Attorney Michael J. Clement, who owns a home with his wife on Nelson Drive, filed a lawsuit against the Jackson Hole Community Housing Trust and Bridger-Teton National Forest Supervisor Chad Hudson, on Jan. 2 in federal court.
His 56-page complaint lays out three issues he has with plans for 36 homes for community workers up his street on federal public land just east of Jackson's town limits.
He argues the project isn’t allowed in the scope of a special use permit, the public hasn’t received enough notice and the modular housing would harm him and his neighbors.
He believes in the need for forest service housing, he said in an interview, but also the rule of law.
“I do not believe that this is the way to do it,” he said.
Jackson Hole Community Housing Trust Executive Director Anne Cresswell told county commissioners at a meeting this week that she and Forest Supervisor Chad Hudson are confident in their legal standing.
“This was something that the supervisor expected from day one,” Cresswell said. “He has been incredibly diligent about dotting every single solitary ‘I’ and crossing every ‘T’ in anticipation that a lawsuit would be filed.”
She hopes the suit will be thrown out and won’t delay construction, expected to start this spring.
“It would be an incredible shame if this project added more cost,” Cresswell said, “because we're spending time fighting a lawsuit that has no basis.”
Hudson told KHOL he’s confident in his actions that have undergone internal legal review throughout.
Right now, Cresswell says the housing trust has the capital to start construction on 31 homes.
But to reach the full build-out, Cresswell’s organization and the Forest Service are asking Teton County for $4.05 million for rights to rent six of the 36 homes to county employees.
Up to six will go to town employees, 13 are reserved for the Forest Service, an unnamed nonprofit has committed to an unknown number, with the rest left to local workers on the Housing Trust’s waitlist.
Commissioners sounded skeptical about the price tag at their Jan. 5 meeting, especially given the lawsuit that threatens to delay or halt the project altogether.
“It’s hard for me to move forward at this price,” said Mark Newcomb, who chairs the board.
Commissioners are looking for more information to buy in – or not – at a future meeting on Jan. 20.
