Wyo pride; condo confusion

Saturday, July 12, 2008

By Jake Nichols

Jackson Hole, Wyo.-There is no mistaking where the Mayor’s allegiances lie. He is Wyoming proud, through and through. For half of the opening oath to country, Mark Barron accidentally pledged his allegiance to the United States of Wyoming, beaming with pride over the lone buffalo flag until he corrected himself.

Cottonwood subdivision
First of all, stop calling us Chimarra, LLC, said Chimarra’s construction manager Lillian Bowen. We are now Cottonwood Flats, LLC. No one seemed to be making the connection to the black caddis fly, anyway, and who wants their development known as a bug? Although there was something about the proposed 65-unit subdivision at 1250 South Park Loop Road that was bugging the two Marks.

Mayor Barron wanted to know what was happening at the property’s northern boundary between the road and the pathway. It took developer Erik Bedford, city staffers Shawn Hill and Shawn O’Malley, and Pathways director Brian Schilling to figure out the landscaping there would consist of simple native grass seeds.

“I’m more concerned about the public’s impression with the units facing west,” Mark Obringer said. The councilman also wanted more windows feeding light into the kitchens.

Developer Erik Bedford said he would address council concerns for more windows, a possible short fence to keep children from the road, and a desire to jumble up the color of the housing pods’ roofs so they would not look like they were all cast out of the same cookie cutter when viewed from the summit of High School Butte. The project was stalled until better sketches of elevation could be worked up.

Condo conversion
Andy Ripps isn’t the only one who would like to see the moratorium on condo conversions lifted in Jackson. But he was the only one to show up at the council meeting and say so and think he had a prayer. “I feel like I’m caught in a larger scheme,” Ripps complained, trying to get his frozen condo conversion application for Cache Creek Center thawed out.

The ‘larger scheme’ is an acknowledgement by the city that apartments are disappearing faster than Starbucks outlets. “The conversion of apartments to condos has been an ongoing topic of discussion,” said city planner Tyler Sinclair. “It’s a relatively new concept across the nation for a town to be able to regulate condo conversions. Preliminary results show the town is in a defensible position.”

Sinclair pointed to a recent study performed by Clarion Associates, whom the city hired to see whether they had a legal leg to stand on when they denied developers the right to cash in on the ol’ shag carpet-to-chandelier makeover. The full report will be available to the public in about 20 days but the gist of it is the city can and will attempt to save the three remaining large apartment complexes – Webster LaPlant, Blair Place Apartments and The Timbers – from also getting a facelift.

“I would encourage the council, as strongly as I can as a private citizen, to continue the moratorium and am encouraged by Clarion saying we can regulate or stop condo conversions,” Matt Lee said. Lee is one of eight who will challenge Abe Tabatabai and Obringer for a seat on the city council. City barrister Audrey Cohen-Davis was way ahead of him. She had already drawn up a 90-day emergency continuation of the moratorium, which was passed.

Obringer voted for the moratorium, saying the goal should be maintaining a balance of rental units but warned against killing the goose that laid the golden egg. “Remember, nothing keeps a rental unit affordable. My suspicion is that our talking about the lack of [apartments] has probably driven rents up.”

In other business
Construction is set to begin next week on Pine Glades at 10 Spruce Drive. Developer Dave Taylor promised to keep the noise and dust down. Back in the 1930s, when Slim Lawrence began unearthing prehistoric artifacts in Jackson Hole, who could have foretold a Jackson Hole Museum, now celebrating its 50th anniversary? Now, by power of proclamation, July 12 shall be forever known as Jackson Hole History Day.
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Wyo pride; condo confusion | Planet JH News Article: General News

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