VICTOR — Victor City Treasurer Jasmine Griffin told the City Council on May 13 that if Teton County voters reject the road levy on May 19, Victor will open its next budget year about $200,000 short on road funding, a gap the city would cover from its Local Option Tax.

The Special Road & Bridge Levy on Tuesday's primary ballot funds road work for four governments. The county's Road & Bridge department takes the largest share, roughly a million dollars, about a third of its road budget. The rest comes from state fuel taxes and vehicle registration fees. The cities of Victor, Driggs, and Tetonia divide the remainder in proportion to the property taxes paid within each. Victor's slice is the best documented of the three: the city budgeted $205,000 in road-levy revenue this year, the money behind Griffin's warning. A failed renewal would leave all four governments short. Teton County voters have approved the two-year measure in every cycle since 2010, and this year's version asks for up to $1.5 million per year, up from $1.4 million in 2024, to replace the current levy when it expires on September 30.

DRIGGS — Driggs is borrowing $25 million to rebuild its wastewater treatment plant without a bond election. The Driggs City Council adopted Resolution 421-24 on Sept. 3, 2024, authorizing outside counsel to file for judicial confirmation in district court. A confirmed judgment is the city's legal authority to take on the debt.

DRIGGS — Teton County commissioners voted 3-0 on Monday to deny the Sweetwater reconsideration petition on standing grounds, affirming the March 9 approval of the Sweetwater Subdivision Phase 1 preliminary plat amendment.

YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK — A grizzly attack on the Mystic Falls Trail near Old Faithful injured two brothers on Monday, May 4, the National Park Service said. The agency airlifted both men to Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center in Idaho Falls.

DRIGGS — The week ahead in Teton Valley loads five development applications onto the joint Driggs and Teton County Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) docket for May 12, the centerpiece of a two-week stretch that also runs a full Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) meeting on May 11, the county's Land Development Code (LDC) public hearing on May 18, and the Idaho primary on May 19. The county had not posted cover pages for the May 11 BOCC and May 12 P&Z hearings to the eScribe portal as of Sunday night, but staff reports and supporting documents for every item are on file.

DRIGGS — Advocates for a Teton Valley YMCA presented an exploratory discussion to the Teton 401 school board on April 13, asking trustees to consider whether about 18 acres of district-owned land along Ski Hill Road, near Teton High School, Teton Middle School, and Driggs Elementary, might host a future YMCA campus. The item carried no motion or vote.

The week ahead in Teton Valley packs three of the spring's biggest civic items into a single Monday. On May 11, Teton County commissioners are scheduled to rule on whether neighbors have standing to reopen the Sweetwater Subdivision approval, the written-comment window on the county Land Development Code rewrite closes at 5 p.m., and Idaho DEQ holds a virtual info meeting on the $25 million wastewater funding package that ranks Driggs first on the state's draft list. The following Tuesday, Driggs Planning and Zoning takes up the 171-lot Corona Valley Subdivision. The window closes Sunday, May 17, a quiet day before May 19, the heaviest civic day on the spring calendar.

DRIGGS — Federal forecasters expect an above-normal fire season across southern Idaho this July. Snowpack across most of the West is at or near record lows after a record-warm mid-March. Spring snow and rain since have driven a fast green-up that's complicating the prescribed burns the Caribou-Targhee National Forest planned to run this spring.

VICTOR. The Victor City Council rescinded the Evans wastewater land deal at a special meeting, repealed the January annexation, and adopted an ordinance to exclude the parcel from the city limits. The City Attorney's April 29 staff report says the city and the seller "have agreed in principle to terminate" the contract; the rescission agreement includes de-annexation as a term. The council voted unanimously.

DRIGGS — Two of three Teton County commissioners questioned the breadth of exclusivity in a proposed new RAD franchise agreement at a Friday work session, with the third reluctant to disturb a working relationship. Commissioners declined to act, pushing the discussion toward amending the existing contract. The fallback is putting waste collection out to competitive bid for the first time since 2015.

DRIGGS — Teton County commissioners on Monday tabled the Sweetwater reconsideration petition to May 11, holding off on a ruling until they receive further legal counsel on whether the 12 people who filed it qualify to be heard. The petition challenges the board's March 9 approval of an expansion of the Sweetwater Subdivision from 18 to 44 lots on the parcel adjacent to the Driggs-Reed Memorial Airport.

DRIGGS — Teton County commissioners voted 3-0 Monday to adopt Ordinance No. 2026-04-27, creating a "Drive-In Theater" land use category in the county's Land Development Code (LDC) and giving the long-stalled rebuild of the Spud Drive-In Theatre a clear regulatory path forward.

The week ahead in Teton County puts three separate hearings in the courthouse on Monday: a Board of County Commissioners business meeting, a reconsideration of the Sweetwater Ranch Subdivision after a resident petition, and the first town hall on the new Teton River recreation ordinance. Idaho organizers face a Thursday deadline to turn in signatures for the reproductive rights ballot initiative. Wildfire Awareness Day lands Saturday, May 2. The following week opens with a Driggs City Council meeting on May 5 and goes quiet through the weekend of May 9–10.

VICTOR. The Victor wastewater fight reached its next milestone Wednesday when City Council voted 3-1 to amend the fiscal 2026 appropriations ordinance by $2,625,366 and to disburse $1,984,035.25 to close the Evans purchase, a 40-acre parcel at Highway 33 and 7000 South, the site of the city's planned independent Class A treatment facility. Councilors Sue Muncaster, Emily Sustick, and Stacy Hulsing voted in favor. Councilor Amy Ross dissented. Mayor Will Frohlich was absent.

VICTOR. City Council on Wednesday directed staff to discontinue Victor's standalone public records policy and administer requests under Idaho Code Title 74, but left the substantive questions driving the work session to a future meeting, including how the city treats third-party IT pass-through charges, who reviews disputed bills, and whether resident Ashley Coletti will get another hearing on the balance she is contesting.

DRIGGS — Idaho DEQ placed Driggs wastewater funding at the top of its draft Clean Water State Revolving Fund priority list for fiscal year 2027, making the city eligible for up to $25 million to rebuild its treatment plant.

The Victor City Council voted 3-1 Tuesday night to approve a $2 million Evans land purchase for the city's planned wastewater treatment facility and, in a separate vote, ratified the city's pending lawsuit against the City of Driggs on the same margin.

Two hundred and eighty-one calls came in to the Teton Valley sheriff blotter this week. A white horse spent part of Tuesday evening weaving through Highway 33 traffic north of Victor while the sheriff's office worked its way through five possible owners, none of whom owned the horse. The animal left the highway on its own; its fate is unknown.

The Birch Crossing zoning decision landed on April 16 when the Victor Planning and Zoning Commission recommended approval of the annexation but assigned RS-7 single-family to all 13.38 acres, closing off the 172-unit rental project D&B Partners LLC had scaled down and resubmitted over the previous month. The recommendation now goes to City Council, which has final authority on both the annexation and the initial zoning.

VICTOR — A Victor ethics complaint against the city's one-person consulting firm prompted two attorneys to examine whether a conflict of interest exists. Both concluded it does not. The consultant, Troy Butzlaff of Athenian Partners LLC, has held overlapping contracts as interim city administrator, capital and special projects manager, and executive director of the Victor Urban Renewal Agency since 2021. Out of "an abundance of caution," City Administrator Jeremy Besbris wrote in an April 8 email responding to the complaint, the consultant was asked to make a disclosure to the VURA board.

Victor P&Z commissioners will hear two continued applications Wednesday night, the council faces a critical vote on the Evans property closing April 22, and the Grand Targhee expansion open house anchors a week packed with public input sessions across Teton Valley.

VICTOR -- The Victor City Council voted 3-0 on April 8 to deny the Market Street rezone, a proposed mixed-use rental development on 7.4 acres between Highway 33 and Grand Teton Brewing, overriding a staff recommendation and Planning and Zoning Commission approval. Councilmembers cited unresolved questions about wastewater infrastructure and a comprehensive plan they say needs updating before the city approves more density.

DRIGGS — The judicial confirmation hearing for the Victor wastewater borrowing plan has been rescheduled to September 11-13, expanding from a single-day hearing originally set for April 7 to a three-day proceeding, according to Teton County Court records.

DRIGGS — Idaho spends $51 per resident on state and federal housing programs, compared with $107 in Montana, $217 in Wyoming, and $1,150 in Colorado, Teton Valley Housing executive director Jared Pfeiffer told the Driggs City Council on Tuesday.

DRIGGS — The Driggs City Council approved a $428,211 park-and-ride construction contract, a trail easement across school district property, the first-phase final plat for the White Antler subdivision, and new parliamentary rules at its Tuesday meeting.

DRIGGS — A statewide petition drive to put reproductive rights on Idaho's November ballot enters its final 24 days, and Teton Valley volunteers are collecting signatures at four local businesses through the April 30 deadline.

VICTOR — The Teton Valley Foundation announced the Music on Main 2026 lineup on April 6, opening its 21st season with Boise indie rock band Built to Spill on June 18 at Victor City Park.

DEVELOPING: The judicial confirmation hearing on Victor's petition to borrow $35 million for an independent wastewater treatment facility, scheduled for April 7 before Judge Steven Boyce, has been delayed. The Valley Signal is requesting details on the reason and rescheduled date. Updates will follow.

VICTOR — The wastewater numbers in the Victor-Driggs fight start at $35 million, the figure that has dominated the debate since Mayor Will Frohlich announced plans to build an independent treatment plant. Critics call it reckless. The recall petition cites it. Councilmember Amy Ross, the lone dissenting vote on the judicial confirmation, warned in January that she doesn't think "anyone understands the full financial implications of $35 million in debt."

HB 583 rewrites Idaho Code § 67-6539 to limit the authority of cities and counties to regulate short-term rentals. The bill prohibits local governments from requiring licenses, permits, fees, inspections, or registrations to operate an STR, while preserving basic fire-safety provisions and existing tax collection authority. It passed the Idaho Senate 23-12 on March 10. Gov. Little signed it March 16, and it takes effect July 1, 2026. The legislature tried twice before, with failed measures in 2024 and 2025, to settle the tension between local regulation and property-owner rights in Idaho's growing STR market.

VICTOR — Spring break empties the valley this week, with no government meetings scheduled. The week of April 6 brings Victor's judicial confirmation hearing for a $35 million wastewater plant and packed city council agendas.

DRIGGS, Idaho — The Teton Creek Resort settlement approved Monday will cost Teton County $3 million. The county faced a $19 million judgment. The current Board of County Commissioners negotiated it down.

DRIGGS — The Teton County Board of County Commissioners voted 2-1 on Monday to deny Fall River Electric Cooperative's application for a special use permit to build the Midway Substation, a new electrical substation between Driggs and Victor. The cooperative argued the valley's growth rate, roughly 2.3 percent per year, requires new infrastructure to prevent outages. The commission disagreed.

In the week ahead, five things to watch in Teton Valley: a county commission meeting, a land-use workshop on subdivision rules, and two public hearings in Victor.

For more than 25 years, the cities of Victor and Driggs have shared the Driggs wastewater treatment system. That partnership is now the subject of a major lawsuit, a mayoral recall effort, and more than $65 million in proposed infrastructure spending between the two cities. This is how it happened, what the lawsuit says, and what comes next.

TETONIA — A 35-year-old Rexburg man died Monday morning after his truck struck a dead elk on State Highway 33 and rolled off the road.

DRIGGS — The Corona Valley subdivision, a proposed 180-unit residential development, is moving through the Driggs planning process, with the development site located directly east of Teton High School.

ALTA — The U.S. Forest Service has delayed the release of the Final Environmental Impact Statement for Grand Targhee Resort's proposed expansion, pushing the timeline back by four months.

DRIGGS — Teton Valley Hospital has secured enough philanthropic support to keep its doors open while leadership evaluates the hospital's long-term future, according to a public FAQ the hospital posted on March 6.

Update: The Victor Wastewater Hearing was Pushed to September as of April 7, 2026.

VICTOR — The Planning and Zoning Commission rejected the proposed density for Birch Crossing, a 172-unit rental housing development on 10 acres near Birch Street and Baseline Road, at the March 19 hearing. Commissioners voted unanimously to continue the application and directed the developer to return with lower-density zoning, a requirement that would force a redesign from apartments to duplexes.

Driggs, Idaho — March 23, 2026

DRIGGS — The Teton County Board of Commissioners voted 3-0 on Monday to adopt revised juvenile ordinances covering runaways and minors "beyond control of parents." The revisions follow a sharp community backlash after the commission first adopted the ordinances in December.

DRIGGS — Teton County voters will decide on May 19 whether to renew the Special Road & Bridge Levy, a two-year funding measure that has appeared on primary ballots every cycle since 2010. This year's request: $1.5 million per year, up from the $1.4 million approved in 2024.

DRIGGS — Teton County commissioners will review proposed revisions to the controversial juvenile ordinance provisions on runaway and "beyond parental control" cases at their meeting this Sunday, March 23.

VICTOR — A group of Victor residents is attempting to remove Mayor Will Frohlich from office, filing a recall petition with the Teton County Clerk on March 10.