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After meeting for nearly five hours, the Teton County Board of County Commissioners voted Tuesday to unanimously approve amendments to the land development regulations.
Named after the late county commissioner and longtime conservationist, Hank Phibbs, the “Phibbs amendments” create rules for, among other things, retaining walls and developing roads so wildlife can move through more easily.
The amendments also ensure that applications for roads will be reviewed side-by-side with a home’s development.That’s to prevent the paving of another road that doesn’t yet lead to a home.
The amendments, aimed at reducing further obstacles for wildlife, were part of a joint effort from Teton County residents, Jared Smith and Bill Collins.
The former county official and planning director sought to fine tune the regulations after a road in Wilson was built before the plans for the development at the other end had been finalized.
That driveway turned into what has since been dubbed by critics as a “road to nowhere.” In response, disgruntled neighbors and wildlife advocates decided to bring a new set of guidelines to the county commission.
County commissioners approved most parts of the amendment as-written, though planning staff recommendations sometimes differed from the application.
Most of the commissioners accepted a middle ground, except for Commissioner Luther Propst and Len Carlman. They both voted against some of the staff recommendations in hopes of seeing the amendment pass as first proposed.
“This had been thoroughly vetted,” Propst said. “It was good the way it was and I objected to us spending three or four hours rewriting it.”
After making that point, both still voted with the commission to approve the amendments, which go into effect in May.
