New Comp Plan draft to relocate future development

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

By Ben Cannon

Jackson Hole, Wyo.-The southern end of the South Park residential area will not be targeted for new housing in a forthcoming draft revision of the Comprehensive Plan, a county official said this week.

Teton County Planner Jeff Daugherty said in an interview that the second draft of the Comprehensive Plan — expected to be released in September — does not recommend intensifying development at the southern end of South Park, an area that is largely limited to rural zoning currently. For now, this marks the departure of the controversial idea to upzone for new housing in the area near the junction of South Park Loop Road and US Hwy 89.

With county planners and officials mulling over where the bulk of growth outside of Jackson should occur, some South Park residents and neighborhood groups have engaged in a fierce protectiveness over their neighborhoods, cautioning the impacts of dense new development to wildlife, scenic resources and community character.

But South Park neighbor concerns voiced through written comment avenues and at a July community meeting where county electeds had to quell a handful of aggressive audience members, did not strong arm the county away from the area, Daugherty said.

“The reason we’re modifying South Park is because we’ve had a lot more time to work on it,” Daugherty said. He added that new population and build-out calculations indicate that the housing situation in the valley, while strapped, may not be as pressing as was believed during the first draft of the major Comp Plan revision. At a current estimated population growth rate of 1.2 percent, the valley will not reach its current capacity for another forty to fifty years, Daugherty estimated.

“The original ranges overstated the housing needs that the county required in order to meet projected growth over the next ten years,” he said.
Instead of tapering development patterns southward to mirror those of the nearby Rafter J and Melody Ranch subdivisions, the county planning staff will recommend an area of the Porter Estate along High School Road as an appropriate location for the bulk of county development.

Planners currently estimate about 1,200 units could be built on a parcel of the estate that extends a half-mile to the south, along High School Road west of Flat Creek. That the Porter Estate could be the golden goose for development in the county is nothing new: the 1994 Comp Plan identifies the node potential there, with proximity to services and town infrastructure.

Daugherty said the decision to back away from the southern end of South Park was a move to prevent “sprawling development patterns,” and was not a reaction to public input alone.
“We took into consideration their comments,” Daugherty said. “But it boiled down to a good planning decision.”

One South Park resident, Rich Bloom, who became a neighborhood organizer during the Teton Meadows Ranch proposal to build 500 homes on the Seherr-Thoss property, said he welcomed the news of the removal of that area from future land use maps.

“The community has had this discussion numerous times over the last two decades,” Bloom said in an e-mail. “We see an affirmation from the community again of what they have decided previously, including the referendum vote to overturn the Porter Annexation…and the defeat of Teton Meadows Ranch.”
There are currently about 7,100 residential units in the county and about 4,100 located in Jackson. Another 2,700 homes are currently entitled to be built in the county, with a potential for 2,500 more based on open space and clustering incentives.
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New Comp Plan draft to relocate future development | Planet JH News Article: Development

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