In a previous post, I provided an overview based on my experience working with a wetland consultant when it came to wetland. Recently, when clarifying some county regulations directly with the Army Corps of Engineers, I was able to get some generalized data that may help provide a simplified overview of wetlands; when a delineation is required, and restrictions to consider. The long version of this article is probably better for those understanding what wetland is and how it is identified. The purpose of this article is to provide a guideline for those looking to understand regulations. As alw ..read more

The City of Driggs held a public hearing on March 13th to present a proposed new area of impact overview to the Driggs Planning and Zoning Board. While the state statute on adopting area of impact is vague, the City of Driggs is hoping that their plan will align with the county as they have been working together on the project. The current plan would still need to be approved by the city council before being presented to the Board of County Commissioners (BOCC). An area of impact is an area outside the limits of City Driggs in county jurisdiction. It is an identified area of unincorporated Cou ..read more

A workshop has been underway to redline several items in the Teton County Land Development Code (LDC). This review and workshop is ongoing, stay tuned. Please note that much of the information below is an interpretation of the March 12th Planning and Zoning meeting, always verify information with Teton County, Idaho and the most recently published Land Development Code. Just because items below are listed, does not mean that they will be amended. Items that were redlined in the review document (linked here) are in BOLD below. Teton County has noticed grammatical errors in general errors from p ..read more

It’s always in and out of the rumor mill, so I decided to attend a Board of County Commissioners meeting jointly between Teton County Wyoming and Idaho – Grand Targhee is an inholding in Wyoming surrounded by National Forest, but accessed from Driggs, Idaho. Teton County Idaho’s Rob Marin gave an overview of the expansion proposal plans which included: – A new lift North of Blackfoot to supplement the existing Blackfoot lift, and a new lift South of Dreamcatcher to supplement the Dreamcatcher lift. – A proposed restaurant at the top of the Dreamcatcher lift with 6,000 square feet of space, inc ..read more

I know I have written about this before, and I’m sure there is an article buried in the archives harping on the same issues here, but I think it’s an important topic. Whether you are a Seller looking to value your own land, or a Buyer looking to acquire land of your own in the Tetons, understanding what impacts value is extremely important. This comes up time and again, particularly when it comes to the size of a parcel when compared with another. While the size of a parcel can obviously have an impact on value, it may not always be as much as you think. As an example, the difference in value ..read more

It’s funny how quickly markets change. Just yesterday (as I write this in October of 2023), properties were selling so quickly that buyers were all but waving inspections to get their foot in the door. I am also reminded of the changing landscape of the rental market, though I won’t rub it in with the “I told you so” comments for now. Regardless, and interestingly, prices haven’t budged much. This is mostly a product of supply and demand, but it’s also a different topic. Speaking of prices, let’s get back to the issue at hand. Many property owners and Sellers haven’t adjusted to the market con ..read more

I’m going to call this a “read at your own risk” article based on limited knowledge of the subject, but I also feel the need to provide the data as it is so much different than what we have historically understood. The topic? Shared Wells. Historically, multiple property owners have (or maybe thought they had) the ability to share one well with multiple homes. There is/was always a limit as to the number of homes which the Department of Environmental Quality would be involved for water monitoring. A separate entity that controls water in the State of Idaho, The Idaho Department of Water Resour ..read more

Most condo and townhouse associations in Teton Valley share the same set of responsibilities which are collectively paid by owners in the community. Usually these include exterior maintenance, exterior insurance, snow removal, lawn care, open space taxes and maintenance and in some events, trash, water and sewer. Not very many communities have additional amenities but those would be included here as well. Another important item includes reserve funds for future repairs. While this line item isn’t generally ignored, it is often overlooked. New communities usually don’t require much maintenance ..read more

The best time to shop for real estate in the Teton Valley is totally dependent on a number of factors, as well as the context of the question. When do we typically see most new inventory come to the market? When are sellers usually most inclined to negotiate? I’ll do my best to break these questions down by the numbers using historical data, but I have to first clarify; The best time to purchase real estate in the Teton Valley is when the property you are looking for comes available. I can’t stress enough in our small market the lack of inventory and new listings at any given time. Choices are ..read more

No, I’m not talking about all of the so-called empty subdivisions better known as “fields”. Today, I am talking about form fields. When a real estate agent gets a new listing the agent usually enters the listing data into the local MLS which includes all of the property information, uploads photos and documents, then clicks the magical submit button which syndicates the listings to various marketing platforms like Trulia, Zillow, and brokerage websites like TetonValleyRealty.com. When a consumer views a listing on one of these various marketing platforms, they can see the data entered by the r ..read more