After six years of hearings, rewrites and fee fights, the Teton County Commission said yes on Tuesday, Oct. 6. By a 4-1 vote, commissioners approved the development plan for 557 homes on Gill family land in northern South Park, south of Jackson. If it succeeds, it will be the first major non-luxury housing development in the area in 30 years.
"We're all a little dazed," Nikki Gill told Cowboy State Daily, which reported that the landowner's team broke into applause, then tears, after the vote.
For contractors who work the valley, this is a huge housing pipeline. It won't turn into work overnight, though.
What got approved
The plan lays out a 17-block neighborhood. Under the neighborhood rules the county wrote for this land, 70% of the homes have to be restricted for locals. The Gills will convey land for those 387 homes to two nonprofit builders, the Jackson Hole Community Housing Trust and Habitat for Humanity of the Greater Teton Area. Those homes will be price-capped for households earning less than 120% of the area's median income. KHOL counted some 165 free-market homes in the plan.
The last sticking point was money for roads. The county asked for $3.5 million toward off-site transportation work on public roads outside the project. The Gills first pushed back, arguing they were already giving away land for most of the homes. In the end, the family agreed to pay about $1.3 million, and the two nonprofits will split roughly $2.2 million, KHOL reported. The payments come in three phases, each tied to an approval from the county.
Commissioner Len Carlman cast the lone no vote. He wanted the road money paid up front so the county could plan ahead for traffic and safety. His alternate motion failed 3-2, with Commissioner Luther Propst joining him.
Propst then voted for the plan anyway, while saying the promised deed-restricted homes remain "speculative and contingent." Fundraising, threats at the legislature and traffic safety are all hurdles, he said. "Hope and trust is not a housing strategy," Propst said, before adding that he hopes and trusts the nonprofits will raise the money quickly.
Commissioner Wes Gardner was more upbeat. "I can't wait to see the trucks start moving," he said.
What comes before the trucks
Tuesday's vote finished the political part of the approvals. It wasn't the last step. The developers still need grading and erosion-control permits, which can take up to a year, plus infrastructure and building permits. County planners will keep overseeing that work.
The Gills' attorney, Amberley Baker, said the team is ready. "Now we can actually go do the work after six years," she said.
Getting this far wasn't cheap. Liz Brimmer, a member of the Gills' team, said the family has spent more than $1 million on applications alone, because it "takes a team of engineers, lawyers, every kind of study you can imagine."
The nonprofits face a big fundraising job. Housing Trust director Anne Cresswell called the vote "a historic moment for our community." She described the money they'll need to raise, which KHOL put roughly in the tens of millions, as "manageable and reasonable and achievable." Habitat CEO Ben Johnson said it's much easier to raise money for a project that's actually being permitted. He called the approval "monumental."
The full buildout could take 10 to 20 years, according to KHOL. Teton County needs about 2,000 affordable homes to meet its goal of housing most workers locally, according to its most recent needs assessment.
More could follow. KHOL reported that a similar buildout, with the same affordability rules, could happen on the neighboring Lockhart family land. The Lockhart family hasn't said publicly what it plans to do.
Why it matters for Contractors
This is a decade-plus pipeline, not a single bid. The first real work will be site work: grading, erosion control, then streets, pathways, sidewalks, water and sewer inside the blocks. Excavation, utility and paving outfits should keep an eye on county permit filings over the next year.
On the vertical side, most of the homes will be built by two nonprofits that depend on fundraising. Expect phased, budget-driven work for subcontractors and suppliers, with the schedule following the donations. The roughly 165 free-market homes are a separate opportunity worth tracking as the Gills bring builders on.
If the Lockhart land follows a similar path, South Park could keep crews busy for a generation.