Jackson Hole News & Guide, November 20, 2024
Transportation plan for Legacy Lodge gets county approval
Developers aim to disincentive tenants from parking multiple cars on site
By Charley Sutherland, GOVERNMENT REPORTER
A heavily litigated and controversial plan to transform the nowdefunct Legacy Lodge assisted living facility into housing in Rafter J took another step forward Tuesday, when county commissioners passed the developer’s plan to mitigate traffic.
Traffic has been a long-standing concern for Rafter J subdivision residents, who showed up in force to commissioners’ chambers Tuesday.
“With the increase in commuters coming from Alpine, [traffic has] become untenable,” said Sharon Mader, a longtime resident of Rafter J. “I am very, very concerned about it.”
Legacy Lodge owners Sadek and Dorian Darwiche aim to reduce traffic impacts in their transportation plan by disincentivizing future tenants from having multiple cars that they frequently drive in and out of the subdivision. The Darwiches, who also own Hotel Jackson, proposed 97 total parking spots.
Future tenants could purchase their first parking spot at a low rate and then could purchase another parking pass if they have a second car. However, that second pass would be more expensive than the first.
Some spots are set aside for guests.
“People don’t live in a vacuum,” Stefan Fodor, an attorney representing Stage Stop LLC, the Darwiches’ company, said. Most will have visitors who will need a place to park, he said.
Mader said she worries that tenants will just park all over the streets throughout the subdivision. She also said the intersection to enter the subdivision, at Highway 89 and Big Trails Drive, is dangerous. Making a left turn into Rafter J involves using the highway’s “suicide lane,” the twoway center turn lane, which Mader said can be quite frightening.
When Fodor responded to Mader’s on-street parking concerns, he spoke assertively.
“If anyone goes to park on Big Trails Drive, there’s one number to remember: 733-8697,” he said. “That’s Ron’s Towing.”
Commissioner Greg Epstein promptly disclosed his family’s involvement with Ron’s Towing, which fellow commissioners and county staff chuckled at during the meeting.
Initially, Stage Stop LLC will have to improve pathways to encourage bike travel, enforce parking rules and provide space for bike parking. Stage Stop will monitor traffic, and developers will be required to take additional measures to reduce traffic if it does increase significantly.
The threshold is an increase of 46 trips during the morning peak period or 53 trips in the evening peak period. Stage Stop would then trigger “phase II” mitigation measures.
There is currently no START bus service to Rafter J, meaning the owners would need to provide a shuttle to the Y intersection. But if START service is established, the Darwiches would be required to supply bus passes to residents.
Alternatively, Stage Stop could choose to establish a car- or bikeshare program.
Stage Stop’s first traffic monitoring review is set for January 2026. At that point, if traffic is above standards, the company can choose between transit incentives and a car- or bike- share program. If the development is not compliant in its second review a year later, Stage Stop would have to implement both.
While many Rafter J residents addressed the board, there were outliers who supported the transportation plan, citing housing needs. Judith Hernandez, a 30 year resident and mother, encouraged the commissioners to pass the Legacy Lodge plan. “I’ve been searching around for new housing, but it’s been very hard,” Hernandez said. As a potential tenant, she said she’d try to reduce her own car trips to and from Legacy Lodge. From personal experience, Hernandez said, she understands the traffic in the area can be dangerous but said folks like her need housing and those interests should be considered.
Cory Herrick commended Stage Stop LLC for listening to concerns raised by neighbors, winning lawsuits and being adaptable.
“You guys all ran on the pro-housing stances,” he told commissioners. “Please approve housing for the Legacy Lodge today.”
Mainly drawing from personal experience, several commissioners agreed with Rafter J residents that the intersection to enter Rafter J is especially dangerous, .
Over the summer, there was a big crash at the intersection, and it could’ve been even worse. A late maneuver by one driver avoided a T-bone collision, Charlotte Frei, the county’s regional transportation planning administrator, said.
The Wyoming Department of Transportation will be analyzing the intersection as part of “warrant study” to see whether a stoplight is called for, according to Teton County Engineer Amy Ramage.
Rafter J Homeowners Association Vice President Jessica Brown said Legacy Lodge’s additional housing would worsen an already congested and dangerous intersection.
“High-speed stop sign controlled intersections are one of the least safe type of intersections that we encounter as drivers,” Brown said.
How traffic is monitored and how traffic reports are presented was also a point of significant discussion. The HOA requested raw data from reports and a third party contractor to review it.
Brown also requested that commissioners include a stipulation that if some number of accidents or a single fatality occurs at the intersection, the board would re-review Legacy Lodge’s transportation plan.
Monitoring numbers would be publicly available, Fodor said. However, accidents or fatalities at the intersection could not be directly attributed to Legacy Lodge, and Fodor encouraged commissioners to proceed without any such stipulation.
Commuters and big trucks speed down Highway 89, going as fast as 80 miles per hour, according to Margaret Creel, a Rafter J homeowner. She also wasn’t convinced that the Darwiches’ cycling incentives would realistically reduce traffic, especially during the winter.
“Who rides bikes in Jackson Hole from November to April?” she said.
Board Chairman Luther Propst later said Creel made a good point.
“We’re not going to see a significant change in transportation by bicycle sharing,” he said, adding that he’d prefer transit incentives be included right away, instead of having them triggered by increased traffic.
After a lunch break, commissioners reconvened to issue a verdict. The board tweaked the transportation plan slightly, saying that even if Legacy Lodge housing doesn’t increase traffic enough to prompt further mitigation efforts, the board still intends to continue evaluating impacts. Just because Legacy Lodge doesn’t trigger additional traffic mitigation measures, that doesn’t mean traffic is “perfectly acceptable,” Commissioner Mark Newcomb said. The county should “strive to do better,” whether triggers are hit or not, he said.
Fodor said Stage Stop is happy to continue evaluating traffic.
Unanimously, with Commissioner Natalia Macker absent, the board approved Legacy Lodge’s transportation plan and the amendment aimed at continuing the conversation.
Contact Charley Sutherland at 307-732-7066 or county@jhnewsandguide.com.