ALTA – Grand Targhee Resort’s proposed expansion is too big, four of five county commissioners said Tuesday.

For the first time since receiving the application last fall, members of the Teton County Board of Commissioners offered opinions on the George Gillett family’s application to rezone 120 acres at the base of the ski resort from rural to resort and to expand from 96 to 725 free-market units. During a meeting at Alta Elementary School that attracted a standing-room-only crowd of almost 100 people, a majority of commissioners said the proposal envisions too much development.

“I want to see a scope and scale that work,” Commissioner Hank Phibbs said. “But the one that’s in front of you this evening I am uncomfortable with. I think it’s too big.”

Phibbs said he doesn’t know the right number, but it should be one that balances community with growth. Targhee has been an important resort for the area, and it should be there in the future, he said.

He applauded Targhee and its front man, Geordie Gillett, for presenting a thorough application, particularly in how it has addressed issues such as traffic, impacts on the backcountry and employee and affordable housing.

Nonetheless, Phibbs said there is another issue that sticks out. Phibbs discounted the developer comparing Targhee to Snow King and Teton Village and claiming that the proposed development would be less dense than those resorts.

“I think there is a difference between this resort and Teton Village and Snow King,” Phibbs said. “They are all unique and all uniquely different. A comparison between the three to try to prove a number of something else doesn’t carry a lot of weight with me.”

Commissioner Ben Ellis agreed.

Snow King is located in an urban core while Teton Village is surrounded by private land. Targhee sits at the end of a dead-end road at 8,500 feet, surrounded by wilderness, he said.

“What is being proposed is too large,” he said. “A baseline comparison with Teton Village and Snow King Resort ... is not a reasonable baseline.”

Ellis, who reviewed the application last summer as a planning commissioner and proposed conditions at that time for reducing the size, again said this week it should be smaller.

He said the size of the development should be based on community discussions about the appropriate scale.

“I’m comfortable with the number the planning commission recommended,” Ellis said, referring to that board’s suggestion of 450 total free-market, employee and affordable units.

He also said the expansion should be density neutral, meaning it would offset any new units with a commensurate amount of open space. Ellis said he thinks Targhee’s proposed environmental mitigation needs clarification and refining.

Commissioner Leland Christensen, an Alta resident, said he was concerned with potential impacts on the environment and people. Christensen said he wants any open space offered in the proposal to be near the ski area and surrounding area, not in outlying communities.

“I think the mitigation has to be somehow connected in a very real way ... to that mountain and that ecosystem,” he said.

Like other commissioners, Christensen said the size would put a community half the size of Jackson at 8,500 feet in an alpine environment.

“I don’t know how you can really mitigate all that,” he said.

Commission Chairman Andy Schwartz also did not like comparing Targhee to other resorts. Resorts should be evaluated individually, he said.

Regarding size, Schwartz also said he has no number in mind, but he asked Targhee to come up with a different size that it deems appropriate.

“The size might be right,” he said. “But I have a sense that it’s larger than I believe it should be.”

Schwartz said he is concerned about increased traffic on Ski Hill Road as well as backcountry use in the summer.

While Targhee can’t be responsible for all growth associated with resort expansion, it should offer solutions for the impacts it creates. That same concept should apply when discussing the resort’s effects on Idaho, he said.

Further, Schwartz said he would locate all the employee and affordable housing in Idaho and restrict future size to the 120 acres.

Commissioner Bill Paddleford said he couldn’t add to any comments that commissioners already had made.

“I didn’t come here so much to give my thoughts,” he said. “I came to hear your thoughts, and I look forward to public comment.”

Following the commission comment, the public was offered a chance to comment. That fell after the News&Guide deadline.