WYDOT gets upzone to build employee housing in Hog Island
Unanimous thumbs up from BCC despite unanimous thumbs down by planning commission
JACKSON HOLE, Wyo. — The Board of County Commissioners Tuesday unanimously approved a WYDOT employee housing project in Hog Island even after the planning commission shot it down on a 0-5 vote on December 13.
The request for a rezone of a 14.4-acre site located in Hog Island at 1040 E Evans Road—just west of Weed & Pest and S. Highway 89, and north of Munger Mountain Elementary School—was viewed by the planning commission as incongruent with the neighborhood. In fact, planning commissioners worried about putting development in Hog Island ahead of overarching Comprehensive Plan updates coming soon. The same reasoning that shot down Larry Huhn’s bid for a 150-unit housing project on 84 acres in 2019.
The request to rezone the subject site from Neighborhood Conservation (NC-TC) to Public/Semi-Public (P/SP) came from WYDOT, who expressed intent to construct 28 residential units on the western side of the property and is seeking this rezone to accommodate that future development following the Teton County Land Development Regulations (LDRs). This rezone would remove scale of development and scale of use maximums on the site.
In December, planning commissioners expressed concern that nothing in the Public/Semi-Public zone would regulating scale and size of a development. Commissioners also worried about water and sewer issues.
What really seemed to cause pause for the planning commission was the idea that WYDOT didn’t need to follow any of the county’s land and building regulations and code since it is a state agency.
“Given that WYDOT is a state agency and they own the land at 1040 Evans Road, WYDOT can develop the land as they wish,” county attorney Keith Gingery pointed out at the December meeting of the planning commission. Gingery did add that WYDOT representatives have expressed an interest to follow county procedure but “could pull out at any time” and do what they wanted.
Commissioner Kasey Mateosky expressed concerns about the proposed density of the development and a lack of fit with existing neighborhood character. The property is partially located within the Teton County Scenic Resources Overlay.
Twenty-eight members of the Hog Island community signed a petition against the WYDOT housing development and any associated zoning change. Neighbors like Rosi de Haan and Hamish Tear spoke out against the proposal via email, citing an unacceptable increase in density.
“You are proposing a complete change of our neighborhood. You want to add 28 units to our neighborhood. Every unit would have 2-3 inhabitants. That is a total of about 56-84 additional people. This is more people than live in our entire neighborhood,” de Haan wrote.
Finally, commissioners noted that a county-led rezoning effort in the area is ongoing and wanted to see the results of that prior to making an isolated decision on the WYDOT application.
On February 17, WYDOT director Luke Reiner sent a letter to the Teton County Commissioners in response to the Planning Commission’s recommendation of denial. He included an updated traffic statement concerning the proposed employee housing development’s anticipated trip generation and impact on the road network.
Despite the planning commission’s recommendation for denial, the board of county commissioners voted unanimously to approve the upzone.
