Northern South Park regulations pass

The County Commissioners passed the Northern South Park (NSP) land development regulations 4-1 on March 5. Here are a few of our thoughts:

  • The opportunity in NSP has gotten radically, dramatically, better over the past four years. And that’s only because of YOU. The first proposal in 2020 was for hundreds of free-market homes and only 30-40 dedicated to locals (that’s 6-8%). With your help, we got to a Neighborhood Plan and LDRs with 70% of future homes dedicated to locals. That’s basically 10x better. THANK YOU.
  • We got some phasing. It’s a pretty “light” version of phasing, but the up-side is that it seems acceptable to the landowners. And even this light version of phasing will prevent the absolutely worst-case scenario we were all afraid of: full build-out of multi-million dollar free-market homes, while affordable construction stalls out.
  • We still believe in the best-case scenario. It’s up to our whole community to hold the County Commissioners, landowners, and deed-restricted developers accountable to their promise: to honor the vision of the Neighborhood Plan in the remaining steps of this project and leverage philanthropic dollars to deliver deed-restricted housing for locals in a timely and equitable manner.

We will continue to keep you involved in this project every step of the way — from Master Plan proposals and approvals, to breaking ground and celebrating local Jacksonites moving into safe and affordable housing that enables them to build a life here into the future. Again, thank you for every comment letter, conversation with friends, and social media re-share along the way. If not for you, we wouldn’t have the opportunity we have today.

Save the Date: Our legislative round up

With the legislative session behind us, please join us for a legislative round-up to hear from elected officials about their work in Cheyenne. Property taxes have been at the forefront of everyone’s minds, so our event this spring will be focused on progress surrounding property tax reform.  

Please mark your calendars for Tuesday, April 16 at 5:30pm to attend this event at Kalu (140 N. Cache Street). We will be co-hosting this event with the Teton County GOP, and everyone is welcome regardless of party affiliation. We hope you can join our conversation about this pressing issue. We will be hearing from State Representatives Liz Storer and Andrew Byron, among other leaders who have done incredible work delivering property tax relief!

As a reminder, ShelterJH is a nonpartisan organization building grassroots support and political power to address housing insecurity in the Tetons.

Affordable home for sale!

Don’t miss the opportunity to apply for this Affordable home through the Housing Department! 3964 Hawthorne Lane is a one-bed, one-bath home for sale for $183,958. Make sure you check out the website for all of the details, and good luck in the lottery! Applications must be submitted by March 26th.

Clare and Kelsey travel to YIMBYtown!

ShelterJH Advocacy Director Clare and Policy Chair board member Kelsey spent a few days in Austin at the YIMBYtown conference recently. We met with pro-housing leaders from all across the country and spoke about short-term rental reform, different models of deed-restricted housing, zoning reforms, and bipartisan approaches to housing solutions.⁠

HUGE THANKS to the Welcoming Neighbors Network for supporting our trip there and for hosting a stellar pre-conference gathering plus ample events for attendees to meet throughout our stay.⁠ We’re looking forward to next year!

Interviews held for Virginian developers

On March 6, the Housing Supply Board interviewed the developers vying for the contract to develop the 90 Virginian Way parcel. ShelterJH board member Whitney Oppenhuizen serves on that  board as well and participated in the interview process. We look forward to realizing homes there as soon as possible!

Hot Topics in Housing

ShelterJH members share relevant media pieces with one another through our Google Group. Here are what our conversations have been about this month: