Jackson-area leaders direct staff to draft traffic study rules, request nexus study for possible impact fee

County commissioners and Jackson town councilors on Monday directed staff to begin revising Land Development Regulations to require standardized traffic impact studies and travel demand management reporting and to return with information, including a nexus study, to support a potential transportation impact fee and other dedicated revenue options.

The motions, made separately and approved unanimously by both the Teton County Board of Commissioners and the Town of Jackson Council, follow a staff presentation that described draft requirements for when applicants must submit a small trip memo (for projects generating 30 or fewer net new peak-hour trips) and when they must submit a full transportation impact study (TIS). Staff said draft requirements would also ask applicants to include TDM measures that “should attempt to achieve at least a 50% trip reduction.”

The staff presentation was led by Charlotte Frey, transportation staff, who told the joint meeting that the comprehensive plan and the Integrated Transportation Plan (ITP) direct the town and county to prioritize walking, biking, carpooling and transit over single-occupancy-vehicle travel. Frey said the current guidance on when developers must study and mitigate traffic impacts is “limited” and often handled by case-by-case negotiated conditions. She told the boards that adopting standard requirements would give staff consistent information to assess development impacts and to plan capital projects or programs accordingly.

“Without clear requirements for applicants to document and mitigate their transportation impacts, staff cannot make informed recommendations to adequately address the impacts of growth,” Frey said.

The staff packet and presentation outlined a range of funding options for capital improvements and operations, including gas and sales tax, grants and loans, user fees (for example paid parking or congestion pricing), and impact fees. Frey noted legal limits on impact fees tied to the constitutional and Supreme Court nexus-and-proportionality doctrine and said the county and town would need a separate nexus study to set fee rates and apportion costs. She estimated that preparing a nexus and fee program could take roughly six to 18 months and that staff time to support the initial work might total about 200 hours plus consultant work.

Public comment included Amy Kushak of the Jackson Hole Conservation Alliance, who said the group supports adopting traffic impact study requirements and urged the boards to “bring forward a traffic impact fee proposal at the same time,” arguing that studies without fees would produce analysis but not meaningful mitigation.

Elected officials asked questions about thresholds, impacts on small businesses, change-of-use scenarios and how summer tourism and commuter flows shape peak demand. Councilman Kevin Schechter and several commissioners noted that vehicle registrations and visitation have risen markedly in recent years even where population growth has been flat, heightening the need to address cumulative impacts and the limits of relying only on level-of-service standards. Commissioner Gardner and others urged care to avoid placing undue burdens on small businesses and suggested exploring exemptions, waivers or different treatment for change-of-use projects.

Staff described monitoring and reporting proposals tied to project size: smaller developments would submit trip generation memos and be monitored (staff proposed six years of monitoring for smaller projects and ten years for larger TIS projects), while a future impact-fee program could shorten applicant reporting by replacing full TISs with a simpler fee calculation in many cases. Frey said the town and county already are building a traffic-count program so applicants could use standardized counts collected by staff rather than pay for every study-specific count.

After discussion, Commissioner Probst moved—and Commissioner MacKer seconded—a motion to direct staff to initiate the LDR update to adopt traffic impact study and TDM requirements and to bring additional information regarding dedicated revenues, specifically a nexus study to support a traffic impact fee and other user fees, to a future meeting. The county and the town adopted essentially identical motions; both passed unanimously.

Frey told the boards staff would aim to return with the nexus-study information and other options by the end of 2025, subject to staff and consultant timelines. She also noted a joint TDM coordinator position now funded by both jurisdictions beginning this fiscal year (effective 07/01/2025), and said staff would continue refining the capital improvement plan and traffic monitoring programs underway.

What happens next: staff will begin the LDR amendment process (including public outreach and required hearings) if directed to proceed and will develop a workplan and timeline for a nexus study if the boards want staff to pursue impact-fee options concurrently or in sequence.