Planners OK change to mixed-use project
By Kevin Huelsmann, Jackson Hole, Wyo.
November 6, 2009
The Jackson Planning Commission endorsed a request to allow 10 long-term residential units at the Pearl at Jackson development to be sold as short-term rental units if the buyer chooses to do so.
At a meeting Wednesday, the commission voted 4-1 to allow 10 units in Pearl at Jackson to be sold as either long-term residential units or short-term rental units.
The units had initially been slated to be sold only as long-term residential.
Planning Commissioner Lisa daCosta cast the lone vote in opposition to the request.
“The applicant has already been granted the right to sell all of his employee units as affordable units,” daCosta said. “They’re mitigating zero impact of the employees they’re going to generate on site.”
DaCosta was referring to a Town Council vote in August in which councilors approved a request that three employee-based units at Pearl at Jackson be changed to employment-based units.
Employee-based units are often purchased by businesses, which then rent them to their employees. The units have rent and occupancy restrictions, such as a cap on income and assets owned by people living in the units, said Christine Walker, executive director of the Teton County Housing Authority.
Employment-based units are more often used as an ownership product and do not have any income or asset restrictions, Walker said. They do, however, require that occupants earn at least 75 percent of their income in Teton County.
Final plans for the development were approved in March 2008. Those plans included 15 residential units — two affordable units, three employee units and 10 free-market units.
During the meeting Wednesday, several planning commissioners said the changes in the project were simply a result of the rough economic market.
“I don’t think they had an agenda or that this was premeditated,” Planning Commissioner Paul Nash said. “It’s just a sign of the times.”
Town planning commission Chairman Michael Pruett said the issue of who was going to move into the units or whether they would sell more easily was not an issue the commission needed to consider.
“Our job is simply to make sure this meets the intent and purpose of the [land-development regulations],” Pruett said.
Town planning staff recommended the request be granted because the development fell within the town’s lodging overlay, which allows for rental units.
In addition, planning staff said that because the development had been approved through the town’s planned mixed-use development tool, there was a certain degree of flexibility inherent in the project.
“It’s a valid request because it’s going through the PMUD process, which allows for some flexibility in the review process,” said Jeff Noffsinger, principal planner.
The planned mixed-use development tool affords developers additional density when they meet two of four criteria: setting aside at least 50 percent of the project’s total square footage as residential or lodging uses; building below-ground parking to meet a majority of the project’s parking requirements; including enough affordable or employee units to exceed the required amount by at least 20 percent; and including design features that “substantially advance the goals of the transportation plan” and the Town as Heart policy.
The request is scheduled to go before the Town Council during a meeting Nov. 16.
