County planners tee up May 4 work-plan review after BCC/PC priorities meeting

Teton County’s Board of County Commissioners and the county Planning Commission held a special joint meeting March 9 to align on major land-use priorities and how to implement the community’s Comprehensive Plan, with no formal action requested and no public comment taken. The session was framed as a policy-level coordination meeting — not a forum for quasi-judicial decisions on individual applications. (Special Meeting Agenda; Staff Report)

In the staff packet, Planning Director Chris Neubecker listed near-term “pipeline” items and work underway that will likely drive hearings in 2026: drafting LDR amendments tied to the adopted Water Quality Management Plan; developing text changes to remove the Rural PRD and CN PRD rural development tools and adjust standards for certain small R-1/R-2 lots; and advancing an applicant-submitted “string lighting”/exterior-lighting amendment that also proposes restrictions on certain colored exterior lights. (Staff Report)

Staff also pointed to bigger-scoped efforts that may require budgeted consultant help and multi-board direction. Those include preparing an RFP to hire a consultant to scope and run public engagement for the next Comprehensive Plan update (staff said there is no FY26 budget for engagement and they plan to propose FY27 funding), and a countywide effort to study where heavy and light industrial uses could be accommodated after the BCC denied an industry-use change in the WHB zone (Hog Island). The packet also describes early work on a potential voluntary habitat-mitigation fee-in-lieu program and a project to publish the county’s Land Development Regulations online through Municode. (Staff Report)

A concrete next step coming out of the packet: staff scheduled the draft FY27 Long Range Work Plan for review by the BCC at the May 4, 2026 joint meeting, signaling that prioritization and sequencing decisions are expected to move onto a formal agenda this spring. (Staff Report)