Jackson council approves 72-unit St. John’s employee housing at 460 E. Broadway

Jackson Town Council on June 2 unanimously approved a development plan for a 72‑unit residential building at 460 East Broadway intended to house St. John’s Health employees.

The project — described by planning staff as an approximately 83,300‑square‑foot, three‑story building with 22 one‑bedroom, 48 two‑bedroom and two three‑bedroom units — will include on‑site property management space and a mix of resident amenities. Councilwoman Beeman moved to approve the plan; Councilman Regan seconded the motion and it passed unanimously.

Council and staff said the development implements voter‑approved special purpose lodging (SPAT) funding that included $24 million for hospital‑focused housing. Planning staff told the council the site is 1.65 acres with about 196 feet of East Broadway frontage and that, under the town’s land development regulations and conditions that accompanied prior rezoning (ZMA P22‑053), the project must proceed through the development‑plan review process.

“The applicant has requested a modification of income requirement,” planning staff Andrew Bowen told the council, summarizing the application materials. He said the housing department and planning staff had reviewed two key requests from the applicant: (1) that the 75% local‑income test apply only to the St. John’s employee rather than the employee’s whole household, and (2) that the department permit longer vacancy periods than the housing rule of 60 consecutive days in some hiring/relocation cases. Bowen said the Housing Department recommended approval of the first request but not blanket approval of the second.

April Norton, the town’s housing director, told council that the 60‑day vacancy rule is part of the workforce deed‑restriction template: "What that is is for a workforce deed restriction. Homes could not be vacant for more than 60 consecutive days." Norton said the housing department would consider exceptions on a case‑by‑case basis and that the department expects a written exception request and a paper trail when a longer vacancy is needed for recruitment or relocation.

St. John’s representatives said the building targets long‑term, year‑round employees and that limited exceptions would be needed for locum tenens or delayed relocations. Sean Ryan, director of facilities for St. John’s Health, said the hospital’s strategic plan prioritizes workforce housing to retain clinical staff: "Our intention for these are for our year‑full time year‑round staff. We're simply bringing up the exceptions on the case that they might come up."

Council and staff also focused on parking and pedestrian access. The development requires 1.5 parking spaces per unit under the applicable standards for apartments, the staff report said, which yields a 100‑space requirement for 72 units. The applicant will provide 76 on‑site spaces and 32 off‑site spaces under a shared‑parking agreement on hospital‑owned parcels located about 810 feet (roughly two blocks) from the site. Planning staff conditioned approval on a requirement that the developer provide a sidewalk design and construct a continuous pedestrian route on the south side of East Broadway to Redmond Street prior to issuance of a certificate of occupancy.

Town planning director Paul Anthony told council that enforcement of the reserved off‑site spaces will be a planning‑department function rather than a police function: "We have a good enforcement officer. We do never talk about who's actually doing it... But it's our responsibility to enforce the terms of the development plan."

Council approved four explicit conditions recorded in the staff report: (1) a building‑permit submission and town‑engineer review of a sidewalk design on the south side of East Broadway that provides continuous pedestrian access to Redmond Street; the sidewalk must be constructed before certificate of occupancy; (2) a signage plan or other strategy to ensure the 32 off‑site parking spaces are reserved exclusively for Hitching Post residents; (3) recordation of deed restrictions for workforce rental housing in perpetuity in a form approved by the Housing Department prior to issuance of any certificate of occupancy; and (4) all proposed modifications to the housing deed‑restriction template must be submitted to the Jackson/Teton County Housing Department for final review and approval by the Town Council.

The applicant team — Hal Hutchinson (HH Land Strategies), Sean Ryan (St. John’s Health), and architects from Shopworks — emphasized the project’s employee retention goals and described building design choices, including two‑bedroom predominance for household flexibility, interior storage, amenity spaces and use of durable materials. The hospital told council it manages employee housing across its portfolio and intends to tie dedicated spaces to leases and property management practices.

Council members expressed support for the project and for the use of SPAT funding while pressing the applicant and staff to monitor outcomes (vacancy rates, parking usage) and to revisit conditions if operations show they are not working as intended. Councilman Schechter asked staff to treat the approvals and approved exceptions as a monitored pilot, and Housing Director Norton said the housing department will track exceptions and return to council if trends suggest the policy needs revision.

The council’s approval closes final action on development plan P25‑041 but required the deed restrictions, sidewalk plan and signage to be completed before the project receives certificates of occupancy.

Community members were present but no public comment on this item was recorded during the hearing. The council vote was unanimous.