click here to download the full (STAG) recommendations document

The process has been long and arduous but today another step was made in updating the Jackson/Teton County Comprehensive Plan when the Stakeholder Advisory Group (STAG) presented their “Comprehensive Plan Update Recommendations”* inside the Teton County Commissioners meeting room, located on 200 S. Willow. *see image at left to download the full document.

STAG, which was formed in September 2007, is comprised of twenty community leaders with various interests. The group was formed to assist the Planning Team by acting as a soundboard of voices as the new Jackson/Teton County comprehensive plan goes through the drafting process. Today, after a year and a half of meetings, Brad Mead, Anne Hayden-Cresswell and Armond Acri acted as representatives for the group of twenty while presenting a summary of their concerns.

“We did the best we could to reflect the opinions of the group,” said Brad Mead, “The intent was to not loose the voices.”

The group estimated that they spent a total of 60 to 80 hours discussing the comp plan together. In the end, they produced a nine page itemized document outlining their concerns. It is now up to the Planning Commission and elected officials to decide which recommendations, if any, need to be taken into consideration.

“As Stakeholders, we asked ourselves, what are the ‘red flags’ for us?” Said Mead.

The categories within the Comp Plan that the group had concerns with were Wildlife and Open Space Preservation, Manage Growth Responsibly, Town is Heart, Housing, Balanced Economy, Transportation, Community Facilities, and Future Land Use Plan. They also had concerns with 23 of the 25 district areas within Comp Plan. Examples of district areas are places like Wilson, The Aspens, East Jackson, Moran etc. The only two district areas with ‘no comment” were Snow King and South Highway 89.

A large concern from the public at the meeting was that the composition of the group did not represent the over-all population of Teton County. However, the group claims that they never intended to represent the public, but were formed to ensure that various important interests within the valley had a voice in the planning process.

Since July 2007 the Town of Jackson and Teton County have been working together on updating the Jackson/Teton County Comprehensive Plan to make sure it reflects our current community conditions and addresses potential problems in the future. Our current Comprehensive Plan, created 15 years ago in 1994, is considered out of date. The new updated Comp Plan should be completed by the summer of 2009.

Those in the STAG group included:

Laurie Andrews, Conservation Easements
Jake Ankeny, Construction
Jerry Blann, Resorts
Franz Camezind, Wildlife Protection/Conservation
Rob Cheek, Commercial Real Estate
Kniffy Hamilton, National Forest
Anne Hayden-Cresswell, Affordable Housing
Darrel Hoffman, Community Character/Preservation
Bland Hoke, Real Estate Development/Past Planning Perspective
Kelly Lockhart, Ranching/Large Land Owner
Brad Mead, Ranching/Large Land Owners/Legal
Tim O’Donoghue, Commerce
Sean O’Malley, Engineering/Pathways
Scott Pierson, Planning/Development
Aaron Pruzan, Recreation
Pam Shea, Education
Deb Sprague, Social Services
Loren Wilson, Agriculture/Alta/Large Land Owner

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