Plan identifies Refuge for housing

Wednesday, July 30, 2008

By PJH Staff

JACKSON HOLE, Wyo. - Jackson Hole’s struggle to provide workforce housing took a twist last week when county and town electeds moved to consider building a high-density, residential development on National Elk Refuge land.

Planners at a Comprehensive Plan meeting on Wednesday unveiled results of a recent survey that indicated many Teton County residents would support repurposing southern land of the National Elk Refuge in order to build deed-restricted affordable housing.
The polling was part of a new plan to cull input from the valley’s younger working set. County and town officials have said the lack of input by young people would have derailed initiatives to identify and build new affordable developments, but the new polling – using mobile phones and email addresses – may set the course for a dense development on the National Elk Refuge.

“These numbers indicate that using just a little bit of the Elk Refuge – we’re talking 20 acres, at most – could provide a viable option to house as many as 3,000 people,” said county planner Pete Doherty.

The National Elk Refuge, a 25,000-acre winter feed ground bordering northern Jackson, is federally managed public land that disallows any development except for a few infrastructural government buildings.

Some have said the 11,000 elk who winter there each year “do not need” the entire parcel, a treeless expanse stretching north of Jackson and into the Gros Ventre range northeast of town.

“Those elk don’t even use all that land nor, dare I say, do I feel that they even fully appreciate it,” said Jim Stockyard, a proponent of the plan, at the last hearing.
One wildlife activist cautioned that a residential development on the refuge could impact the annual migratory habits of the herd.

“If this plan is to gain any ground,” said Frank Commonzine, a biologist with Jackson Hole Conversation Alliance, “we need to make sure the homes are designed in accordance with a rustic, Western feel that is acceptable to the animals.” He added, “This is going to be controversial.”

Neither Teton County nor the Town of Jackson have jurisdiction over the public land and would have to enter into talks with the U.S. Department of Interior to negotiate a possible land purchase for annexation into town.

“This could kill several birds with one stone,” Doherty said. “Imagine: Trickling Meadows at the National Elk Refuge. Sounds nice, doesn’t it?”
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