Important Hearings Coming Up

Community Collaboration

Over the last few weeks, we have seen what our community does best - come together in times of need. On the 23rd, the City of Driggs hosted a meeting between Teton County, WY and Teton County, ID to discuss concerns over our collective ability to manage ever growing impacts from development and the potential for Grand Targhee expansion.

We also watched Driggs and Victor come together last night (the 29th) to revisit the future of our wastewater treatment system/s. This meeting was filled with details - engineering presentations from both cities - timelines - and what a path forward might look like. A follow up meeting has been penciled in for September 16th - we'll keep you posted. Please thank our mayor's and council members when you see them out and about. It takes a dedicated leader to come to the table in tough times and we're grateful for their work. 

Thank you to our community for showing up, speaking out, and tracking these important decisions with us!

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Upcoming Meetings

August is shaping up to be a busy month! We have our eyes on the following hearings:

Teton County Planning and Zoning, August 11th at 5PM - BE THERE: This meeting will include public hearings for the THH LLC Land Use Code amendment request (Guest/Dude Ranches in the foothills), the Spud Drive-In Theater Special Use Permit, Jeremy Kincaid's LDC amendment request to create a new county residential 2.5 zoning district (!), a zone change for the Wild Water/Teton West School, and a zone change from Rural Residential 20 to Industrial Research beside a small residential community.

Recently, we have seen multiple LDC amendments coming through - initiated by individuals. This tactic is overall detrimental to our community as the LDC was created to support the goals in the Comprehensive Plan. It was created by the whole community - through a long and inclusive process.. not one person. LDC amendments should not be used as a tool to circumvent the guiding document for our valley's future simply so that particular developments can be approved. Meanwhile, the County approved 150k in this year's budget for an update to the Comprehensive Plan that remains unspent.

Call to action: Please ask Commissioners to stop processing LDC amendments initiated by individuals if it has a valley wide impact. Please ask them to focus staff resources on the Comprehensive Plan update - bringing the community together - planning for our whole community - and not allowing their time to continue to be monopolized by a select few. 

One such LDC amendment request is the Corner Fox LLC Comprehensive Plan Code amendment request. This application serves as a means to bring an illegal operation into compliance rather than amending our code for the greater good. Commissioners agreed to reopen this hearing and have shown their desire to be a good neighbor to Driggs by considering their comments. 

Driggs City Council, August 4th at 6PM: This meeting is scheduled to have the public hearings for the Corona Valley Subdivision and the Altitude Business Park. Interested in reading our comment letter on Corona Valley? Click here!

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Thank You...

Wow. We're blown away by your support!

Tin Cup came to an end last week on the 24th. And as the final donations are being processed, we would like to take the time to express our immense gratitude to everyone who supported VARD (and all our nonprofit friends) this year.

Because of your contributions, we are able to continue our mission of shaping policy, guiding development, and advocating for Teton Valley's open spaces, wild places, and vibrant towns. 

We wouldn't be here without you.

THANK YOU!