County keeps formula-based workforce housing rules in play

Teton County is teeing up a workforce housing rulebook that calculates required affordable units by what gets built and how big it is. Under the draft in Planning Commission Draft Amendment to Affordable Workforce Housing Standards and Floor Area Option, detached and attached homes use square-footage formulas, lodging is based on rooms, and commercial uses like office, retail, and restaurant space each carry different per-square-foot housing obligations. The standards also say expansions and changes of use are charged only on the difference between the old and new requirement, and if a proposed use is not listed, staff can assign a comparable formula or require an independent calculation.

That basic structure has been in place since the county adopted Division 6.3 of the Land Development Regulations in 2018, using the 2013 Employee Generation Land Use Study as the technical basis. The draft still assumes one affordable workforce housing unit houses 1.8 local employees, and it keeps the idea that employee-generating development should mitigate the housing demand it creates. For property owners, builders, and small operators, the practical question to watch is whether commissioners leave those formulas intact as the county updates the standards, because the math in Section 6.3.3 determines how much housing mitigation a project owes before it reaches permit review.