats, with board members Ben Ellis and Bill Paddleford voting in vain against the outright ban in favor of leash restrictions for dogs and cages for cats. 

Gillett said in a Tuesday phone interview he was pleased with the “concrete progress” made between the board and the resort.

Board Chairman Andy Schwartz said earlier he would not speculate on when a vote would come, but would leave it to the discretion of commissioners at that time to decide whether a vote or a delay to float the complete motion to the public, was in order.  

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Targhee, county continue talks today | Planet JH News Article: Development

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