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Last week’s meeting about one affordable housing project ended in heated exchanges between attendees and current and former elected officials.
Fights over the pace and process of development are not new and meeting host Rebecca Bextel has a long history of opposing the Flat Creek Apartments across from the Teton County fairgrounds.
The Oct. 23 meeting at the Teton County Library was an attempt to show that 48 recently constructed affordable housing apartments used public money and land irresponsibly. It also previewed some potential criticism around over 200 units at 90 Virginian Lane, slated to break ground in the spring.
The latest chapter was largely, however, a reprisal of longstanding policy questions mixed in a fresh barrage of points Bextel claims show the town got a “bad deal.”
The Save the Jackson Hole Fairgrounds co-founder and lobbyist is a rising influence in the Wyoming Freedom Caucus. She was joined by former Town Councilor and Democrat Jessica Sell-Chambers, whom she affectionately referred to as “the only person that gets blown up in the paper more than I do.”
Following a 45-minute information-dense slideshow presentation, audience voices rose at Bextel’s encouragement to press Mayor Arne Jorgensen on the details of the ground lease for the public-private partnership.
“Show us!” people shouted, wanting to know where in the paperwork lay the 99-year affordability protections. The audience had just watched an archived video of Town Attorney Lea Colasuonno answering the same question to Secretary Gray, albeit in legalese, pointing to the governing article 2.1. Jorgensen referenced the video.
“There are multiple places there where [affordability] is protected over time. And I feel very good about that,” he said.
The night left some worried that a pattern of personal attacks and yelling matches would undermine dialogue.
That includes Clare Stumpf, who leads housing advocacy group ShelterJH. She drew a distinction between Bextel’s event and what she wants to see at her public events.
“ShelterJH facilitates open, good-faith conversations about how to address our community’s housing challenges from myriad perspectives,” she said in a statement to KHOL. “Events that rely on misinformation or fear, rather than facts, do a disservice to our community and undermine the thoughtful dialogue our residents deserve.”
Teton County resident Tyler Davis owns one of two development companies that built the Flat Creek Apartments. In a recent full-page ad in the Jackson Hole News&Guide, Davis defended the project and said the payout of $1 million to developers included almost two years of unpaid work.
“This project will never transition to the free market and, in the event of a default, the town reserves the right to terminate the ground lease,” he said in a signed letter in the ad.
The town has also defended the project in response to Bextel’s criticism, emphasizing the public good brought by 126 residents in the apartments who live in households making 30% to 60% of the area’s median income.
“Getting a project like Flat Creek Apartments built and operating is quite complex and takes numerous agreements,” said Susan Scarlatta, director of external affairs, in an email.
Bextel has rallied against the project since before its groundbreaking in 2023 and has subsequently successfully elevated her concerns to Secretary of State Chuck Gray and other state lawmakers. The state recently opened a compliance investigation at Gray’s request, only to finish the investigation in early October after finding developers in compliance with grant agreements, according to the Jackson Hole News&Guide.
She has been at the center of the effort to get state laws to forbid mitigation fees, an assessment billed to new construction to offset jobs created by growth. This is just one way the town and county raise money to build affordable housing. Some local electeds expect it to be on the chopping block in Cheyenne next legislative session.
Bextel has other issues with the project, including how town councilors changed the land’s zoning, how developers were paid and got a break on property taxes, if those living there are cheating the system.
A fair number in the crowd were unsympathetic to the scrutiny. Some, frustrated with Bextel, called out asking her for solutions to the region’s acute affordable housing crisis.
Lesley Williams-Gomez is a fire prevention specialist for the Bridger-Teton National Forest. She rushed into the meeting after watching the live recording at home.
“I heard someone say ‘let’s slow down the development’ for those people like me who live in affordable housing. Do you want me to slow down when I respond to your fire?”
Jacksonite Nasim Arafat asked if Bextel supported affordable housing in general. She first skirted the question, but after being pressed, responded.
“This project, no I don’t,” she replied. “It’s a dumb question. What is ‘affordable’?” She then questioned his connections to the developer.
The town and developers have put out releases and newspaper advertisements saying the project is compliant and debunking some of the critique.
Sell Chambers is now saying town staff didn’t properly brief officials on over 200 affordable and workforce units at 90 Virginian Lane and votes happened too fast. Sell Chambers was on the council when this was approved.
She encouraged the public to ask for more oversight over the units slated to go up across from the library next spring.
