As expected, public comment in Tuesday’s meeting garnered strong support for the application advancing. Residents shared their fond memories of the hot springs, which was closed in 1999.

“When people ask me what it was like to grow up in Jackson, my first memories are at Astoria,” said Nikki Gill, the great-granddaughter of Bruce Porter, one of the original founders of the springs. Gill’s father and grandfather ran the springs from 1961 until its closure, she said.

“When people asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up, I said I wanted to work in the snack bar,” Gill said, spurring laughter from a sizable crowd that gathered in the commissioners’ chambers.

Gill paid her respects to the quirky allure of the hot springs, telling of how they would “rent out swimsuits,” which “didn’t seem odd at the time,” she said.

Summer days

Echoing Gill’s fondness, other residents told of their time in the pools and on the playground equipment, eating ice cream sandwiches and spending entire summer days swimming.

“I grew up in this town and I feel like a lot of things have been taken away from children,” said Brock Carr, a lifetime resident and father of two. “It would mean the world to be able to take [my kids] there.”

Longtime Jackson resident Mike Wardell remembered being a child in the early 1940s when he played in the hot springs before they were developed pools.

Even though they were just mud and gravel pools back then, “it was still a place that we all loved to go,” Wardell said.

“I suppose I’m now becoming what’s referred to as an ‘old-timer,’ ” he said, “but I want to assure you that I’m not an old-timer that says, ‘I wish everything was the way it used to be.’ ”

Rather, Wardell said the springs are a “thread to the past,” along the lines of the Jackson Drug and Teton Theatre — staples of the community that have been lost.

“Astoria is one of those things that we have the opportunity to bring back,” he said, “and it will be so important to this community to have that asset.”

Tangled process

While sentiments for the hot springs were supportive and straightforward, the process of approval is less so. The application that would allow for the redevelopment of the hot springs involves three parties: Northlight Trust, which owns the land where the hot springs are located; the Snake River Sporting Club, which is building a resort to the south of the springs; and the Trust for Public Land, a nonprofit that would oversee the hot springs park.

Essentially the proposal involves two major parts: creating a site for the hot springs and transferring development rights from the hot springs parcel to other properties.

While the proposal calls for shifts in development density, it also calls for smaller residential units, creating an overall decrease in development over the current level, county planners said.

“The overall square footage is going down, the overall acreage of the resort is decreasing,” said Shawn Means, Teton County senior planner. “The footprint of the development is arguably also decreasing.”

One key point of the proposal and an expected topic for continued discussion, is how employee and affordable housing requirements will be met.

Though some on-site housing would be built to satisfy requirements, the applicants have offered to attach a possible 1 percent real estate transfer tax to cover the rest. Money from the transfer tax, if approved, would be placed into a fund earmarked for affordable housing.

But Teton County Land Development Regulations place the onus on developers to pay for housing requirements. The arrangement as proposed would shift that fee to property buyers.

“As proposed, [the fee] would be 1 percent of the sales price when a lot is sold or transferred,” Means said.

Which, considering the value of land in Teton County, has the potential to be a lot of money. The payment plan would also have the potential to provide an ongoing revenue source for affordable housing.

Commissioners will continue to delve into the details of the proposal starting at 8:30 a.m. Thursday in the commissioners chambers, 200 S. Willow St.