Q&A: Brian Grubb

Wednesday, May 21, 2008

By Ben Cannon

Jackson Hole, Wyo.-Former town planner Brian Grubb filed his candidacy for Teton County Commissioner last week. In a brief interview, Grubb, 45, talks about his intent, the Comprehensive Plan, and the 30,000 people in the room no one has yet mentioned.

Planet Jackson Hole: Why run for county commissioner?

Brian Grubb: The biggest issues right now are related to land use. The Comprehensive Plan (CP) is in the process of being updated, and the step after that is to update your regulations. So, there will probably be a big effort after the CP to update land development regulations. I have some special expertise related to that. It’s what I’ve done my whole adult career. The next two to three years are critical to the next 15 years of development in the valley.

PJH: Last week, talks shifted toward town development.

BG: We’re still talking in very general terms and the devil’s in the details. One of the issues that’s more important than where it should go, is where is it coming from. Is it new growth in the county? Is it growth coming from outlying areas, from the north and south? We need to hone in on those answers. The community wants a build-out number, and the question besides ‘where it should go,’ is ‘where’s it coming from?’ Are we transferring development rights or are these new upzones?

One of the key components of my platform is we should not be upzoning property until we figure out how we’re going to deal with the doubling of our population that’s already approved, already on the books.

I have not seen a reasonable transportation plan that can get that done. In our case, the rubber is going to meet the road, so to speak, where the rubber meets the road. In most communities, land use drives transportation. Here, transportation drives land use. When we go to plot out [roads] on the map, there are mountains, there are public lands, other holdings. As a community we have to wake up one morning and ask ourselves whether or not we’re going to build bigger roads and new roads.  When you double population, you have to double road capacity - or ban cars, which isn’t going to happen.

The best is yet to come in the Comp Plan, but we can’t keep considering upzones and sticking our heads in the sand about transportation.

PJH: What’s missing in the dialogue?

BG: There’s no discussion about tourism and its impact of services and community infrastructure. On a peak summer day we’re outnumbered by the tourists. We have to realize that we really are a community of about 50,000. We need to start thinking in those terms when it comes to planning. Up to this point, it’s almost as if everyone wants to turn a blind eye to that.

PJH: What are your thoughts on affordable housing?

BG: We need affordable housing. That’s consistent with community character, and we need to put core resources into it. But what the [failed] Osprey Creek and Teton Meadows projects told us is that affordable housing at any cost does not sit well with the community.

PJH: Other points?

BG: I believe our development review process is dysfunctional. I also would like to see stronger ethics policies on the one-on-one meetings between decision makers and people who have an interest in the development. We need stronger policies on conflict of interest and more transparency in our government. And we need to look at consolidation of town and county.
PERMALINK:
Q&A: Brian Grubb | Planet JH News Article: Development

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