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Planners approve variance for Fox Springs lot with condition to avoid canal-side wetlands
Summary
The Planning and Zoning Commission approved a wetland-setback variance for a home at 6322 Fox Springs Drive, requiring the applicant to move the house outside the 50-foot setback measured from the canal and to relocate the septic as feasibly far from the canal as possible.
The Teton County Planning and Zoning Commission approved a variance allowing development that would otherwise encroach on the county’s 50-foot wetland setbacks at 6322 Fox Springs Drive, but the permit carries a condition aimed specifically at reducing impacts on a canal-adjacent wetland.
The landowner is Fox Creek Investments; the applicant, Matt Bonnet of Skyline Builders, told the commission that the lot’s configuration and delineated wetlands make it difficult to place a home without encroaching on one or more 50-foot setback zones. Staff said an aquatic resource inventory (ARI) was completed for the property (06/20/2024; revisited 09/17/2024) and that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers issued a preliminary jurisdictional determination on 11/08/2024. The packet referenced Teton County Land Development Code sections 5-2-3 and 5-4-2 as the applicable development standards.
Public comment included a statement from Nikki Richards of Valley Advocates for Responsible Development urging strict adherence to Idaho Code 67-65 and cautioning against setting precedent. Bonnet responded that he and his team placed the home to remain on uplands and to avoid direct impacts to wetlands, saying, “I do think this lot is unique in that just due to the size and the configuration of the lot and the way that the delineated wetlands worked out, it would be, impossible to put a home on the lot without being within 50 feet of some of the wetlands.”
Commissioners discussed alternative footprints and shifting the house to reduce impacts on the 50-foot setback measured from the larger wetland along the canal. After an initial motion to approve a variance failed, a subsequent amended motion passed. The approved motion directs the applicant to shift the house outside the 50-foot canal setback where feasible and to move the septic tank as far from the canal as practicable while maintaining required well and drainage separations.
The roll-call vote on the amended motion recorded Commissioners Baker, Wertenbrock, Kauffman, Penfold, Weber and Braun voting yes and Commissioner Kohut voting no; the motion carried.
Staff noted standard conditions of variance approval: variance approval does not substitute for site-plan or building-permit review, an approved variance will expire after one year unless a building permit application is filed or substantial progress is demonstrated, and future development that encroaches different wetlands must return to the variance process.
Applicant Matt Bonnet said he would consider minor shifts to reduce wetland impacts and that the team had worked with Intermountain Aquatics and Nelson Engineering on delineation and engineering.
The commission’s approval allows the applicant to proceed to the county permitting stage subject to the variance condition and all other required county, state and federal approvals.
