Group seeks 500 homes

Developer proposes a new kind of affordable housing in Jackson Hole.

By Cara Froedge

August 29, 2007

A 42-year-old developer is proposing a 500-home neighborhood south of town that will offer a new type of deed-restricted affordable housing never seen in Jackson Hole.

James Reinert, who moved to the valley a year ago from Chicago, Ill., is proposing the neighborhood, Teton Meadows Ranch, on 288 acres of the 336-acre Roger Seherr-Thoss property, adjacent to Rafter J and Melody Ranch. The application, submitted to Teton County planners Aug. 22, proposes to rezone the property from rural to Neighborhood Conservation 2 to construct 125 traditional affordable homes and 375 units of “Homestead Ownership,” a new category of home for those who work in Teton County.

“I came out here to do smaller projects and spend more time with my kids and enjoy life,” said Reinert, a former senior vice president of U.S. Equities Realty, where he worked for 13 years.

As Reinert spent time here and began to analyze the issues associated with the valley’s expensive real estate market, he thought  he could help.

He is proposing to limit the price of property deemed Homestead Ownership by limiting the pool of buyers. To qualify for one of these deed-restricted lots, a person will have to work 1,500 hours a year in Teton County and agree to own only one residential property.

“My goal from the beginning was to create affordable housing for people living and working here and to try to bring people back,” Reinert said. “It’s something that might really make a difference here in the valley.”

Teton Meadows Ranch is the first project by Reinert’s company, Sequoia Development. Reinert is currently under contract to purchase the property, and a confidentiality clause prevents him from releasing details of that agreement, he said.

If the sale goes through, Seherr-Thoss would keep the 48-acre corner of the property that houses a gravel pit, which would eventually be shut down, he said.

 Reinert has hired a team of planners, including Jim Verdone, Nancy Arkin and Jason Snider of Verdone Landscape Architects, and spokespeople, including former county commissioner Mike Gierau and Kari Cooper, a past marketer for Jackson Hole Mountain Resort.

For months, talk of the development has circulated through the valley. The team has been meeting with residents of surrounding neighborhoods, the school district, St. John’s Medical Center, START, Pathways, Teton County/Jackson Parks and Recreation and county planners to find out what they’d like to see on the property. It also sent 2,200 questionnaires to residents throughout the region.

Members of the development group sat down with the News&Guide on Monday and Tuesday to outline their plans. Copies of the project application to the county should be made available to the public next month via a Web site.

Blair Leist, a principal planner with the county, said he didn’t open the application until Tuesday afternoon and was unable to discuss it.

A representative of one anti-growth group that’s been anticipating the proposal said Tuesday the county should disregard it.

“I don’t believe the planning commission or county commission should even consider this proposal given it’s such a gross deviation from what’s permitted under the comp plan,” said Steve Sharkey, director of Save Historic Jackson Hole.

Further, leaders should wait to consider a proposal of this magnitude because the county is reviewing and updating the comp plan, he said.

According to Reinert’s team, this plan is the best way to develop the property. In fact, there are no plans in reserve, they said.

“We wanted to come out of the chutes right up front with our best plan,” Verdone said.

Treading new ground

He said Homestead Ownership is a new concept for the county that will allow people who are now in affordable housing to trade up into a more free-market situation. It also will allow people who have moved to Alpine or Teton Valley, Idaho, for cheaper housing to return to buy a home here.

The program will target people who can’t qualify for affordable housing because their income levels are too high or they have too many assets.

The neighborhood will offer lots and housing at prices yet to be determined but still “substantially” less than the free market, Reinert said. The homes will not be subject to caps on appreciation but will have deed restrictions to prevent speculation and require owners to work at least 1,500 hours per year in the county. (See sidebar).

Reinert said the wages of those who work in the county will determine resale values. Deed restrictions won’t set a cap on how much a property can appreciate in a year, as is the practice in the county’s other affordable housing programs.

Having more flexible resale restrictions will provide incentives for people to move back from satellite communities or encourage others to move from a free-market situation that may not be amendable, such as those who live in a valley condominium and have too little space for a family, he said.

The proposal includes 25 percent affordable housing, an increase above the county’s current 15 percent requirement. The first 15 percent will be traditional affordable housing that meets county regulations. The other 10 percent could be flexible and based on what the county wants. The remaining 75 percent would be Homestead Ownership units.

The 25 percent affordable housing is targeted to be 97 homes and 28 duplexes. Under the Homestead category, there will be 90 duplexes, 175 small lots and 40 large lots, which would line the perimeter of the development.Lots will range in size from .17 to .50 acres.

Group’s conscience of density

Verdone said the densities are line with surrounding neighborhoods, with 1.7 units per acre. Rafter J and Melody Ranch range from 1.4 to 2 units per acre.

Homes will be clustered within several distinct neighborhoods, each with its own central park or open space.

The proposal offers 50 percent open space, most of which will surround the entire property to maintain views for neighbors, the team said.

There’s also eight acres set aside for an elementary school and athletic fields.

The development plan includes two accesses to South Park Loop Road. Eighty percent of traffic to and from the development will access Highway 89 to the east, the development group said.  

According to the team’s traffic study, improvements are needed to both South Park Loop Road and Highway 89, including a left turn lane for eastbound traffic, a deceleration lane for southbound traffic and a traffic signal by 2013.

Teton Meadows Ranch will help pay for improvements to the intersection, based on traffic the development generates.

Gierau said the Seherr-Thoss gravel pit will be used for on-site construction needs before it is closed down, moving that truck traffic off South Park Loop Road.

Flat Creek flows past the northeast corner of the property but not on it. There’s only one wetland but a number of irrigation ditches. The wetland is protected, they said.

As the acreages are now disturbed agricultural meadows, there’s not any wildlife values identified on the property, they said.

Reinert and his team also plan on following sustainable design principles and green building practices. They will use guidelines of and seek certification from the Yellowstone Business Partnership Greater Yellowstone Framework for Sustainable Development.

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