The Two-Week Ahead: The Smash Appeal and Highway 33 Closures

The Teton County commissioners take up the Smash appeal Monday, six days after the county planning commission deadlocked on the indoor recreation center and handed it over without a ruling. The first Highway 33 driveway closures start Thursday.

Monday, Sept 28 — The Smash appeal, a school rezone and a dispatch contract

The commission meets at 9 a.m. in the Commissioners' Meeting Room at the courthouse, 150 Courthouse Drive in Driggs, for a session the county has scheduled until 6 p.m.

The Smash appeal is listed as an action item with no set time. Jason and Sidney Wilcox want to run Smash Recreation Center, about 20,000 square feet of batting cages, turf and training space, in a former potato warehouse at 2540 South 5000 West on ground the county zones Rural Agriculture. The county's land development code has no category for an indoor recreation center, and anything it doesn't list is prohibited. Planning Administrator Joshua Chase found it "not sufficiently similar to an Outdoor Recreation Field" and concluded that "the use is not permitted except by adding a new use to the table." The Wilcoxes appealed. The center was set to open September 4 and had not opened as of last week.

The planning commission heard the appeal September 22 and split 3-3 twice, on a motion to overturn Chase and then on one to uphold him. Commissioner Harley Wilcox, who told the commission "Jason Wilcox is my nephew" and "I don't feel like that's conflict," moved to overturn. Commissioner Collin Hunter joined by phone after both votes and did not vote. "I was just doing some research, and it looks like the Idaho state law does not allow a latecomer to vote," Commissioner Carl Kohut said. He cited no statute. The commission then voted 6-0 to send the appeal to the commissioners without ruling on it.

No new staff report had been posted as of Friday afternoon. County staff found no building permit on file for the structure. Fire Marshal Kevin Brown said last week that "it is possible that the building would require some work to be code compliant." The county stamped the appeal received August 31; its code allows 60 days from a completed appeal for a written decision. The planning department is still drafting code that would add indoor recreation as a use.

At 10 a.m. the commission hears a proposal to add a Residential-2.5 zoning district. The planning commission recommended it 4-3 in August, on its third motion of the night.

At 10:30 a.m. it hears the family land division amendment the planning commission backed September 8. The draft ordinance posted for the hearing allows a landowner to divide off as many as four parcels of at least one acre each for a parent, child, sibling, grandparent or grandchild, if ownership has not changed in the previous ten years. The planning administrator would decide each application and notify property owners within 300 feet of each new parcel.

At 11 a.m. the commission resumes the rezone at 2301 North Highway 33, where a private four-year high school would go. On September 14 the commissioners continued their deliberation to this hour so a development agreement could be written covering traffic safety, pedestrian access and whether the site's utilities can carry the use. No development agreement is among the documents posted with the item.

The agenda also lists an encroachment settlement with a Teton Reserve homeowner, two Teton Reserve plat amendments, and approval of the minutes from August 24, August 25 and September 14. Public works brings a concrete crusher, two loaders, and a construction agreement and tipping fee waiver for the solid waste crew building. Eric Freeman of Idaho Fish and Game and School District 401 Superintendent Brian Ashton are scheduled to speak.

Later the commissioners go into executive session on personnel, discuss 911 dispatch and take up a five-year, $123,850 agreement with Priority Dispatch for medical and fire call-taking software.

Elsewhere in Driggs, the Teton Valley Parks and Recreation District's rock climbing committee meets at 10:30 a.m. to finalize its response to the recreation district board on a proposed climbing gym, with an operations plan covering programming and pricing on the agenda. The committee's draft minutes from September 17 say the board "is generally supportive but expressed interest in learning more, specifically understanding details of the facility's programming and fee structure." The committee planned to send the board its documents by September 30.

The Driggs City Council holds a special meeting at City Hall that evening. The notice lists 5:30 p.m. at the top and a 6 p.m. call to order, followed by an executive session under the state's exemption for pending or likely litigation, on "legal and/or design revision action" for the South Fifth Street and Johnson Avenue improvements project.

Written comments on Driggs' October 6 zone change hearing received by 5 p.m. Monday will be included in the staff report.

Tuesday, Sept 29 — Commissioners again, and the school board on trends

The county's calendar lists a second commission session from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. No agenda had posted as of Friday afternoon.

The School District 401 board holds a work session at 4 p.m. at the district office, 481 North Main Street in Driggs, to review trends the district's directors are seeing in special education, English learners, newcomer students and curriculum.

Wednesday, Sept 30 — The parks agreement's first term ends

The joint powers agreement between the school district and the recreation district reaches the end of its initial term at midnight. It renews for a year on October 1 unless either side has given 30 days' written notice.

Thursday, Oct 1 — Highway 33 driveways start closing

The Idaho Transportation Department, working with Teton County, begins closing minor access points on Highway 33 between Driggs and Victor, one at a time: 1520, 2116, 3228, 3714 and 4760 South 500 West, plus two four-wheeler tracks. Drivers will use 500 West and the county's east-west roads to reach the highway.

Monday, Oct 5 — Tetonia's reuse permit

Comment closes at 5 p.m. on the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality's draft renewal of the reuse permit for Tetonia's wastewater plant, which applies recycled water to agricultural land. The Victor Urban Renewal Agency's regular meeting set for this day has been canceled and moved to a special meeting October 19.

Tuesday, Oct 6 — A zone change on East Ross Avenue

The Driggs City Council meets at 6 p.m. at City Hall, 60 South Main Street, with a public hearing on rezoning a 1.87-acre parcel on East Ross Avenue from RS-7, single-family and two-family homes, to RM-2, residential multi-family. The city says a staff report will post the week before. The rest of the agenda had not posted as of Friday.

Comment on the U.S. Forest Service's proposal to rescind the Roadless Area Conservation Rule closes the same day.

Calendar

What We're Watching

The rock climbing committee's response goes to the recreation district board, which the committee hopes will hold a special meeting in the first week of October, the step before any gym proposal would reach the Driggs council.

What to watch: whether the commissioners decide the Smash appeal themselves Monday or send it somewhere else.

Sources

• Teton County Commissioners, September 28, 2026 agenda
• Draft Land Split Ordinance, September 18, 2026
• Priority Dispatch subscription quote
• Teton County Planning and Zoning Commission minutes, August 11, 2026
• Recreation District Rock Climbing Committee agenda, September 28, 2026
• Driggs City Council Meetings
• Driggs Public Hearing Notice, October 6, 2026
• ITD: Minor accesses to permanently close on SH-33 between Driggs and Victor
• Idaho DEQ Draft Reuse Permit Renewal, City of Tetonia
• Victor Urban Renewal Agency Meetings
• Federal Register: Special Areas; Roadless Area Conservation
• County Planners Deadlocked on Smash Recreation Center
• County Planners Back a Family Land Division Exemption, Minus the Resale Limits It Started With
• ITD Will Close Five Highway 33 Access Points Starting Oct. 1