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Some community members are maintaining pressure on Jackson Hole Mountain Resort to limit development on their land at Stilson, opposing the latest plan for employee housing and retail space.
Rebecca Singer works for the Jackson Hole Conservation Alliance. She addressed Teton County Commissioners this week during a workshop on the plan and stressed that open space at Stilson is an important corridor for wildlife like elk and moose.
“Irresponsible development to benefit a private interest, at [the] public and wildlife’s expense, are costs we should not be willing to consider,” Singer said, “This is our valley, not Vail, there should be no sprawl at Stilson.”
The gravel Stilson parking lot sits at a critical junction between Jackson, Teton Pass and Jackson Hole Mountain Resort. County plans are set for paving the existing lot and building a transit center bus stop, costing over 14 million dollars.
“Our objective,” JHMR President Mary Kate Buckley said, “is to ask you to consider the development of the entire Stilson parcel in a unified vision.”
The mountain resort, which owns a majority of neighboring land, has its own master plan, which started with current consultants in 2019.
The county has already said ‘no’ to concepts for softball fields at the sight, saying they’re too intrusive.
More development at Stilson has been in the works for years, and Monday’s discussion is the latest in a decades-long negotiation between the county and the resort trying to manage skier and traffic growth at Stilson.
The plan would require rolling back part of a conservation easement held by the Teton County Scenic Preserve Trust.
Moving some of the county’s conservation easement — a legal protection from development — would accommodate the resort’s employee housing and expanded parking lot. But it’s not a simple move, according to County Attorney Keith Gingery. It’s something he said can only remember happening once in 25 years.
“So there are some real issues here,” Gingery said, “it’s not as simple as just ‘hey we are just going to move a conservation easement,’ it just doesn’t work that way.”
Several other advocacy groups spoke against the plan at the meeting like Jackson Hole Wildlife Federation and the Greater Yellowstone Coalition.
Other community concerns came from nearby homeowners, who foresee added traffic as well as noise and light disturbances.
The plan, created by the resort’s consultant Agrostis, includes employee housing, retail space, a daycare, more parking, a tennis court, two soccer fields and more.
County commissioners did not decide on the future of the plan but did indicate to town staff that they’d like them to continue working with the resort.
Commissioners are expected to pick the topic back up in early January.
