Money and the safety of school children took center stage Tuesday as the Teton County Board of County Commissioners began its review of the Gill family’s development plan for northern South Park.
The county heard from a wide range of constituents, including billionaire Wyoming philanthropist B. Wayne Hughes Jr., and spent all day debating the plan but did not vote on it. Instead it will resume discussion Oct. 6.
“We’ve covered a lot of good ground,” said Commission Chair Mark Newcomb as the Tuesday meeting neared its conclusion.
At issue is a plan to develop 557 homes on the Gill family’s 74 acres of ranch land south of High School Road. The Jackson Hole Community Housing Trust and Habitat for Humanity of the Greater Teton Area are set to build 70% of those homes as affordable housing.
The massive development is set to stress High School Road, an already crowded route that accesses Jackson Hole’s schools.
County officials want the Gills’ development team to pay $3.5 million up front to build a roundabout at the intersection of High School Road and South Park Loop Road and rebuild High School Road north of their property.
Hughes Jr. threw his support behind the Gills’ housing plan and lambasted county officials’ proposal to charge the Gill development team $3.5 million in fees.
Hughes Jr., who lives near the proposed development, said the fees were, in fact, a tactic to “deflect, delay and deceive.” He referenced the stalled Virginian housing project, saying that taxpayers funded the 5-acre purchase to the tune of $28 million, while the Gills were offering 14 times more land at no cost. Hughes’ nonprofit, the Hughes Charitable Foundation, announced a $15 million donation to Habitat in 2024 to build homes shortly after commissioners approved land-use regulations.
“Rather than denigrate the family that’s trying to help solve the problem, rather than taxing the foundation that is giving the money to build affordable housing, I would ask you to thoughtfully pivot to being part of the solution,” Hughes told elected officials.
“Let philanthropy do the good work with its money without government making less of it,” he added. “When you see a Gill, say ‘Thank You.’ ”
But at least some commissioners seem ready to play hardball.
“The upfront cost can be located and deployed,” Commissioner Len Carlman said, pushing for the county to charge the $3.5 million in fees.
“I don’t look at your bank statements, but that’s my expectation,” he said.
‘Unviable’
Gill family attorney Amberley Baker told commissioners that those fees make the project “unviable,” and that it is unfair to impose such fees on a primarily affordable housing neighborhood.
“It is imposing too much of an upfront cost,” Baker said. The free-market housing included in the Gill plan effectively has to “underwrite” the infrastructure for the project, she added.
Jorgensen civil project manager Jaclyn Knori presented an “optimized,” lighter touch version of the traffic improvements that would not require the realignment of High School Road and would cost $669,000.
The proposed development is one of the largest in county history, and an “east-west connector” road from the Gill development to Highway 89 faces an uncertain future.
The road would need to cross the Lockhart family’s property, and the Lockharts’ attorney has said a road across their land would “impede its future viability as an agricultural operation.” That means the traffic generated from the development and from building hundreds of homes is set to funnel onto High School Road and South Park Loop Road.
Free-market homes already are sprouting out of the ground on the Gill family’s 79-lot, 26-acre separately approved “Porter Ranch subdivision” southwest of the proposed mixed affordable and free-market development. Lots in that subdivision range from 0.28 acres to 0.66 acres and are selling for between $700,000 and $1.2 million.
The neighbors
Two other neighbors of the future development, who have followed the planning process closely, took a different tack than Hughes Jr.
Neighbor Jim Lewis also urged elected officials to approve the plan, but he implored commissioners to stand their ground on the fees. Lewis said affordable housing in the neighborhood will “genuinely change lives,” but his grandchildren attend Colter Elementary School and Jackson Hole Middle School, and he is worried for the safety of kids.
“To the developers, this upfront cost is a drop in the ocean,” Lewis said. “To the children navigating these school roads daily, the potential accelerated safety measures offer an ocean of safety.”
Cottonwood Park resident Kathy Tompkins drove home the point, saying moving forward without guaranteeing a full east-west connector created an “engineering impossibility.”
Northern South Park construction coupled with construction at Jackson Hole High School will create dangerous situations for kids, Tompkins said. She urged commissioners to delay approval of the development.
“High School Road cannot simultaneously act as a major industrial construction route and a safe school zone,” Tompkins said.
The commissioners
Commissioner Wes Gardner pushed for the county to collect the traffic fees but then invest the money and, ultimately, couple it with possible specific purpose excise tax, or SPET, or federal grants to do more comprehensive upgrades to High School Road.
Teton County Transportation Manager Charlotte Frei told commissioners that fully revamping High School Road would cost at least $37 million.
But Carlman pushed back on Gardner’s stance, saying the county needed to make improvements to High School Road sooner, rather than later.
Given that the Gill team said paying those traffic fees up front was unfeasible, Commissioner Natalia Macker urged commissioners to set an end-date for when those fees are due.
While regulations allow up to 30% of homes to be restricted for the workforce — homes that require occupants to work locally but are not price-capped — project officials said they plan to build only affordable price-capped homes. Teton County Senior Planner Chandler Windom said that commitment is a “binding element of the application that cannot be adjusted without coming back before this board.”
‘Starter homes’
Baker, the Gill family’s attorney, said even the free-market homes will function as smaller, more affordable “starter homes,” not luxury housing.
Plans call for free-market townhomes to be on average 2,000 square feet, including a garage, and free-market single-family homes to be about 2,500 square feet, including a garage.
Most county residents live in market housing, Baker said, and increasing the county’s supply will help people who may not qualify for affordable housing but still need some place to live.
Landowner Nikki Gill told commissioners her deep-rooted family has stepped up to the plate throughout Jackson Hole’s history. The Gills have provided land for a hospital, a structure-free Town Square and a new high school, Gill said.
Now, the family is trying to tackle housing problems, Gill said. She urged commissioners to pass the plan.
“It’s a damn good deal for this community,” Gill said.