Despite fatigue, Targhee dialogue continues

Wednesday, October 17, 2007

By Ben Cannon

Jackson Hole, Wyo.-After hearing the many proposed changes Grand Targhee Resort officials submitted to the county only the day before Tuesday morning’s special meeting on the resort’s move for expansion, most of the five Teton County Commissioners took the opportunity to weigh in on the effectiveness and toll of a workshop and application process some three years in the works.

Commissioner Leland Christensen set the mood for the chime-in, though not necessarily the tone of support for the ongoing, if somewhat tiring process.

“The community is just wearing down,” said Commissioner Christensen, a lifelong resident of Alta, WY, the fleetingly agricultural community closest to Grand Targhee.  He said the “target just continues to change backs and forth,” and it becomes increasingly difficult for concerned citizens to have to take time from their jobs and lives to attend meetings that address what might seem to some like a different proposal each time.  “It’s confusing,” he continued, “ there’s a real wear down, a resignation.”

In early September the board first began conditioning a motion to expand the 38-year old resort.  At that time commissioners moved to trim the number of residential units to 450 from the applicant’s proposal of 592, a figure already scaled down from earlier iterations of the project.

At a late September meeting, resort officials told commissioners that a reduced size of 450 units relative to the range of impact mitigations scaled to a larger resort, would not allow for a financially viable resort.

The term “utilization” was first used at that meeting to help convey what amenities Targhee would need to survive in order for it to transition from a regional resort losing money on day skiers to a world-class summer and winter destination on par with the likes of Jackson Hole Mountain Resort and Colorado ski destinations.

Commissioners – Ellis and Phibbs in particular – have been somewhat critical of the financial reticence of resort owner Geordie Gillette, who they have said holds his business plan cards too close to his chest to allow the board to determine what, in fact, is crucial to Grand Targhee as a viable business model. 

Around the close of business Monday, resort officials submitted a reworked Planned Unit Development application along with a plan re-addressing the mitigations that had been all but formalized in earlier discussions.

The applicant is now proposing 525 units and more commercial and amenity space –175,000 square feet, up from 125,000 the board had conditioned in a motion on the expansion.

The scope of the many revisions to the application prompted the board to briefly discuss sending the entire application back to the county planning board, but that idea gained little traction at Tuesday’s meeting.

Instead the application go to the planning staff, which will need from three to four weeks to prepare a new staff report analyzing the amended proposal.
That is not to say, though, that the amended application is an entirely different animal to the board or that another delay and subsequent public comment period will return something unfamiliar to the county electives.

“I certainly understand where commissioner Christensen is coming from and I agree with most of it…the character [of the application] has changed,” said commissioner Ben Ellis.
“All that said, I feel like we’ve come a long way and a big part of that is the [public] comment we’ve received.”  

“I think we’re dealing with incrementally smaller and smaller issues,” he added.  “I don’t see substantive issues much beyond that.”

Board chairman Andy Schwartz made clear his feelings that the county process.
“It can be painful at times to go through,” said Schwartz.  “But it’s best way to deal with it rather than say ‘give us your best shot,’” he said, alluding to a comment made earlier by Commissioner Christensen, reacting to the fatigue he senses in the community.

The next meeting is scheduled for Dec. 11 at 9 a.m. and the board hopes the staff report will be available around Nov. 14 for public review and comment.
PERMALINK:
Despite fatigue, Targhee dialogue continues | Planet JH News Article: County News

Leave a Comment