A revised Northern South Park Plan is available to the community

Posted April 23, 2022 in Planning 1114 0 0

Does the plan incorporate all of the community’s questions?

This week, the Teton County Planning Department presented a revised Northern South Park Neighborhood plan during two one-hour workshops. We are excited to see that the plan covers the entire 5.6 Subarea, unlike the January draft which only covered a portion. This revised plan incorporates many of the community’s comments and provides a bright future for this project.

Housing Breakdown

Up to 1200 units
30% Market Rate
40% Affordable
30% Workforce

The revised Neighborhood Plan intermixes single-family homes, apartments, and townhome units into each block. Ownership and rental units will be mixed in together, and density will decrease as development moves south away from High School Road. Integrating free market, affordable, and workforce housing units into the street designs will create cohesive neighborhoods. Below are some graphical displays of important highlights from the plan.

A Comparison of the proposed Housing Program compared to existing zoning (Credit: Teton County Planning Staff).

Map of the density layout throughout the entire 5.6 Subarea (Credit: Teton County Planning Staff).

Comparison to Fall 2021 and January 2022 Plans

The neighborhood plan released in the fall of 2021 provided three alternatives. The original community preference was for alternative B, as it combined multiple building types with a mix of ownership and rental and provided a significant amount of workforce and affordable units. This proposal included 1,298 units and covered the entire subarea.

The 2022 January draft plan put forth one option covering 77 acres of the 225-acre subarea. The plan proposed 1,200 new units on a much smaller parcel, creating more density. This created a significantly better financial return than the previous alternatives, but this level of density was many times greater than anything currently existing in Jackson. Another public concern was that the plan did not cover the entire 225 acres and could lead to more luxury single-family homes on the rest of the property.

Where is the Wildlife Corridor?

Ideally, this plan would include a wildlife corridor at the southern end of the subarea. This is a crucial wildlife corridor for elk, deer, and other wildlife. This area along highway 89 is a “hot spot” for wildlife-vehicle collisions in Teton County. Incorporating a greenbelt at the southern end of the property would allow for safer movement for wildlife from Josie’s Ridge and Leeks Canyon to critical habitat along the Snake River.

Will the Landowners Opt-in to this Neighborhood Plan?

This plan is an Opt-in plan, which means that the landowners would need to choose this plan. Otherwise, landowners could proceed with allowable development in the current Rural zoning. Choosing this Neighborhood Plan would increase the revenue of the property for the landowners and would be the most beneficial option to provide housing for community members.

What happened to the Trust for Public Land (TPL)/Gill Land Donation?

The Gill family recently proposed a donation of 45 acres of land in the northern section of the 5.6 Subarea to the Trust for Public Land. Teton County Planning staff and consultant group, Opticos, did take the offer into consideration when creating this Neighborhood Plan. The county’s goal with this plan was to balance the challenging development conditions and the landowner’s goals to create a plan that brings housing units to the public. The donation could still happen but would require the landowners to work within the outlines of the proposed Neighborhood Plan.

How does this plan address transportation concerns?

The plan proposes complete street designs for all new roadways. The benefits of this design type are safe traffic flow and pedestrian/bicycle movements, and stormwater management. Walkability was also a vital component incorporated into the design. This will incentivize residents to walk a short distance to START buses and recreate in open spaces near their homes. The addition of the NSP neighborhood would increase traffic on South Park Loop, High School Road, and other nearby roadways. Mitigation strategies would need to be implemented to prevent delays and unsafe roadway conditions.