Town, county hope to get plans back in sync
By Kevin Huelsmann, Jackson Hole, Wyo.
June 26, 2009
Jackson and Teton County officials are working to get their versions of the comprehensive plan back on the same track.
Jackson Planning Commission Chairman Michael Pruett and Teton County Planning Commission Chairman Larry Hamilton said they intend to convene their boards at a joint meeting July 9.
Town planning commissioners voted Wednesday to delay their discussion of the plan with the expectation that they will be able to meet with county planning commissioners in July.
It was the second meeting in a row that town planning commissioners put off their review of the plan.
“We’ve both been asked by our respective elected officials to work to get this back as a joint process,” Hamilton said Thursday. “So we’re both pushing pretty hard to do this jointly.”
The town’s and county’s reviews of the development guide headed in separate directions June 11 when county planning commissioners voted to recommend the county send the document back to staff to revise.
During a town planning commission meeting Wednesday, Pruett echoed Hamilton’s sentiments that the two bodies should work together.
“It’s critical for the successful implementation of this plan that we have a joint process,” he said.
A series of meetings scheduled for the next two weeks will largely determine how that process moves forward.
County planning commissioners are expected to take another vote Monday on their motion to remand the plan back to town and county planning staff.
Hamilton said that before any revisions are made or anything “is set in concrete” he wanted the town and county planning boards to meet and discuss how to “modify the process and re-engage the public.”
Town and county elected officials are expected to discuss the comprehensive plan process during a July 6 meeting, Town Planning Director Tyler Sinclair said.
Several days later, on July 9, Pruett and Hamilton hope to bring together their two commissions and sift through the quagmire that has besieged the formal review process and forced it to a grinding halt.
“At that meeting I think we want to figure out how we’re going to go about this,” Pruett said. “How do we approach it? How do we get everyone on board? How do we involve the public more? Once we figure that stuff out, we can work on developing a schedule.”
During a town planning commission meeting Wednesday, Pruett handed out a list of suggestions aimed at addressing some of those questions.
Those suggestions included incorporating more informal workshop meetings into the review process as well as posting commission recommendations online or in a capacity in which members of the public could review them and then allowing time at the beginning of the next meeting for residents to comment on the proposed recommendations.
“We want to have a more relaxed format so we can open up more dialogue and engage the public more,” Pruett said.
