RE: Northern South Park Master Site Plan Approval

On May 19, the Teton County Commission approved the Master Site Plan for Area 1 of Northern South Park (NSP). After five years of ongoing advocacy work to support the community’s vision for NSP, ShelterJH is excited for the progress made on this new neighborhood and the affordable housing opportunities it presents to our community. We are grateful for the hard work landowners, electeds, our members, and community partners have done to get us to this point. Thank you for your patience as we gathered thoughts, reflections, and reactions to this recent vote from our members, staff, and board.

We have a few specific wins we want to celebrate:

• The amount of proposed deed-restricted homes in this project increased from just 8% in 2020 to 70% in 2025.

• There is some phasing required in the Land Development Regulations (LDRs).

• Two new conditions related to housing were added during the Master Site Plan process; although they don’t guarantee a timely delivery of homes locals can actually afford, they do add some clarity around the transfer of land earmarked for deed-restricted houses.

Simultaneously, we recognize that the current LDRs and Master Site Plan have also resulted in the following outcomes:

• The amount of land earmarked for deed-restricted homes was reduced from 45 acres to ~16 acres.

• The feasibility of construction remains unclear as reliable and robust funding mechanisms to privately subsidize affordable homes is uncertain.

• In short: there is no public guarantee or timeline for actually delivering homes that local households can access in Northern South Park.

ShelterJH’s vision for NSP included codified assurances of affordable homes within a reasonable timeframe, considering the immense investment the public has made in this neighborhood. While this part of the NSP process has concluded, we remain optimistic about the future of this area, and celebrate that our conversations with elected officials and community partners contributed to the two new housing conditions passed in May. We encourage our community—and especially the candidates who ran on a housing platform—to remain steadfast in our collective effort to realize affordable homes during the subsequent steps of NSP planning.

Here’s what you can do now to support homes that locals can actually afford: Follow us on social media, join ShelterJH (or get a friend/neighbor to join!). Please reach out to info@shelterjh.org with all questions and thanks for your support.