In May, our community got
its first look at the countywide preferred
land-use plan and policies recommended
by Clarion Associates, the Comp Plan consultant.
(The full draft of the preferred plan and
comment forms were posted online at www.jacksontetonplan.com/surveys on
June 5. Online comments were due by
July
11, but on July 7, this deadline was extended
to July 31. However, the sooner your comments
are filed, the better.)
While the first draft of the plan includes
some positive elements, the Conservation
Alliance is concerned that it pays lip
service to community goals without laying
the groundwork to accomplish them. Making
the transition from broad goals, such as
managing growth responsibly and protecting
wildlife, to lines on the map is challenging.
And granted, this is just a first draft
of the plan. But it needs to start on the
right track if it’s going to help
sustain our unique community.
Click here for our full comments on the
first draft.
You might also want to check out our “Big
Picture” concerns about the Comp
Plan update, and click
here for our initial comments,
which
include these key remarks:
• Evaluations of real consequences of proposed
land-use scenarios are inadequate or absent.
Much of the plan simply shifts density,
at high levels, to primarily South Park
and the Town of Jackson, without considering
the impacts of overall intensity, rate
and extent of development.
• The plan’s identification
of “Conservation
Areas” appears to underestimate,
and exclude, important areas for wildlife.
• Although the public keeps asking for
it, the preferred alternative doesn’t
include sufficient consideration of build-out
numbers and population capacity. How many
people and how much development can Jackson
Hole bear without permanent damage being
done to our natural resources and quality
of life?
• The plan’s policies fail to
address Jackson and Teton County’s
high level of commercial growth potential
and its associated consequences, such as
increased demand for affordable housing.
• The alternative presents high densities,
but with minimal guidelines for proportions
of housing categories (ex. workforce vs.
market).
• The plan’s policies do not
address the effect of cumulative impacts
of development.
In mid-June, in response to concerns raised
by the Conservation Alliance and others,
county and town planners decided to hold
a number of Comp Plan meetings in various
communities this summer. Click
here for a schedule. In addition
to these meetings, Alliance
community planning director Kristy Bruner
will be available to answer Comp Plan
questions 4 to 6 p.m. every Tuesday through
July 22. Just stop by the Alliance office
at 685 S. Cache St., at the base of Snow
King ski hill. (Click
here for a map.)
RIGHT NOW is the time that county and
town planning commissioners and electeds
need to hear what you think about how the
Comp Plan update process is going. Three
recent surveys ranked “Provide stewardship
of wildlife habitat and other environmentally
sensitive areas” and “Manage
growth responsibly” as the community’s
highest priorities. Will the draft plan
carry out the will of the community? Does
the draft plan adequately consider the
impacts of land-use decisions on wildlife,
natural resources, traffic and quality
of life?
Please email your concerns to:
Teton Board of County Commissioners: commissioners@tetonwyo.org
Leland Christensen, Ben Ellis,
Hank Phibbs, Andy Schwartz
Teton County Planning Commissioners: planningcom@tetonwyo.org
Paul Duncker, Larry Hamilton, Forrest McCarthy,
Joseph Palmer, Tony Wall
Teton County lead planner Alex Norton: anorton@tetonwyo.org
Mayor Mark Barron, Town of Jackson: mbarron@ci.jackson.wy.us
Jackson Town Council: electedofficials@ci.jackson.wy.us
Bob Lenz, Mark Obringer, Abe Tabatabai,
Melissa Turley
Jackson Planning Commissioners: Email
care of Annette Despain, assistant planner,
at adespain@ci.jackson.wy.us
Barbara Allen, Geneva Chong, Lisa daCosta,
Greg Miles, Michael Pruett, Ben Read, Jessica
Rutzick
Town of Jackson planning director Tyler
Sinclair: tsinclair@ci.jackson.wy.us
Town of Jackson principal planner Jeff
Noffsinger: jnoffsinger@ci.jackson.wy.us
Letters to the editor will also help during
this critical time. Remember to include
your full name, hometown and a means of
contacting you for verification:
Jackson Hole News&Guide: editor@jhnewsandguide.com
Thomas Dewell and Angus M. Thuermer Jr.,
co-editors (400-word maximum for letters;
800-word maximum for guest editorials)
Planet JH: grace@planetjh.com
Grace Hammond, assistant editor (300-word
maximum)
The Conservation Alliance will continue
to monitor and comment on further drafts
of the Comp Plan as they become available.
For further information, please
contact Alliance community planning director
Kristy Bruner at (307) 733-9417 or Kristy@jhalliance.org.
Meanwhile,
please check out “Balancing
Act,” our publication on growth
and the Comp Plan update. Look for it around
town, pick up a copy at the Alliance office,
685 S. Cache, or download
the PDF.
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