The Valley Signal

Growth & Land Use

Fall River Withdraws Midway Substation Reconsideration

Fall River withdrew its Midway Substation reconsideration on May 27, saying the original SUP application was missing a county-required wildlife study.

By Valley Signal Staff ·

DRIGGS — Fall River Rural Electric Cooperative withdrew its reconsideration of the denied Midway Substation special use permit on May 27, citing a wildlife study that was missing from its original application. The county added the wildlife requirement to its Land Development Code in 2024, but the requirement is not explicit on the permit application form.

The withdrawal cancels a reconsideration hearing the Board of County Commissioners had scheduled for June 8. The commissioners denied the permit 2-1 on March 23 and adopted a written decision on April 13. Fall River filed its reconsideration request on April 27, the last day the code allows. The Signal previewed the June 8 hearing on May 27; that hearing will not happen.

The April 13 written decision found that the application did not meet "LDC Chapter 5 General Development standards… specifically, Section E about wildlife mitigation studies." The Planning and Zoning Commission, which recommended denial in November, had asked Fall River for noise and electromagnetic field studies during the planning review. It did not ask for a wildlife study, and Fall River did not commission one.

The cooperative's reconsideration packet, filed April 27, also did not include a wildlife study. Fall River used the filing to offer additional mitigation: an irrigation well for the buffer, a commitment to convert overhead distribution lines along 3500 South to underground, and the noise and electromagnetic field reports the commission had requested. According to the cooperative's press release, the gap was registered only when Fall River read the commissioners' written decision.

"After carefully reviewing the commissioners' written denial, it became apparent that an additional study is needed that was not included with the original special use permit application," Fall River's announcement said.

The wildlife-study requirement was added to the Land Development Code in 2024. During Fall River's review, the Planning and Zoning Commission asked the cooperative for electromagnetic field and noise studies, but not for a wildlife study. The county's Special Use Permit application form, last revised in August 2018, six years before the code update, does not list a wildlife study among its submittal items. Its Section III lists site-plan requirements like setbacks and a vicinity map, but does not reference wildlife, habitat, or any environmental study. The standard exists in the code, and the commissioners enforced it through the written denial, but a permit applicant reading only the form would not encounter it.

Fall River will need to file a new permit application, not a supplement to the original. That puts the substation back at the start of the county process: a new fee, a new pre-application conference, fresh hearings before the Planning and Zoning Commission, and then the commissioners. The cooperative said county staff will provide the study's scope and required deliverables before the work proceeds.

Fall River CEO Bryan Case said in the announcement that the cooperative respects the county's permit process and recognizes the need for additional information. "Our priority remains ensuring the long-term reliability of the electric system for our members in Teton Valley while continuing to work cooperatively with county officials and the community," Case said.

At its May 27 meeting, the Planning and Zoning Commission took up amendments to LDC §5-4-1, the wildlife-habitat-protection section that the commissioners cited in denying Fall River's Midway Substation permit, proposing to integrate a Wildlife Habitat Analysis and clarify riparian-corridor questions.

What to watch: Fall River must file a new permit application. The press release framed the next steps as contingent on the county defining the scope of the wildlife study and the cooperative completing the work. There is no public timeline. The Midway Substation, planned between Driggs and Victor, remains denied; the question is whether and when Fall River returns with a complete file.

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