Teton County and Jackson vote to end negotiations with Penrose on 90 Virginia Lane project

Teton County and the Town of Jackson voted on July 14 to terminate negotiations with Penrose LLC over a proposed workforce housing development at 90 Virginia Lane, after a lengthy joint meeting in which elected officials pressed the developer and staff about lost affordability, uncertain impact-investor commitments and procurement concerns.

The meeting opened with a staff presentation from April Norton, housing director, who reviewed the project’s history: a neighborhood meeting and stakeholder interviews in 2023, a November 2023 RFP that drew 11 responses, a town text amendment approved April 16, 2024 to allow an incentive fourth story in the NH1 zone, and subsequent site work including a traffic study completed January 14, 2025. Norton described two staff options: move forward with Penrose (options 1B or 1C, both roughly 221 homes with an approximate split of 70% rental and 30% ownership, and a total of about 326 bedrooms) or terminate negotiations, sell the land or reissue an RFP and pursue lighter-touch uses while staff refocuses on other housing priorities. “If you don’t build the housing, then the numbers don’t matter. It’s 0,” Norton said in response to commissioners’ concerns about changed unit mix and sunk costs.

Councilors and commissioners repeatedly pressed the developer’s representative — introduced during the meeting as Shannon Cox Baker — for specifics about the project’s capital stack, investor commitments and the project’s affordability mix. Officials and staff reconciled figures on the record showing the latest option 1C would reduce units under 80% AMI from the response to the RFP (about 30%) to approximately 7% in the current proposal, while increasing units in higher AMI bands and workforce/market-rate bands. One commissioner summarized the change in blunt terms: according to the tally presented during the meeting, the project’s sub-80% share fell from 30% in the RFP response to about 7% in the current plan.

Shannon Cox Baker said the team continued to talk with mission-driven and impact investors but could not guarantee those commitments: "We're not in a position today to promise that," she said. Staff acknowledged that mission-driven capital could materially improve long-term affordability but warned that it cannot be counted on without firm investor commitments. Legal counsel Leah Colasano told the boards ground leases and deed restrictions create guardrails but that specific outcomes in a sale or default scenario depend on facts and lender arrangements.

During public comment, residents and local advocates were sharply divided. ShelterJH and neighborhood speakers urged moving ahead to deliver homes for residents who face housing instability, while others, including commenter Jessica Hill Chambers, alleged procurement problems and said she had shared records with the Wyoming Department of Audit and other state offices; she urged the boards to halt the current negotiations pending review. Chambers stated the Department of Audit had indicated there was reason to investigate; no formal outcome of that inquiry was announced during the meeting.

After extended debate over the project’s affordability profile, capital structure and alternatives — including a proposal from some members to explore public financing, public ownership or a county-only path — the county motion to direct and authorize the housing authority board to terminate negotiations with Penrose carried 3–2. The town council took a parallel vote and also approved termination 3–2. The minutes recorded two named opponents in the county vote and two in the town vote; officials did not record individual yes votes for all members in the audio record that was read aloud. The motions directed staff and leadership to continue work on alternative pathways and to return with structured options.

Elected leaders emphasized multiple options as next steps: pursue a public-build-and-manage option, revisit development-agreement language to better define review of the capital stack and mission-driven investors, or explore a county-only development path. Commissioner Gardner said the boards should analyze whether the community could publicly finance, own and operate a project that preserves greater affordability. Chair Newcomb and the mayor agreed to work with staff to set a follow-up agenda focused on structured analysis of alternatives.

The meeting closed with the bodies directing staff to pursue the follow-up work and with an instruction from leadership that any further actions should be debated in future, more structured sessions.

What the vote means: The termination halts current negotiations with Penrose but does not permanently foreclose development on the site; the boards directed staff to examine alternatives and to return with options, including public financing or county-only strategies. Several commissioners said they remain committed to delivering housing on the site but differ over the path and partner. The town and county will set additional meetings to pursue those options and to clarify how public contributions and any employer or foundation purchases of first-rights would be split or applied.