Home buyer to fight Golf & Tennis dog rule
By Cara Rank, Jackson, Hole, Wyo.
February 5, 2010
A woman under contract to purchase an affordable home at Jackson Hole Golf & Tennis Club has taken the first step to change rules so she can have a dog in her new neighborhood.
Karen Keckley submitted a request Monday for a preapplication conference with the Teton County Planning Department. It’s the first step in applying to lift the rule in the development’s master plan that prohibits dogs in the affordable-housing section of the resort.
“The reason behind the prohibition, in my eyes, is invalid to begin with,” Keckley said. “It’s completely unfair and unfounded.”
Keckley owns a dog and expects to have it stay with friends or family after she closes on her new home.
When commissioners approved an amendment to the resort’s master plan in 2002, Golf & Tennis’ developer, Vail Resorts, offered to prohibit dogs in the affordable section, where there are now 22 townhomes.
During the lottery for those units last month, potential owners were misinformed about the dog policy. Applicants were told they could have a dog and that it must be restrained at all times.
Neighbors protested that announcement, citing the amendment that states dogs are forbidden on the affordable units to protect wildlife habitat. Moose use the area in winter. The property also was carved out of the natural resources overlay, which affords more protections to environmentally sensitive areas, and abuts Grand Teton National Park.
Keckley now seeks to change that rule.
To do so, she must convince a majority of county commissioners to lift the prohibition. She also must convince 75 percent of homeowners in the affordable units to change the rules that govern that development.
Keckley said she took commissioners’ approval of the final plat this week as a positive sign. Although residents asked commissioners to put the prohibition on the final plat to make sure it’s clear in the record, the board refused.
“I think it was a positive sign,” she said. “It’s good that the county commissioners don’t want to back the property into a corner and have it be that inflexible going forward.”
