The Valley Signal

Growth & Land Use

Commissioners Approve Corner Fox Industrial-Research Comprehensive Plan Amendment

Teton County commissioners approved the Corner Fox industrial redesignation 2-1, overriding their own planning commission and the City of Driggs.

By Valley Signal Staff ·

DRIGGS — Teton County commissioners voted 2-1 on July 13 to redesignate the 14.25-acre Corner Fox parcels along Highway 33 for industrial use, overriding a denial recommendation from the county's own Planning and Zoning Commission and objections from the City of Driggs.

The vote amends the county Comprehensive Plan, redesignating the two parcels from Rural Neighborhood to Industrial/Research on the future land use map. The parcels sit about 3.5 miles north of Victor, midway to Driggs. The change does not rezone the property. Brad Cramer, the planner representing applicant Corner Fox LLC, told commissioners the map is aspirational and grants no development rights, and that a rezone would take a separate application followed by plat and site-plan review.

Commissioner Dan Powers moved to deny the amendment. His motion died for lack of a second. Commissioner Ron James then moved to approve the change, Commissioner Brad Wolfe seconded, and it carried with Commissioner Powers opposed.

Corner Fox LLC argued the redesignation reflects the site's history and the county's shortage of industrial land. The parcels have carried industrial uses for close to a century, from Utah-Idaho Sugar Company limestone storage beginning around 1930 to their current use as an outdoor storage and transfer yard for gravel and rock. Cramer said less than one percent of county land is zoned for industrial or research use, and pointed to industrial parcels already operating in the area, including the Log Cabin development across Highway 33, whose own plat amendment was on the same day's agenda. The applicant offered to cap building height at 35 feet, bar direct access and signage on Highway 33, and prohibit the heavier uses the Industrial/Research zone would otherwise allow.

The Planning and Zoning Commission recommended denial on a 3-2 vote May 12. Commission member Carl Kohut said the comprehensive plan "was created with extensive community input" and that he was not comfortable changing it without more. Maggie Martin said she had trouble approving the request "without knowing what would be proposed as uses."

Seven residents submitted written comments before the hearing, none in support. Property owners in the Fox Creek Village and Country Club Estates neighborhoods raised concerns about well water, noise, traffic at the Highway 33 and 5000 South intersection, and the loss of the area's residential character. Several noted that the applicant did not own three of the five properties in the original application. That proposal spanned 28.25 acres before the applicant narrowed it to the two Corner Fox parcels.

The City of Driggs opposed the change. According to the county staff report, the city's comments called the Industrial/Research designation "commercial sprawl" and out of step with policy that directs commercial development toward existing population centers, and noted the property sits within a scenic corridor. Nikki Richards, speaking for Valley Advocates for Responsible Development (VARD), a local land-use advocacy nonprofit, questioned whether the applicant's voluntary restrictions would hold once the county granted the designation.

The county is preparing to rewrite its comprehensive plan, a process expected to take about a year. Commissioner Powers argued the county should fold the Corner Fox request into that review instead of deciding it on its own. Commissioners James and Wolfe held that the applicant was entitled to a decision and that industrial uses were already established nearby.

What to watch: The amendment does not change the property's zoning. To build, Corner Fox LLC would file a separate rezone from RN-5 to Industrial/Research, then move through concept plat, preliminary plat, site-plan review and final plat. The county has not scheduled that application. Its comprehensive plan rewrite is expected to begin in the coming months.

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