Character District Comments
I recommend the following changes to the Proposed Character Districts:
Complete Neighborhood Areas of Transition
Bullet point 1: Areas that "most of the community would agree" should be re-worded to eliminate that phrase. Nowhere else in the document is a referendum on planning decisions required.
1.1 Town Square
The Town square District should be organized into (2) sub districts with slightly different sets of development guidelines. Properties fronting the actual Town Square should be limited to (2) stories and have no residential component. Properties in the northern half of the district should be limited to (3) stories and allow residential use on the uppermost floor. The portions of East Deloney Ave. and Center St. fronting the actual Town Square should be permanently closed to traffic and parking (other than for deliveries or maintenance services.)
The actual Town Square should have the central statue and boardwalks reconfigured so that a public gathering space instead of a fixed object occupies the center of the Square.
2. Town Commercial Core
The southernmost boundary of this district and therefore the Lodging Overlay, should be adjusted to include historic and existing Lodging uses (Old West Cabins(?) as well as the former Sage Brush Motel site.) Properties with Flat Creek frontage should be classified as Conditional Lodging Use, subject to providing a buffer zone with public access to Flat Creek.
2.3- Other commercial properties in the district with Flat Creek frontage should be prohibited from locating trash services and parking adjacent to the creek via a similar buffer zone.
2.3- Alternate side overnight parking should be allowed during the winter months in this district to accommodate current and increased residential uses, as well as offset parking conflicts or deficits resulting from increased mixed use shared parking. Leaving cars parked on street overnight may also reduce impaired driving from this district.
3. Town Residential Core
3.3- Disagree with designation of this sub-area as Stable, it should be Transitional. The Public Works facility should not be located here, though the Rodeo Grounds can remain. The Rodeo Grounds acts as a defining local and tourist oriented facility, and its location in this district is iconic to the western character of Jackson. The Public Works facility however, would better serve the community if it were located more remotely. The justification for leaving it in its present sub-standard location- shorter bus trips to the facility, seems contrived and unconvincing. A substantially expanded Start Bus network requires a substantially expanded facility. The potential decrease in SOV trips an expanded Start network could provide would far outweigh the impact of longer bus trips to the facility itself.
Alternate side overnight parking should also be allowed during the winter months in this district to accommodate current and increased residential uses.
3.5- The language "Some limited local convenience commercial is desirable" is weak. Local convenience commercial use should be expanded, not just tolerated.
4. Mid Town
4.1, 4.2- Properties fronting the highway in the western and northern portion of this district should be adequately buffered from the road via Complete Streets amenities (plantings, pathways,) but should not require that parking be located at the rear of the property. There are too many unique & differing situations for such a blanket statement due to the significant natural landscape features in the district (Flat Creek and the northern hillside for example.) Parking in these sensitive areas must be configured on a case by case basis.
4.5- I strongly support the designation of a wildlife crossing in the appropriate location, along with increased public access to Flat Creek. I understand the potential conflict between these two positions, and recommend that the entire Flat Creek Corridor through town be designated as a zoning overlay, special study area, or receive some other form of increased development scrutiny such as a Conditional Use requirement.
5. West Jackson
5.2- Residential Use in this sub-area should be reduced, not increased. The only future residential use that should be permitted is Live/Work use. Existing residential units' conversion to commercial or light industrial uses should be encouraged and incentivized.
5.6- Disagree with the Residential only designation of this sub-area. It should be designated as a Mixed Use area with a dense Light Industrial core connected to the existing Gregory Lane light industrial neighborhood. This should be surrounded by a ring of live/work use, which then should be surrounded by a ring of workforce housing. The density of these uses should decrease as they radiate from the central core, much the same way Wilson Meadows is organized around a dense core of Affordable Housing ringed by Attainable lots, ringed by market rate lots. This would buffer the industrial use from the surrounding neighborhoods and the highway corridor while providing much needed additional commercial workshop and warehouse opportunities.
5.5- The Tribal Trails connector road should be acknowledged as appropriate for this district. This already approved roadway is barely even mentioned in the text of the Comprehensive Plan.
6. Town Periphery
No comments.
7. South Highway 89
7.1- Disagree with Stable area designation, it should be Transitional. We should encourage and incentivize re-development of the existing light industrial use along this significant gateway corridor to higher density workforce housing, and re-locate the existing industrial uses to Northern South Park district 5.6, primarily to enhance the experience of one of the most iconic and prized scenic vistas in our community.
8. River Bottom
No comments.
9. County Valley
9.1- Language that local convenience commercial "would benefit the local residents of the area" is weak, just a statement of hypothetical acknowledgement. It should be encouraged and incentivized.
9.2- Our Comprehensive Plan should include a definitive statement expressing a community desire to bury the existing overhead power lines along the north side of Hwy 22, which mar the most significant view of the Tetons, the Mountain Resort, and foreground agricultural conservation properties. Formally acknowledging this community desire may open the door to such an activity at whatever time Highway 22 is eventually reconfigured.
10. South Park
10.1- Disagree with the Conservation Area designation, it should be Transitional. The area between the two largest existing residential subdivisions in the county should be designated as an appropriate location for residential, civic, mixed use and local convenience commercial development which preserves the Flat Creek corridor and provides wildlife permeability via highway overpasses and significant open space. Development in this area should complete the existing neighborhoods and provide the location for both a new elementary school and a state of the art energy independent Start bus facility. The county should use every mechanism at its disposal to connect these two "dead end" subdivisions to each other as well as any new development. Basically, the development targeted for Northern South Park sub-area 5.6 should happen here instead.
11. Wilson
Wilson's development potential has already been largely quantified during the recent Wilson Commercial zoning district deliberations and needs no fine-tuning at this level of detail. It does however absolutely need to be served by the Start bus.
12. Aspens/Pines
No comments.
13. Teton Village
No comments.
14. Alta
No comments.
15. County Periphery
15.1- As with sub-areas 3.5 and 9.1, the language "on site energy renewal"... " will benefit residents" is weak and hypothetical. On site energy renewal should be encouraged and incentivized. Even this language is non-specific, but it's better than a simple statement of acknowledgement, and could be the basis upon which some future actions might be taken.
15.3- Similar comment here, "commercial development"..."should be maintained and possibly enhanced" should be changed to "should be maintained, encouraged and enhanced."
