Alliance meetings consider employee housing

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

By Matthew Irwin

Jackson Hole, Wyo.-Following its affordable housing forum last Friday, the Conservation Alliance of Jackson Hole expects that employee housing will also be an issue at a public lands luncheon, noon to 1 p.m., Wednesday, in the Alliance conference room, 685 S. Cache.

Alliance public lands director Louise Lasley said that employee housing is “an overriding issue” that requires “some kind of group effort” between Grand Teton National Park, the Bridger-Teton National Forest and the National Elk Refuge, representatives of which will be present at the luncheon. Other topics she expects to be discussed are increasing interactions between humans and wildlife and the flow of the Gros Ventre River.

The affordable forum last Friday, hosted with Teton County Housing Authority, was the second in a three-part series on Comprehensive Plan issues, called Next Steps: Exploring Solutions for Jackson Hole. There, panelists said that Jackson needs to decide what it wants in terms of affordable housing, which also means thinking about where to grow, and how to protect wildlife.

Both Mayor Mark Barron and County Commissioners Chairman Andy Schwartz said the forum aided the Comp Plan process.
“It’s helpful to have people out-of-town inform this process,” Barron said. “It creates a viable and actual dialogue that I hope will make progress in the Comp Plan rewrite.”

The public comment period will continue for another four or five months.  
One suggestion for cutting costs Schwartz liked was for predesigned architecture.
“By and large, people are in favor [of affordable housing], but nervous what it will look like and what the impacts might be,” he said. “We’re working on settling it up front.”

When Schwartz asked the Aspen Housing Authority panel representative what unforeseen consequences to look out for, the representative responded, “That’s why they’re called unforeseen.”

Barron also said that recent elections showed that the people want to provide housing for workers, and that they don’t want sprawl, which means density in town.

The final event in the Next Steps, in early January, will look at fiscal impacts of growth, andways to create policies to make sure development “pays it’s way, “ said the Alliances’ Kristy Bruner. Details will be released in the near future. PJH


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Alliance meetings consider employee housing | Planet JH News Article: Development

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