Around the Mountains: Growth debate turning noisy in Jackson Hole

JACKSON HOLE, Wyo. — Jackson Hole is engaged in a noisy debate about population growth and development. Change the names and the numbers, and it’s a story that could be about almost any mountain valley in the West.

Jackson, the city of 10,000 people, is contained on the north by public lands, and on the east and west by mountains. The logical place for the city to grow is southward, into ranch country called South Park.

There, basically as an extension of the city, two major projects already exist. Called Melody Ranch and Rafter J, they are almost entirely of low-density and somewhat ample homes, most of them occupied full time. In other words, this is home to Jackson’s upper middle class.

But given the economics of land in Jackson Hole, the great growth areas are now more distant, to a place called the Starr Valley, about an hour away, or even across Teton Pass into Idaho, near the communities of Driggs and Victor.

Into this situation came a developer from Chicago who has proposed a mixture of fair-market and a healthy dose of deed-restricted affordable housing — 500 housing units in all — to appeal to the middle class, at least as it is defined by the economics of Jackson Hole.

Called Teton Meadows Ranch, the project would offer homes ranging in cost from $400,000 to$740,000. Houses would be smaller than 2,000 square feet, with the largest lots no more than a quarter-acre in size — considerably smaller than is the norm in the area.

The Jackson Hole News&Guide has had spirited letters on the proposal for months. Most writers despise the continued urbanization of the bucolic neighborhood. “Let’s have the courage to absolutely cap growth ...” said one writer, Nancy Shea, who argues that the greater ethical obligation is to the “elk, the moose, the bear, and the mountain lion.”

Another letter-writer, Yves R.H. Desgouttes, sees this and other arguments as phony.
The moral obligation is to the working class needed to service those who have flocked to Jackson Hole in its new phase as a world center for recreation and leisure. “We should treat them well,” he says.

Meanwhile, other development proposals have also descended onto the county officials, causing county officials to consider a moratorium until Teton County’s master plan is revised.