Hoback Junction leaders urge county coordination on water, sewer and gateway planning
Loading...
Summary
Local Hoback Junction officials and residents told the Teton County commissioners that drinking-water construction, a wastewater feasibility study and a proposed fire station with community space are reshaping land use at the county’s southern gateway and asked the county to coordinate planning and community engagement.
The Teton County Board of County Commissioners on April 13 heard a detailed briefing from Hoback Junction leaders about a cluster of infrastructure projects that officials say could reshape the county’s southern gateway.
Robert Frodeman, chair of the Hoback Junction Water & Sewer District, told the board the district expects a groundbreaking this summer on a drinking-water project and that a Nelson Engineering wastewater feasibility study should be completed by summer. He said the district is also entering design work for a new fire station that could include a community meeting space and that these public-works investments are spurring private development interest at the junction.
Those developments, Frodeman said, present opportunities and risks. “What affects what happens down at the junction affects all of the county,” he said, urging county coordination on land-use, parks and circulation. He listed five priorities: advancing the drinking-water project, completing a wastewater study of alternatives, pursuing near-term public investments such as the fire station and a pocket park at the confluence, and holding a community workshop to collect broader input.
Homeowner Kaya Tekscher, who said she represents a 16-home subdivision north of the Hoback River, urged county support for a municipal wastewater solution. “Only a municipal wastewater system would fully address the area’s underlying water quality concerns,” she said, highlighting aging septic systems and an estimated $1 million aggregate replacement cost for her neighborhood’s septic systems.
Planning staff briefed the board on options to address Hoback in the county’s comp-plan processes. Staff said Hoback could be: 1) folded into the county’s pending comprehensive-plan update, using targeted RFP language to update the character area; or 2) advanced as a separate neighborhood plan (a yearlong charrette-like process). Commissioners discussed trade-offs—speed and focus vs. broader alignment with the town’s process—and asked staff to return with two options and estimated workloads.
Commissioners expressed support for early community engagement and different implementation tracks: a short-track plan element for immediate water-quality or pocket-park needs, plus a longer neighborhood-plan process if the board wants deeper outreach. The board did not adopt a final plan today but directed staff to include Hoback items in the planning work plan and to prepare options for a potential workshop.
Next steps: staff will return with RFP options and scoping for either inclusion in the comprehensive-plan update or a stand-alone neighborhood-plan process, and the Water & Sewer District said it would pursue a community workshop if grant funding is secured.
