Midway Substation Returns to County P&Z

Teton County planning commissioners hear four applications Tuesday evening, among them Fall River Electric's resubmitted permit for the Midway Substation. The next night, Driggs commissioners take up an appeal of a permit the city's planning director approved in July.

Thursday, Sept 3 — DEQ takes comment on the Felt Dam certification

Idaho DEQ takes spoken comment tonight from 6 to 7:30 p.m. in the Commissioner's Room at the Teton County Courthouse, 150 Courthouse Drive in Driggs, on its draft Clean Water Act Section 401 water quality certification for the Felt Hydroelectric Project on the Teton River, about nine miles northwest of Tetonia. The meeting is in person only.

The certification is the state's response to the final license application Fall River Rural Electric Cooperative filed with federal regulators on August 31, 2021. DEQ received the certification request December 5, 2025. Under Section 401 the state has one year from that request to certify the project before the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission can issue the license, which puts the state's own deadline in early December.

Written comment stays open until September 14 whether or not anyone speaks tonight.

Friday, Sept 4 — Two deadlines close

Driggs takes written comment until 5 p.m. on the appeal of Stone Ridge Townhomes, an eight-unit townhome project the city permitted in July. Comments in by then are included in the staff report. Email them to [email protected].

The same day is the Idaho Secretary of State's sample-ballot layout deadline for the November election.

Tuesday, Sept 8 — Four county hearings, starting with a subdivision and ending with the Midway Substation

The Teton County Planning and Zoning Commission meets from 5 to 8 p.m. in the Commissioners' Meeting Room at 150 Courthouse Drive in Driggs, with four public hearings.

First, at 5 p.m., Zamora Estates: a four-lot subdivision on 10 acres northwest of Tetonia along State Highway 33, inside the Tetonia area of impact, on ground now used for hay. Access comes off N 3500 W, an existing private gravel road.

Second, at 5:20 p.m., the Gallery Subdivision: a 15-lot residential subdivision west of Victor from Nelson Engineering, with lots running from 2.5 to about 19 acres. The parcel carries steep slopes and mapped wildlife overlays, and the agenda says it has been evaluated through preliminary slope and wildlife analysis. Access comes off S 4500 W.

Third, a revised plat from K Ranch LLC, cut to nine lots from an original nineteen, on 74.99 acres at 466 E 8500 S inside Victor's area of impact. Lots run three to five acres, and the property carries big game migration corridor and seasonal range overlays. The same K Ranch open space agreement is what the Kunz rezone before Victor's council on September 23 cites for its added density.

Fourth, at 6:20 p.m., Fall River Electric's special use permit for the Midway Substation, on land the co-op has secured next to the Bonneville Power Administration transmission line at 70 W 350 South. The agenda describes the co-op as resubmitting. The packet runs to eleven attachments, among them a wildlife habitat assessment, an electromagnetic field study, a noise survey and a paper on substation effects on property values.

Tuesday, Sept 8 — A comment deadline and a school finance meeting

Written comment closes at 5 p.m. on the two applications Victor's planning commission hears September 17: a request for several variances at 222 West Center Street, and a concept plan to create 28 townhome lots on 1.59 acres at Elm, Dogwood and Agate. Comments in by then are posted with the staff report.

Teton School District 401's finance committee meets at 5:15 p.m. at the district office, 481 North Main Street in Driggs. Its one-page agenda lists year-to-date financials, a Wyoming tuition agreement, an emergency levy, an L2, other topics, and the date of the next meeting.

Wednesday, Sept 9 — Driggs hears an appeal of its own approval

The Driggs Planning and Zoning Commission meets at 6 p.m. at City Hall, 60 South Main Street, and on Zoom, to hear the Stone Ridge appeal. The city's planning and building director approved the permit on July 27 and issued a correction the following day. Matthew Robertson filed the appeal August 10, asking the commission to overturn it. Twenty affected property owners petitioned for a public hearing, and the city scheduled one.

The units sit in an established development along Aspen Meadows Road near Ski Hill Road, platted in Teton County in 1997 and annexed into Driggs in December 2022. Whatever the commission decides can be appealed again, to the city council. A staff report is due the week before the hearing.

The published notice carries a heading naming a different application, a zone map amendment, over a body that describes the townhome appeal.

Thursday, Sept 10 — Driggs certifies its levy

The city's L2 property tax certification is due to the state.

Monday, Sept 14 — A river comment period closes and the school board meets

Written comment closes at 5 p.m. Mountain time on the Felt Hydroelectric water quality certification, the subject of the September 3 meeting above. Comments go to Alex Bell at the DEQ Idaho Falls office.

Teton School District 401's board meets at 6 p.m. at the district office. The board posts draft minutes in the following meeting's packet, so the August 10 minutes are expected with this meeting's materials.

Wednesday, Sept 16 — Victor and Driggs return to wastewater

Minutes from both cities set a joint council session on wastewater for this evening. Driggs councilors discussed it on July 29 and again on August 4; Victor's council took it up in a work session August 26. No notice for the meeting appears on either city's calendar or public notices page.

Calendar

Date	Event
Fri, Sept 4, 5 p.m.	Written comment closes, Driggs appeal of the Stone Ridge Townhomes permit
Thu, Sept 3, 6–7:30 p.m.	Idaho DEQ public meeting, Felt Hydroelectric water quality certification, Commissioner's Room, Teton County Courthouse, Driggs
Fri, Sept 4	Idaho Secretary of State sample-ballot layout deadline
Mon, Sept 7	Labor Day
Tue, Sept 8, 5–8 p.m.	Teton County Planning and Zoning Commission, four hearings: Zamora Estates, Gallery Subdivision, K Ranch, Fall River Midway Substation, Commissioners' Meeting Room, Driggs
Tue, Sept 8, 5 p.m.	Written comment closes for Victor's Sept 17 planning hearing
Tue, Sept 8, 5:15 p.m.	Teton School District 401 finance committee, district office, Driggs
Wed, Sept 9, 6 p.m.	Driggs Planning and Zoning Commission, Stone Ridge Townhomes appeal, City Hall and Zoom
Thu, Sept 10	Driggs L2 levy certification due
Mon, Sept 14, 5 p.m. MT	Comment closes, Felt Hydroelectric water quality certification
Mon, Sept 14, 6 p.m.	Teton School District 401 board, district office
Wed, Sept 16, 6 p.m.	Victor and Driggs joint council session on wastewater, per both cities' minutes

What We're Watching

The county has posted no minutes since July 27. Six county meetings have been held since then, and no official record of what any of them decided is public.

What to watch: whether minutes for the August meetings appear with Tuesday's packet.

Sources

Correction

September 3, 2026. This column originally said the window to request a public hearing on the Felt Hydroelectric water quality certification closed August 15 and that Idaho DEQ had announced no hearing. DEQ had announced one. The agency noticed a public meeting August 24 and scheduled it for September 3, the day after this column published. The meeting now appears under its own date above and in the calendar.

The column also described the September 8 county planning hearings as three. There are four. The Gallery Subdivision, a 15-lot proposal west of Victor heard at 5:20 p.m., was omitted. It has been added to both the section and the calendar.

The September 14 written comment deadline is unchanged.