Five Steps Forward, One Giant Leap Back on Housing
On a positive note, Teton County is teaming with Mercill Partners to develop 30 apartments adjoining the Children’s Learning Center.
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair.
Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities
What a great quote for these times — it captures so much both locally and nationally.
Locally, Teton County is advancing five positive — even inspiring — efforts to better house our workforce. Kudos to April Norton and the team at the joint county and town housing department for excellent leadership and diligent work to provide housing for our community’s workforce.
These efforts contrast with the county commission’s recent decision to advance a luxury home subdivision, with no deed-restricted workforce housing, in Northern South Park. The move will worsen our workforce and affordable housing crisis and undercut the community’s investment in a neighborhood plan for the area.
Five Steps Forward…
These five projects provide hope for the future of our community.
1. Workforce Housing Preservation
The town and county approved using $1 million from the recent SPET housing measure for a pilot project to acquire deed restrictions on existing housing. It will provide down payment assistance or the purchase of a deed restriction on a home already owned by someone in or retired from the workforce. This will help ensure that these houses will go to local workers. The project is a very positive step, adding a new tool to the toolkit of providing workforce housing. Read more here.
2. 445 East Kelly (a.k.a. the Brown parcel)
Teton County is working with Habitat for Humanity to develop 18 affordable houses on roughly an acre on East Kelly Avenue adjoining Mike Yokel Park. The project not only provides permanent affordable housing, but also protects the historic values of the parcel and enhances access to the park. It’s great to see the county and Habitat continue our long-standing partnership to provide affordable housing for community members most in need. Read more here.
3. Mercill Avenue Housing and Early Childhood Education
The county is teaming with Mercill Partners to develop 30 apartments adjoining the Children’s Learning Center. The commission recently voted to acquire about 6,800 square feet of commercial space within the building. I support using this space as a center for early childhood education and care, as well as the preliminary discussion of a potential partnership between the Jackson Hole Children’s Museum, Teton Literacy Center, and Children’s Learning Center to fully employ the location. Learn more about this project here and read the Childcare Baseline Inventory funded by the town and county here.
4. Red House Apartments
This project is a partnership between the Cumming Foundation and Teton County and will produce 100% deed-restricted apartment development in downtown Jackson, across from the Snake River brewpub. About 15 of these apartments will provide housing for Teton County employees. While this is still in early stages of development, I am thrilled to see the outpouring of community support for this much-need rental development. Read more here.
5. Lower Valley Energy (LVE)
Last August, at LVE’s request, the county commission approved rezoning about 7 acres on South Highway 89 across from Melody Ranch, authorizing our rural electric cooperative to build 17 homes for their electrical workers and other local employees. Providing housing in the valley means these essential workers can respond to electrical outages in a timely fashion and reduce costs, benefiting all LVE member-owners. Kudos to LVE for helping to address the county’s housing crisis and providing housing close to Jackson for these critical service providers.
…One Giant Leap Backwards
In a baffling March 2 decision, the county commission voted, over my objection, to approve a sketch plan application creating around 84 building lots in Northern South Park that permits 4,200-square-foot houses on each lot. Indications are that these houses are likely to hit the market priced at around $4 million each – not exactly workforce housing.
This decision green-lights the sketch plan despite the application being inconsistent with requirements of our local Land Development Regulations. In addition, the proposal leaves unanswered several questions related to public facilities and services, such as access to town roads, stormwater management, drinking water, wastewater treatment, and congestion mitigation.
A case in point: It appears unprecedented for the county to approve a sketch plan with this density despite no agreement with the town to connect the proposed new houses to the town’s wastewater treatment facility. This leaves open the prospect that the state will permit an unproven and unreliable on-site wastewater treatment system not unlike the failed system that had to be abandoned recently at the airport.
The application materials also claim that the proposal will reduce automobile trips by 23% below normal projections despite no effort to provide START service or to safely connect proposed pathways to the offsite pathway system. Instead of a plan to reduce congestion, we can anticipate even worse traffic congestion on High School Road.
Implications of This Decision
The future of a neighborhood plan for Northern South Park is unclear. I just can’t envision any meaningful amount of workforce or affordable housing in Northern South Park within the next 10 years. I hope that I am wrong.
I fear that we have squandered the last best opportunity for meaningful workforce housing in our valley. Time will tell.