Letter to Teton County Commissioners from Patrick W. Hattaway and Mallory A. Smith
As property owners in the immediate vicinity (860 Whitehouse Drive) of this proposed road we are requesting your consideration of the following points:
1. When this issue was previously before the Commissioners, it was agreed that work at the “Y” and traffic modeling would be completed prior to construction efforts on the Tribal Trails connector. The “Y” has now been modified once by WYDOT and traffic modeling is supposed to occur this year. We object to a contract that includes any construction commitments prior to the completion of the modeling project. We strongly believe that this project and others facing the town and county must have logical, numeric based science backing decisions and not simply our local beliefs (for and against).
2. We strongly urge you to use the language in Appendix L of the Integrated Transportation Plan as guidance for the connector road. Our understanding of the future connector road was within these terms when we acquired our home and this would allow the neighborhood to maintain it’s residential nature, help to protect the soundscape, and enhance safety.
3. We do not know how the connector road could be built to a larger standard than described in Appendix L without additional construction to the south of Indian Trails. In the intervening years the planning commission has allowed a open market housing development and affordable housing to be built within five feet of South Park Loop. While there is clearly easement for a wider roadway, major construction (removal of the cottonwood trees and adjustments of the just completed pathway) of a larger road through this area would truly devastate those residents – some of whom live there due to our community’s ongoing efforts to house local employees.
4. Jackson now exists on a tourist based economy that several of you base your living on. Having been raised in a California winter/summer resort community, and having spent careers in major units of the National Park Service, we understand local emotions over traffic congestion and the frustrations this can bring. However one road is not going to alter the fact that WYDOT has determined they are going to expand the highways to the south and west – without local ability to route additional traffic in Jackson itself. If someone truly wants to be frustrated – try coming from the north on a summer evening as the Yellowstone visitor traffic backs up past the National Wildlife Museum and sometimes to the National Fish Hatchery. Those of us who work in Grand Teton NP and drive that route have come to expect the traffic, and either accept it for the three months of summer or seek alternative modes of transportation (bicycles). In all honesty, how many months does traffic at the “Y” truly back-up to an intolerable level? This is what the modeling study will hopefully tell all of us.
We look forward to attending the April 10, 2018 meeting to hear each of your thoughts and representation on this issue.
Sincerely,
Patrick W. Hattaway and Mallory A. Smith