The Red House Apartments will create over 50 apartments for our local workforce. The project, which is 100% deed-restricted, is a one-of-a-kind partnership between the Cumming Foundation, Teton County, and the Jackson Teton County Affordable Housing Department.
This community housing project meets the vision of our Comprehensive Plan and is sensitive to our community’s housing needs and built character. Smart growth and responsible planning – the core of the Alliance’s mission – require not only saying “no” to bad development ideas but saying “yes” to good ideas. This is one such good project and a rare example of the right project in the right place: housing dedicated to local workers in our developed footprint.
We’re proud to support this project as it moves through the planning process to a vote before the Town Council. Read more in our letter below, or here. Red House renderings courtesy of the developer, as pictured in the Jackson Hole News & Guide.
January 14, 2021
Teton County Board of County Commissioners
RE: Please support the Red House Apartments
Dear Chair Macker and Commissioners,
We are excited to express our support for the Red House Apartments. This community housing project meets the vision of our Comprehensive (Comp) Plan and is sensitive to our community’s housing needs and built character. Smart growth and responsible planning – the core of the Alliance’s mission – require not only saying “no” to bad development ideas but saying “yes” to good ideas. This is one such good project and a rare example of the right project in the right place: housing dedicated to local workers in our developed footprint.
Alignment with Comp Plan: The Red House Apartments are in a Transitional Subarea in which the Comp Plan envisions a mix of housing types, building sizes, and densities to meet our workforce housing and growth management goals. As a relatively-higher-density, 100% affordable and workforce rental project, with a variety of unit sizes, this project is exactly the “redevelopment, revitalization, and reinvestment” (IV-32) desired. In addition, this project exemplifies the “preferred method of government involvement” described in Initiative 2B in the Housing Action Plan: “provide land as a public subsidy and build development partnerships.”
Sensitivity to the community’s needs: The Red House Apartments are designed with the community in mind. Although the project could have gone straight to building permit, the developer engaged early and often with stakeholders. The project is not built to the max, in either the number of units or in bulk and scale. Although agreement on a single design is rare, we believe the project has thus far modeled thoughtful public engagement and planning best practices. We would also support increased density if the general bulk and scale can be maintained, and we support creative transportation solutions like reducing parking requirements, allowing on-street winter parking, and adding a bus stop or Complete Street facilities.
On land that could have been a hotel instead of housing, we are heartened that a strong public-private partnership will create so many homes for our working class. The Red House Apartments are not simply a great project but a great example for other family foundations to follow. Please support the land transfer and this project.
Sincerely,
Brooke Sausser
Community Planning Manager
