Ricketts rezone genesis for Jackson Hole-style growth in Sublette County

JACKSON HOLE, Wyo. — Billionaire investor Joe Ricketts received a green light Tuesday to begin development and construction on a resort he owns in the Upper Hoback River area.

Ricketts was looking for a change of zoning that would allow him to take his current boutique Jackson Fork Ranch and expand it significantly from a 4-room lodge to construction of a 15-20 room resort including some eight guest cabins. The upzone specifically asks that 56 acres of his 478-acre spread on the Upper Hoback be reclassified as Recreational Service 1 from the current Agricultural 1, allowing Ricketts to raise less bison and more buffalo nickels.

Ricketts, the TD Ameritrade founder and part owner of the Chicago Cubs, said the ranch was his number one asset and something he would like to leave his grandkids one day.

“I’m 80 years old. I’d like to find a way to leave it to my grandkids, leave it to future generations, and maintain the prosperity of the ranch at the same time protect the natural aspects,” Ricketts said during a meeting of the Sublette County Board of Commissioners where he made a personal appearance.

Opposition fierce, passionate

The meeting attracted plenty of attention from Hoback and Bondurant neighbors—about a hundred in-person and some 60 or so participating online—the great majority of which voiced their opposition to the applicant’s request. Neighbors thought they had put the matter to rest a little over a year again when commissioners shot down an upzone on a 4-1 vote.

But here was Ricketts and his team again looking for approval to build an upscale resort in the heart of a centuries-old ranching community.

From concerns about mule deer migration, to setting precedent for future development, to fears over becoming the next “Jackson Hole,” Sublette County residents hated everything about Rickett’s rezone.

Neighbor DJ Kominsky said, “Look north. Look at what happened to Jackson. It’s ruined. What’s happened there is a tragedy. This zoning is similar and will change the character of the Bondurant area forever. You will never get it back. We have a treasure. Sublette County has a treasure. Don’t let it go to ruin. I beg you, please don’t approve this plan.”

Another resident, who said he spent a lifetime living on the Rim, also compared the applicant’s ask to the first step toward becoming ‘Jackson Hole.’

“We are not Jackson. We don’t want to be Jackson,” Tracy said. “You’ve got a lot of smart people in that room that are being totally disregarded. There is no good reasoning for jamming more humans up the Hoback. Less is best all the way around and that’s the reason we all go there and live here.”

Joshua Corsi, president of Muley Fanatic Foundation, worried about the harm in developing a corridor crucial to historic mule deer migration from Hoback to the Red Desert.

“Mule deer are very vulnerable to change and there is a lot of change in what I hear today,” Corsi said. “This isn’t an ask for something that isn’t right. It’s an ask for a change in the rules, and we have rules in place for a reason. It’s very clear the intent here is a very self-serving business proposition that will open the door to more of the same.”

Another of the voices against the proposal was Dan Bagley, who bemoaned what developers have done for years in Jackson Hole to get it built up into something unrecognizable—a second bite of the apple after the approval of something less objectionable.

“We were all fine with the proposal made years ago putting in a small boutique place that does not get used too much,” Bagley said. “But the comment that we have this lodge now and should go a little bigger with the Jackson Fork Resort—it just opens the door for more and begins the process of tearing down the comprehensive plan and the vision embraced by the community.”

Close vote

Longest-serving commissioner Doug Vickrey commended Ricketts for showing up to the meeting.

“There’s nothing better than being able to look someone in the eye and see how they handle tough questions,” he said, but ultimately voted against, saying he saw no community benefit or need at all.

“This request is nothing but a simple spot zone,” Vickrey said.

Despite overwhelming opposition voiced in public comment, and a last-minute suggestion that to go against the P&Z board which recommended denial, commissioners gave Ricketts what he wanted by a narrow 3-2 vote. Commissioners Sam White, Joel Bousman, and Tom Noble voted in the affirmative. Commissioners Doug Vickrey and Dave Stephens voted against.