Targhee conditioning begins

Thursday, September 06, 2007

By Ben Cannon

Teton County Commissioners have finally begun to condition Grand Targhee Resort’s move for expansion, trimming down the development proposal to 450 units, and amending the application point by point towards a vote that could come as soon as the next meeting.  

An all day meeting Wednesday marked the first time commissioners deliberated on the application, voting on or tabling the myriad conditions – among them a 120,000 square foot cap on retail and commercial space, a ban on dogs and cats (barring service animals), an illumination plan – to construct the comprehensive motion commissioner will eventually vote on.  

Earlier this year, Targhee front man Geordie Gillett and his team reduced the proposal to 592 residential units, though commissioners felt that too big, and in an amendment to the motion for approval scaled the size to 450 units. 

“Not more than ten percent of the housing and lodging permitted shall be single family lots, and not more than ten percent…shall be cabins or townhouse lots” read an amendment presented by commissioner Hank Phibbs, indicating the board’s unanimous philosophy that Grand Targhee be kept a resort, and not a residential development.  

Though the applicant had sought nearly 200,000 square feet in commercial space, a cap at 120,000 square feet indicated commissioners’ sentiment that if the resort is to thrive as such, it would need more than the 100,000 square feet proposed by commissioner Leland Christensen, a resident of nearby Alta.

A conservation easement surrounding the 120-acre property situated within Caribou-Targhee National Forest – an idea offered by Targhee officials to affirm a cap for the resort’s footprint – is to be held by a land trust, the commissioners stipulated.
As for the 300 acres of open space the applicant must put aside, an effort by Christensen to require some of that be in Wyoming, not only the Teton Valley, Idaho was successful.

“Not less than 30 percent” of that land will be persevered in Wyoming, an amendment read.

A handful of points could not be voted on as amendments, do to some legal and procedural uncertainty and were tabled for review by planning staff and legal counsel.

“We should get a motion on the table so as at least to be on the table for public review,” chairman Andy Schwartz said, an indication the board was trying to put together as full a motion  as possible, so that as early as the next meeting, set for September 26, a vote could move forward.

Chairman Schwartz asked that the planning staff move quickly to make the motion available for public review.


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Targhee conditioning begins | Planet JH News Article: General Article

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