Please Follow Through with the Northern South Park Neighborhood Plan

January 28, 2021

RE: Subarea 5.6 Sketch Plan

Dear Chair Macker and Commissioners,

Thank you for your continued diligence throughout the planning process for Northern South Park (NSP). We applaud your decision to forego the initial application for development in favor of completing a holistic Neighborhood Plan for the entire area.

While we fully acknowledge the rights of the landowners to build 84 free-market homes, we also recognize the commitment to the Neighborhood Planning process that is already underway. We encourage the County Commissioners to explicitly state that the rights to build all 84 free-market homes will still exist in the Neighborhood Plan.

If the County Commissioners vote to approve this sketch plan, the Neighborhood Plan becomes obsolete. Without addressing critical issues like housing affordability, wastewater management, wildlife mobility, and traffic congestion before approving plans, we will further complicate these mounting challenges for years to come.

In order to ensure that all NSP planning is in alignment with the Neighborhood Plan, we call on the landowners to table this application until after the Neighborhood Plan is complete. If they are unwilling, we call on you to take action. This would either include denying the sketch plan or imposing a moratorium on development in the area until the completion of the Neighborhood Plan. There is precedent for enacting a moratorium, as the Board of County Commissioners imposed during the Southern South Park planning in regards to deed-restricted housing.

The community has already invested valuable time and money into this process. Committing to completing the Neighborhood Plan will ensure we get a plan that addresses our critical issues to safeguard our economic stability and community resiliency. We look forward to a neighborhood that will serve the entire spectrum of community members in Jackson Hole.

Sincerely,

ShelterJH

Clare Stumpf – Coordinator
Mary Erickson, Elizabeth Hutchings, Mike Welch, Ryan Nourai, Christine Walker, Skye Schell (recused), Ash Hermanowski – Board of Directors