Commissioners eye moratorium timeline

Wednesday, April 02, 2008

By Ben Cannon

Jackson Hole, Wyo.-County Commissioners decided Tuesday to consider an emergency moratorium on upzones and subdivision applications.

The measure, proposed at a regular meeting by Commissioner Ben Ellis, was met with the public comment of about 20 people, many of whom spoke in favor of the moratorium.

The move comes amid community divisiveness that has at times turned heated alongside the application to build Teton Meadows Ranch, a 500 home South Park proposal surrounded by, among others, the Rafter J and Melody Ranch subdivisions.
Opponents of the project, many of them neighbors of the project site, have turned out in droves to contest and criticize the project’s potential impact on traffic, wildlife and scenic values.

An application to upzone the Porter Estate and a separate move by three South Park landowning families to build a 300 unit development prompted Ellis to move forward with the emergency measure.
“This is not something to do lightly,” said board chairman Andy Schwartz. “I think there’s a general understanding of what the problems are. The questions are how do we deal with them. Moratoriums are a big deal.”

Schwartz said an alternative to the moratorium would be to not simply allow the applications to work their way through the pipeline. But critics of the land development regulations, including county planner Jeff Daugherty, say the system is too discretionary and can pit community members against one another. Others say that, while the Comprehensive Plan revisions are ongoing, approvals of the three South Park applications could set an unhealthy precedent.

Ellis said that as he drafted the measure, which electives are calling a “freeze resolution,” the development hold would apply to subdivisions and upzones seeking to build on parcels of 20 acres or more. He said the moratorium would likely apply to the three South Park applications. 

“A freeze resolution that doesn???t include everybody is probably inappropriate,” he said.
Commissioners are eyeing a sunset date for the amendment for the end of this year – Dec. 31 – or until a new Comp Plan is adopted, whichever comes first.

Teton Meadows Ranch representatives, several of whom spoke against the moratorium at Tuesday’s meeting, said the measure could have major consequences on the project. They have said the contract could expire with landowner Roger Seherr-Thoss and the group, led by James Reinert and Sequoia Development, may not have the financial resources to begin the process again.

That could be mean a fatal blow to the project, which, while controversial, offered 400 deed-controlled, below-market homes for the valley workforce. Many who spoke in favor of the project at earlier public meetings said it was their best shot at buying a home in Jackson Hole.

Still, Ellis said that, with the sheer scope of the project and timing of Comp Plan talks, an approval decision should not be rushed.

“Six months is not an unreasonable amount of time considering it’s the biggest application the county has seen,” said Ellis, pointing out the multi-year, at times frustrating public processes for Snake River Associates and Grand Targhee Resort.
One county commissioner, Bill Paddleford, disagreed with the moratorium.
“I don’t think they work,” Paddleford said after the meeting. “I think it’s going to end up hurting the very people we want to help – the working class.”

Paddleford said he was involved in development of the 1994 Comp Plan, before which a similar moratorium was passed, and said he saw land prices only continue to rise as development was put temporarily on hold.

Ellis said, “I think there’s an expectation and a hope that planning can resume at a reasonable time.”

The moratorium will go for review by the planning commission April 14 and is expected to return to county commissioners April 24, after staff has had time to prepare comments on the measure. Teton Meadows Ranch is still set to go before county commissioners April 29.
PERMALINK:
Commissioners eye moratorium timeline | Planet JH News Article: Development

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