Teton County commissioners approve family’s plan for residential development
JACKSON — In a 4-1 vote Monday, the Teton County Board of County Commissioners approved the Gill family’s plan to transform their ranch south of town into a neighborhood.
Board Chair Mark Newcomb and Commissioners Wes Gardner, Natalia Macker and Len Carlman voted for the plan. Commissioner Luther Propst voted against it.
The decision includes nine conditions and comes after five meetings and months of county deliberations. The review process, on the whole, has been in the works for half a decade. More county reviews are required before the Gills can break ground.
Much of Monday’s discussion revolved around “risk.”
The Gills’ plan to build 70% of homes for workers or affordable residents is riskier for the family than alternatives, Newcomb said. The land in question could lawfully be divided “into two lots and sold for millions of dollars.
“If things continue to fall into place,” Newcomb added, “there will be a neighborhood that reflects the broad workforce of this community and adds to it.”
Nikki Gill celebrated the vote.
“My family is so happy for the future families of the neighborhood because they now have tangible and real hope,” she said. “For too long they have waited on long, long lists for housing with thin supply. Now after decades and decades of housing on planning paper, this is a win for the community.”
At issue is a plan to transform 101 acres of ranchland into a neighborhood with up to 685 homes, mostly for workers.
The Gills’ neighbors, the Lockharts, could opt to use the same zoning passed by commissioners in March 2024 to develop their own land, bringing total potential homes to 1,437 across 222 acres.
The Lockharts and Gills are two branches of the same family, each owning a portion of the ranch once held by Robert Bruce Porter. But while the Gills are eager to develop, the Lockharts have said they intend to continue ranching.
Propst, a career land-use planner who also voted against regulations last March, was the only commissioner to vote ‘No’ but was not alone in his skepticism.
“The approval fails the community on so many levels that it’s hard to count,” Propst said in an interview after the meeting, standing outside Teton County’s administrative building. “The most egregious failure is that somehow the 45 acres that have been discussed for years now have been reduced to what may be as little as 16.3 acres. That boggles my mind.”
During the meeting Monday, commissioners referenced a News&Guide Guest Shot from members of the Gill team that said 45 acres of the property would be set aside for restricted housing. Propst said he’d also heard the 45-acre figure bandied about in conversations at trailheads and at grocery stores.
He was concerned after a Teton County staffer said that number could come closer to 16 acres once land exactions for schools, parks and roads are factored in.
If the required exactions are subtracted from the 45-acre figure and the Gill team develops deed-restricted blocks at minimum acreages set out in its plan, the total area for workforce and affordable housing will be closer to the 16 acres Propst mentioned, according to Teton County Senior Planner Chandler Windom. The amount of land set aside for housing could, however, be higher, depending on how the Gills implement the plan.
If the minimums are used, that could squeeze between 376 and 420 deed-restricted homes into a smaller area than the community expects, Propst said.
Following the vote, Gill, attorney Amberley Baker, communications consultant Liz Brimmer and other members of the family’s development team exchanged long hugs.
Commission Gardner remained silently in his seat long after the meeting adjourned, similar to how he acted last March when commissioners passed the zoning regulations.
Those regulations, Gardner said, aren’t up to snuff.
“I am left with the sensation that our LDRs are inadequate in the face of uncertainty,” he said. “I don’t feel like it’s our place today to relitigate the LDRs.”
Gardner proposed three conditions, one of which would have imposed a fee on every free-market real estate transaction to fund improvements to nearby High School Road or to help construct deed-restricted housing. That condition did not make the commissioners’ final list.
This story was published on May 20, 2025.