What Lies Ahead for the Town’s Most Untouched Natural Area?
We may see a Karns Meadow Park plan proposal as soon as this spring/summer. If this is a new topic for you, please see our prior posts on Karns Meadow Park Planning below, and make sure to read until the end to hear some good news regarding a parking structure on Karns Meadow.
Prior Alliance Posts on Karns Meadow Park Planning:
- The Fate of Karns Meadow 3/9/23
- Conserving Karns Meadow 4/23/23
- A grassroots community park design for Karns Meadow 4/20/23
- Wildlife Babies – give them a break! 6/21/23
- A Park, Not a Parking Lot! 9/14/23
Here is the Alliance written comment on the Karns Meadow Park:
In our submitted comment letter, we emphasize the incredible wildlife and hydrological value of Karns Meadow – the least disturbed, most natural area remaining in the Town of Jackson. We reiterated what every natural resource expert has said – do as little as possible for park development, making sure to keep intact the habitat and connectivity of the meadow.
The most injurious park element considered by the Town is a circumferential, paved pathway that would fragment habitat, disrupt the quiet, interrupt wildlife travel corridors, and create an easy bike cut-through that would encourage high speed pathway traffic through this sensitive meadow. Wyoming Game and Fish agrees and has cautioned the Town from developing a looped pathway at Karns due to wildlife and habitat impacts. Please contact your town council today and implore them not to install a paved pathway that cuts through Karns Meadow – there are already bike paths surrounding the meadow.
According to Tanya Anderson, Town of Jackson Ecosystem Administrator, after receiving the Environmental Alternative Analysis sometime this month (April), Parks and Rec will submit their conditional use permit (CUP) for Karns Meadow Park. That would estimate the CUP before the Planning Commission sometime in July/August and before the Town Council later in the fall. We will keep you updated as more information becomes available.
Some good news for Karns Meadow: During the March 18th meeting the Town Council took some encouraging action to protect Tract 5 in Karns Meadow from a future parking garage, which is currently allowed under the restrictive covenant. In this meeting, the Town Council voted unanimously to amend the restrictive covenant on Tract 5 to disallow a parking garage (a surface lot is still allowed). This amendment to the restricted covenant does still need to also be approved by the JH Land Trust — that may take 2-6 months. They also approved an amendment for Tract 5 or 6 to have the Mercer Cabin as part of the park design (this will be the 5th element of the park, in addition to a walking path, a picnic structure, a parking lot, and a bathroom). Please thank your town council for voting to remove the possibility of a parking garage at Karns. Let’s also remind them to protect this sensitive area from recreation and transportation impacts from the park.
Write all of your Town Electeds at: electedofficials@jacksonwy.gov
