Town Council mulls potential demo of building near Town Square

JACKSON, Wyo. — On Monday, Sept. 16, Town Council unanimously approved a 90-day hold on the demolition of an existing commercial structure located at 105 E. Broadway. The building, which is a block east of Town Square, houses Terra and the permanently closed Raindance Indian Arts.

On August 6, applicant Jeff Neishabouri applied for a demolition permit to remove the building. The Teton County Historic Preservation Board (TCHPB) recommended a 90 day stay of the demolition permit to allow for public comment and to explore alternatives to demolition. The TCHPB deemed the structure historically significant due to its connection to the original development of Town Square.

Teton County Historic Preservation Board member David Vandenberg told the Town Council that the Board does not ask for a 90 day stay lightly.

"The discussion was, 'Here's a Town Square historic building with beautiful trees surrounding it' and if you remove the building by picking it up and putting it somewhere else, does it have that same value?" Vandenberg said. "We recommend seeing if it can stay in its existing space."

Ryan Dorgan, a Jackson Hole real estate advisor, suggested that Town revise its demolition permit process.

"Town's historic preservation incentives should be one of the first things presented to an applicant who is thinking about redeveloping their property, rather than the demo permit being immediately submitted," Dorgan said. "This process just isn't working. It's obviously not going to be moved, it's a very large, split level building."

Sell Chambers said that Dorgan made an excellent point about putting historic preservation at the front of the process.

According to Director of Building and Planning Paul Anthony, while the permit process does not prevent the demolition of historic structures, there is early communication about a building's significance within the town.

"In the new historic preservation program we do provide incentives to people to try to keep historic buildings on their site," Anthony said. "It's all voluntary. It's not a pre-scripted program. We place options in front of people, whether they choose to use them at this point is really up to them."

Sell Chambers said that recent demolitions have created a "psychological feeling in town."

"We watched the Ranch Inn disappear and now we have these other development plans with the Pearl Street Bagels block," Sell Chambers said. "In the future can we have certain Land Development Regulations or design guidelines in place to build something that looks like what was torn down, if it's significant to the community historically?"

Anthony said that the replacement building for the 105 E. Broadway structure has already been evaluated by the design review committee. He added that public outreach and visual preference surveys have shown that community members prefer to choose their own design aesthetic versus adhering to an enforced building code.

The demolition of the Town Square building is on hold for 90 days for further review.