Council votes against bikers

Wednesday, March 03, 2010

By Jake Nichols

Fences make good neighbors
Jackson Hole, Wyo.-The prickly feeling remained when the council heard the only planning item on the docket. Former N&G scribe and author Dina Mishev and her partner, Brian Harder, came before the board with an idea to split their lot on Cache Creek Drive. Mishev began her testimony in tears after she overheard a pre-meeting exchange between neighbors about the demise of the neighborhood due to overbuilding.

“We are not doing this to make money,” a stammering Mishev said. “I have lived in East Jackson for 10 years. It was our dream to one day own our own place in East Jackson and then the economy tanked. When we learned it would be possible to subdivide it was like a little gift from heaven.”

Mishev’s dream was her neighbors’ nightmare. One by one they paraded to the pulpit begging the Council to save their community from the mortifying mitosis of Lot 68.

“I have a concern that splitting that lot will make East Jackson more dense than it needs to be. You’re changing the tone and tempo of the street,” Lisa daCosta said.
“We don’t like to discourage our neighbors, but there are a lot of hodgepodge things that have happened up there on Cache Creek like mobile homes,” said Patty Ewing, picking up the ‘hodgepodge’ theme from town planner Jeff Noffsinger, who used the term to describe the development pattern on Cache.

Another neighbor, Jim Tucker, wore his firefighter uniform to the meeting and stated that he didn’t think he could get an emergency vehicle in there if the split lot were to catch fire. Besides, it will bring down property values, he added.

Mary Catherine King, who owns a split lot next- door to Lot 68 worried about her view of the mountains going away. “We are going to be boxed in,” she said.
But the Council’s hands were tied. Obringer said he would like to accommodate the wishes of the neighbors but recent LDR revisions put the minimum lot size in that zone at 7,500 square feet; at 7,700 square feet, the split qualified.

Harder and Mishev received final plat approval to divide their lot into one livable space and one they would presumably use to finance their home build. The decision did not sit well with King, who was heard asking if anyone wanted to buy a house cheap on Cache and, “If the house goes up in flames, well … ”

Tour de Jackson
Maybe it’s cabin fever; that well-documented sun-deprivation condition that causes mountain folk to get short with each other toward the end of winter. At least that would explain why something was in the air Monday night, beginning before even the pledge of allegiance for the Council meeting, when two attendees bickered over whether to prop open a door or not.

Short fuses spilled over into the meeting when Councilman Greg Miles could not understand why fellow board members Bob Lenz and Mark Obringer and the Mayor Mark Barron were hesitant to change the race route of the United Cyclists of Jackson Hole.

“I’m not comfortable with the race course,” said Barron. “It’s a big course in a busy time in July, right in the middle of a very, very busy area of town.”

Lenz and Obringer both wondered whether there wasn’t a better place for a bike race than through the downtown retail core.

But the race will bring traffic to the businesses downtown, said counter presenter Jeff Noffsinger, a town planner.

Miles couldn’t believe the resistance. “Professional bike races like this take place all over the world. The French can do it. They have one in California, Utah… To say we can’t do this will lose out on the opportunity for a really fun event. What’s it gonna hurt?”

The race route will likely be moved after a continuance of the discussion when it seemed obvious it would fail with three councilmen opposed to a bike route that disrupted retail outlets downtown.
When a proposal to use the Town Square for an anti-wolf rally came forward, Miles finally lost it.

“I am sitting here in amazement,” Miles said. “I find it interesting that this council just voted against bikes – a totally fun event – yet are willing to back this.”
“Thank you,” said the Mayor.

“We could move this to a different location as well,” Miles said, a touch of snark coming through.

“That’s enough.” The Mayor had cut Miles off.
Even without Miles’ vote, the JH Outfitters and Guides Association will be allowed to stage a “Wolf Impact Rally” on the Town Square on March 20. The Mayor said he “was not going to start censoring anybody.” JHW


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Council votes against bikers | Planet JH News Article: Council Chronicles

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