Elon Musk went to the US/Mexican border in Texas. . .

surely he's looking for a way back into his native South Africa.

Go, Elon, go.  I'm sure they'll let you back in.

The you don't have to build that here bill.

HB277 is yet another bill in this year's session that seeks to take on a Teton County land ordinance and repeal it legislatively.  So once again, in a state where conservatives generally espouse the concept of acting locally as much as possible, Teton County is regarded as having gone in the wrong direction through its ordinances and some in the legislature would like to claw back some of that power.

In this case, it's a Teton County reg that requires the construction of affordable housing.

It's long been the case that Teton County has had a housing crisis.  Starting in the 1970s the tightly constricted valley began to change from a Wyoming mountain town with an economy based on outdoor recreation, with a remnant of agriculture, into one that became the residence of the rich.  Over time, even small houses became unaffordable for regular people.  At the same time, there remained a fair amount of work for tradesmen and service class individuals given the alteration of the town.  That remains the case now.  So ironically, while Jackson has become largely unaffordable for regular people to live in, the town requires a lot of service class and blue collar workers, a fair number of whom are coincidentally Hispanic.

The town has politically altered over the years as well and is slowly becoming one of two or three counties in the state that fairly reliably elects Democrats to office.  This has reflected itself in its county commission, which has elected some relatively progressive provisions trying to address land issues, one of which is housing for the less than rich.

Well, now a collection of legislatures want to keep counties from having provisions like this.  The primary sponsor of the bill is a freshman house member who is also a real estate agent.

There's something disconcerting about the concept of the normal backers of local control being opposed to local control.  Usually the concept of local control is, at its roots, "you over there don't need to tell us here how to do things, we can do it ourselves and know what best to do".  If the same political element finds that it doesn't like what the locals say they want to do, that makes the entire argument rather weak.

2019

STATE OF WYOMING

19LSO-0707

HOUSE BILL NO. HB0277

Town and county development regulations-2.

Sponsored by: Representative(s) Duncan, Clem, Lindholm and Olsen and Senator(s) Bebout and Scott

A BILL

for

AN ACT relating to counties, cities and towns; modifying authority to impose zoning assessments; specifying applicability; and providing for an effective date.

Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Wyoming:

Section 1.  W.S. 15‑1‑601 by creating new subsections (e) and (f) and 18‑5‑201 are amended to read:

15‑1‑601.  Regulations; scope and purpose; uniformity within authorized districts; to follow plan; objectives.

(e)  No regulation, ordinance, resolution, condition of development, comprehensive plan or subdivision plan shall include or require:

(i)  The direct or indirect allocation or dedication of a percentage of existing or newly constructed residential or commercial units for affordable or workforce housing; or

(ii)  Any monetary exaction for:

(A)  The acquisition of land for affordable or workforce housing; or

(B)  The construction, dedication or rehabilitation of affordable or workforce housing.

(f)  Nothing in subsection (e) of this section shall limit the authority of the governing body of any city or town to implement an incentive based program designed to increase the construction, dedication or rehabilitation of affordable and workforce housing.

18‑5‑201.  Authority vested in board of county commissioners; inapplicability of chapter to incorporated cities and towns and mineral resources.

(a)  To promote the public health, safety, morals and general welfare of the county, each board of county commissioners may regulate and restrict the location and use of buildings and structures and the use, condition of use or occupancy of lands for residence, recreation, agriculture, industry, commerce, public use and other purposes in the unincorporated area of the county. However, nothing in W.S. 18‑5‑201 through 18‑5‑208 shall be construed to contravene any zoning authority of any incorporated city or town and no zoning resolution or plan shall prevent any use or occupancy reasonably necessary to the extraction or production of the mineral resources in or under any lands subject thereto.  No regulation, ordinance, resolution, condition of development, comprehensive plan or subdivision plan shall include or require:

(i)  The direct or indirect allocation or dedication of a percentage of existing or newly constructed residential or commercial units for affordable or workforce housing; or

(ii)  Any monetary exaction for:

(A)  The acquisition of land for affordable or workforce housing; or

(B)  The construction, dedication or rehabilitation of affordable or workforce housing.

(b)  Nothing in this section shall limit the authority of the board of county commissioners to implement an incentive based program designed to increase the construction, dedication or rehabilitation of affordable and workforce housing.

Section 2.  This act shall apply to all existing and future regulations, ordinances, resolutions and conditions of development.

Section 3.  This act is effective immediately upon completion of all acts necessary for a bill to become law as provided by Article 4, Section 8 of the Wyoming  Constitution.

(END)