Planning Commission to review Suzanne Lagerman conditional use permit for Hoback Junction water plant

The Teton County Planning Commission is set to review a conditional use permit request from Suzanne Lagerman of Nelson Engineering for a Hoback Junction Water and Sewer District utility facility that would build a new public water supply, treatment, distribution, and storage system for the district agenda. Staff describe the district as formed in 2023 in response to high nitrate levels in private drinking water sources, and the project as including a Snake River infiltration gallery and a 420 square foot treatment building, plus distribution lines and storage staff packet. The planning director recommends approval of the conditional use permit with two conditions, one limiting in-river work to low flow months and outside the March 15 to July 31 cutthroat trout spawning window, and one requiring landscape screening between the facility and the river corridor staff packet. The record shows no written public comments had been received as of the staff report staff packet.

The prior record on this project shows the county commissioners voted Sept. 1 to waive about $13,488 in county permit fees for the district’s water system improvements minutes, after staff estimated the full waiver request at about $13,616 across planning, building, engineering, and fire permits fee waiver staff report.

If this moves forward, the practical schedule question is whether the low flow, no-spawning-season constraint lines up with the district’s construction calendar this winter.