In Teton Valley, a political action committee begins campaigning

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

By Ben Cannon

Some advocates of controlled development in Teton County, Idaho, have created a nonprofit, grassroots political action group to stem the tide of explosive growth it claims is threatening eastern Idaho’s already stretched services.

The organization, Tetons for Tomorrow (TFT), advocates ‘smart growth’ land-use planning in a county that until recently had very few restrictions on building and development. TFT works to endorse and elect candidates who follow these principles.
The group formed last year amid the divisive turmoil of a temporary subdivision moratorium in the county. The group campaigned to counter the opposition seeking to ouster two county commissioners via a special recall ballot in November, 2007.

Commissioners Larry Young and Alice Stevenson, both Democrats, weathered the recall attempt, and end results showed that each received more votes opposing their ouster than they had won when they took office the year before.

Part of the success of Young and Stevenson, who to some represented a change from the old-guard Teton Valley bloodlines (though each has lived in the valley for more than 30 years), can be attributed to Tetons For Tomorrow’s vigorous grassroots campaign to keep the pair in office, the group’s director said.

Zahan Billimoria, the executive director of the group, said the lowly mitigated, unbridled growth occurring across Teton Valley has engendered understaffed and overstretched public services. Classrooms are overflowing with students, and there are community concerns about the ability for sufficient response by fire and police personnel, he said.
“The driving force behind Tetons For Tomorrow is we’ve got, one - totally dismantled planning tools and, two - explosive growth,” Billimoria said. “We have no mechanisms to pay for schools or roads, there’s no solid waste programs.”

Recently, the county hired Clarion Associates, the same land-use planning firm currently working in Jackson Hole to help rewrite the town and county comprehensive plans. Teton County, Idaho, is currently mulling over a draft of a planned unit development ordinance to identify appropriate density hubs throughout the county.

“The benefit is it’ll give us more objective standards by which to evaluate new projects,” Young said. “And it will to a large extent help lower the rural densities, which has been one of the large points of contention in the community for a long time now.”
The county is also working on a capital improvement plan that takes inventory of the county’s needs, analyzes existing facilities and services, and identifies funding sources for future revenue expenditures.

Meanwhile, the county is preparing to break ground on a new middle school this year, which should alleviate some overcrowding.

Stevenson has said she will not seek re-election for her Victor, Idaho, district seat this year, and TFT has endorsed Democrat Bob Benedict, who is running against Republican Kendall Jolley.

For the Driggs, Idaho, seat, TFT is looking to unseat Republican Mark Trupp, a multi-term incumbent and Teton Valley native, with Democrat Beverly Charette.
Neither Trupp nor organizers with the conservative Teton Valley Alliance, which spearheaded the recall against Young and Stevenson, returned messages requesting comment.

Young said he sees TFT as a “positive force” for more progressive planning in Teton Valley. “One of the important things I see is them encouraging and engaging young people.”

The new planning ordinances are expected to be adopted by midsummer, Young said.
He added that beyond the longstanding Teton Valley socio-politics that have nourished a planning system that favors developers, Idaho, as a whole, can be “Libertarian right into poverty.”
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In Teton Valley, a political action committee begins campaigning | Planet JH News Article: Development

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