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Covering the Tetons since 1965

Covering the Tetons since 1965

Town of Jackson wants non-residents on Planning Commission

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Jackson Town Planners want to allow non-locals to serve on the planning commission and other committees.

Currently, to be appointed to the Town Planning Commission or Design Review Committee, you must be a Jackson citizen.

The law says that members of the Planning and Zoning Commission and Design Review Committee shall be residents of and qualified electors of the Town of Jackson for a minimum of 1 year prior to appointment and shall remain residents of the Town for the entire duration of their term.

Planning Commissioners wouldn’t have to live in Jackson

But in a proposal to the Jackson Planning Commission, as part of nearly 90 updates to the Land Development Regulations, the Planning Department has said that they want to allow residents of Sublette and Lincoln Counties to be Jackson Planning Commissioners.

This means that residents that live in Big Piney, Pinedale, Alpine, Afton, and Kemmerer could be making decisions for residents in the Town of Jackson.

The planners say that they have vacancies arise because existing members have moved to Star Valley or Teton Valley, ID and that the current residency requirement limits the pool of applicants.

Limit citizen input

Another change proposed in the Town of Jackson regulations would limit the ability of the public to submit potential amendments to the rules or propose rezoning of property.

Currently, any citizen can seek redress to a rule or zoning designation by submitting the proper paperwork to the Town in an effort to get it changed.

Under the new proposal, citizens would be forced to submit their paperwork in a limited timeframe of 90 days per year.

If petitioners did not make the deadline of March 31st, they would be forced to wait until January 1st of the following year.

The Town of Jackson says the purpose of this change is to limit the number of rezone and LDR amendment applications the Town gets from citizens each year to a manageable and predictable schedule.

They also admit that the proposal will limit the temptation of applicants to solve every regulatory issue with what they call a “why not” amendment request.

The Jackson Planning Commission will continue to discuss the large number of proposed changes on Wednesday night.

 

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