After the 2008 market crash, owners of incomplete developments in Teton County, Idaho began to look for ways to restructure and reinvent distressed subdivisions. In 2010, Targhee Hill Estates became the first incomplete development to formally approach Teton County with a proposal to replat their partially built resort development.

At the time, there was no local ordinance, state statute, or legal process that would allow for the replatting of an expired development.

Valley Advocates for Responsible Development (VARD) quantified the volume of expired and soon-to-be expired developments, recognized the potential benefits of establishing some kind of incentive process to promote the redesign of these distressed developments, and thus petitioned Teton County to develop a process to facilitate replatting.

Plat redesign can reduce intrusion into sensitive natural areas of the county, reduce government costs associated with scattered development, and potentially reduce the number of vacant lots by working with landowners and developers to expedite changes to recorded plats.

Targhee Hill Estates Concept Plat
Targhee Hill Estates Concept Plat. (Photo Credit: Valley Advocates for Responsible Development).

On November 22, 2010, the Board of County Commissioners unanimously adopted a replatting ordinance which would function as a solution-oriented tool to allow the inexpensive and quick replatting of subdivisions, PUDs, and recorded development agreements.

The impetus behind this new ordinance was to create a solution-oriented process that would allow Teton County to work with developers, landowners, lenders, and other stakeholders. The purpose was to untangle incredibly complicated developments which had become derailed and now involved multiple ownership interests and oftentimes millions of dollars in infrastructure.

The ordinance waived the unnecessary duplication of studies and analyses that may have been required as part of the initial plat application and approval. As an incentive, Teton County agreed to waive its fees for processing replat applications.

 

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  • Challenges:
  • urbanform
  • State:
  • idaho
  • Scale:
  • site, community
  • Type:
  • rural