Ryan Sheets
Great places don’t happen by accident.
Neither do vibrant, resilient, inclusive communities.
Planning is how communities come together to create great places. It is a public process and conduit for communities to proactively define their future and identify how to get there. Fundamentally, planning determines how our business centers, neighborhoods, and gathering places look and feel; how we move and connect with each other; how we can live with wildlife and grow responsibly; and who we invite to be a part of our community.
In 2012, Jackson and Teton County adopted a joint Comprehensive Plan (Comp Plan) that identifies a vision for our future, shared values, and strategies to build the community we want. As defined in the Comp Plan, the vision of our community is to:
Preserve and protect the area’s ecosystem in order to ensure a healthy environment, community and economy for current and future generations
While preserving and protecting the area’s ecosystem is the core of our vision and community character, it is not possible without commitment to three common values: ecosystem stewardship, growth management, and quality of life.
Our community grows and changes over time. The Comp Plan is a living, breathing document with built-in pauses that allows us to revisit our values and if the decisions and investments we have made are honoring them. Right now, our community is nearing the end of one of those pauses: the Growth Management Program / Comp Plan Update.
This update is also a bit like Pandora’s Box – with the power to change our community for the better, or the worse.
Our community needs YOU to advocate for changes that lead to a better future for our community, and to push back against those that don’t.
How you can get involved:
- Read up!
- Read the Comp Plan 7 Years Later report, our brief take, and our detailed letter on needed changes
- Read our blog about the draft release, and stay tuned for another with our take on the 2020 Draft Comp Plan Update
- Read our thoughts on why, if we pause the Comp Plan Update, we should pause all development proposals, including Northern South Park, too
- Read our budget request to first fully fund a neighborhood plan for Northern South Park, if our leaders want to develop it
- Reach out to brooke@jhalliance.org with technical questions or ideas
- Give comment at a public meeting!
- Attend a virtual presentation on proposed changes on May 4th at 3 pm at the Joint Information Meeting with the Town Council and Board of County Commissioners. Agenda and staff reports are here.
- Learn how to give powerful public comment and logistics for logging on to virtual public meetings
- Reach out to ryan@jhalliance.org if you’d like to tips for giving powerful public comment; comments should be sent to both
- council@townofjackson.com and commissioners@tetoncountywy.gov
- Does this sound like something you’d like to learn more about? Read about our latest round of the Conservation Leadership Institute, where we help citizens actively and effectively engage with local government and decision-making
- Learn how to give powerful public comment and logistics for logging on to virtual public meetings
- Stay tuned for a later public meeting when the Town Council and Board of County Commissioners will consider formal adoption of changes to the 2012 Comp Plan
- Attend a virtual presentation on proposed changes on May 4th at 3 pm at the Joint Information Meeting with the Town Council and Board of County Commissioners. Agenda and staff reports are here.
