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PrintDowntown Jackson: True West or Timeworn?
Opinions differ on what the future of building should bring
Some locals see conflict in permitting “urban mountain living” architecture to pop up within Jackson’s Downtown Historic District.
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For many in this onetime cow town, the development boom is nothing to joke about. Residents and visitors can still clunk along boardwalks, ride a horse-drawn stagecoach around the Town Square, and watch characters dressed in Old West attire reenact a shootout. Yet the mountain-man lifestyle has some noticeable modern interruptions: cranes—and not the kind that fly—hovering over town streets, large holes in the ground marking where buildings once stood, and debris-strewn construction sites blocked off with fencing.
The core area of the Town of Jackson, just ten blocks by ten blocks, has been evolving for decades. But a shift in development patterns early in the twenty-first century, and easy access to money during the credit boom, gave rapid rise to the current face-lift. Now, many residents are frustrated that stark-looking modern buildings are replacing traditional Old West log-cabin-style structures. The steel, concrete, and glass buildings cast shadows over formerly sun-dappled streets and obscure mountain views.
And residents worry about the pace of approvals officials seem willing to hand out.
Between January 2000 and March 2009, the Jackson Town Council approved approximately 1.1 million square feet of commercial space. Critics say the newer buildings displace the romantic images of ranching and the pioneer lifestyle that draw so many here. Proponents say the boom is progress, the natural evolution of trying to promote a vibrant town center while competing with Teton Village for tourists’ dollars.
Some call it Aspenization, and it’s a war that has been waged, or is waging, throughout the American West.
“To me, that name [urban mountain living] and the historic district do not go together,” says East Jackson resident Mike Whitcomb. “So, let’s make up our mind. What do we want to be? Urban mountain living or historic downtowWn Jackson?”
Whitcomb moved to Jackson for its small-town feel in 2003, having lived previously in cities like Phoenix and Los Angeles. Now he wonders if he’ll have to move again. “Walking down the street, you can’t see the mountains anymore,” he says. “You’re always in the shade.”
It’s not just the commercial core Whitcomb has watched change. In his neighborhood, he used to see low-slung ranch homes that spread across large lots. Now he sees what he calls “skinnies”—tall houses whose builders took advantage of density bonuses to gain approval for more than one unit per lot. Instead of having a yard, each home is separated from its neighbor by a narrow alley. East Jackson alone, Whitcomb says, has seen a staggering forty-one new homes built on lots where just four homes previously stood. This includes a 3.33-acre lot where just two homes stood, but was subdivided for twenty-eight units.
“I think there’s clearly a mindset among some people that growth is good—period,” Whitcomb says. “They’ll say it provides job opportunities and more tax revenues. But if you look at the real numbers, the impacts, it doesn’t pay for itself.”
Perhaps no one sees the big picture quite like Franz Camenzind, director of the Jackson Hole Conservation Alliance and a veteran observer of valley phenomena.
Reader Comments:
That is the problem, Mr. Prugh and Ms. daCosta. Yall don't know what "ugly" is, and you're going to let greed make everything about Jackson really ugly. I live in what used to be a quiet little fishing village that used to look as if it were plucked out of the Carribbean....now it looks like Miami Beach with oil. I guess it all depends on the type of people you want to attract. And just for note, tourists who visit Teton Village also visit Jackson, and vice versa because....they are different! Guess not for long.