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Teton County Zoning, what you need to know

August 1, 2018 By Tayson Rockefeller Leave a Comment

Oftentimes I receive questions from prospective buyers, (sometimes sellers) as to what they can do with their property, or perhaps how they can advertise their property. When it comes to the city municipalities, they have their own set of zoning regulations and Zoning Maps such as the cities of Driggs and Victor. Each Zone has its own set of code requirements, and you can navigate this information relatively easy on each city’s respective website. The cities, however, take up a very small portion of the usable land in Teton County. The vast majority of private land is in the county itself.

At first glance, the county has only a few zones when compared with Driggs or Victor. In a nutshell, these are agriculture, commercial, manufacturing, public lands and the city areas of impact. Of this acreage, only a very small amount of the county contains commercial or manufacturing zoning, the vast majority is agriculture, with 2.5 to 20 acre density requirements. As long as there isn’t anything abnormal going on, you can subdivide acreage through the formal subdivision process in these areas as long as the finished product meets the density requirement in that zone. Each parcel can then have a house and a guest house, as well as a well and septic system, assuming it meets Department of Health requirements. Each parcel can water up to 1/2 acre per Idaho’s water regulations.
Teton County Zoning Map
So, the question is, and the point of this article, can you do anything on your agricultural zoned property other than a single family residence with guest house (or of course agriculture)?
The answer is yes, as long as you conform to the land use requirements in the county. In a sense, the name of the zoning is a bit deceiving. It leads most to believe that only agriculture is allowed, and some even question the ability to have a home. Since we talked about that above, let’s talk about some of the other allowed, or allowable uses.
The County’s existing land use regulations are split into three categories. They are:
  • Permitted by Right
  • Permitted with Conditions
  • Permitted with Conditional Use
In a nutshell, if you are trying to do something that is permitted by right, you don’t have to ask in most cases. If it is permitted with conditions, obviously you need to make sure that the conditions are met, and the same rules apply. If it is permitted with a conditional-use permit, there are special requirements that vary based on the nature of whatever it is you are trying to do. Some interesting ones; a home daycare is permitted for up to 6 children, and 7 to 10 children is permitted with conditions. An aviation field is permitted in agricultural zones with a conditional-use permit. A church, or place of worship can be permitted with a conditional-use permit. The list goes on.
Many sectors of retail, manufacturing, and even some residential types are still limited to commercially zoned areas such as convenience stores, bakeries, bars, beauty shops, golf courses, grocery stores, hotels, restaurants – you get the idea. In a way this makes sense, and most of these services would make more sense located within city limits anyway.
You can find the County’s land use Matrix table beginning on page 29 of title 8 of the Teton Valley code, zoning regulations. That link is below.
Teton Valley Code (see Chapter 8)

July ’16 Market Stats

August 8, 2016 By Tayson Rockefeller Leave a Comment

We are seeing continued growth in the Teton Valley and surrounding areas. The average sales price for a single-family residence in Teton County Idaho during the month of July was over $365,000. This is a stark contrast to the average sale price throughout the recession.

Another surprising statistic is the number of building sites under contract and sold throughout the month of July 2016 in Teton County Idaho alone. With 21 building site sales last month, and 21 pending sale, that’s nearly what we saw sold throughout the entire year in 2011 at only 52 sales. 2010 produced exactly the same number of sales as 2011, just 52 land sales. Past 12 months sales are currently at 204 sales.

July '16 Market Stats

Land Splits in Teton County, What’s Going On?

July 19, 2016 By Tayson Rockefeller Leave a Comment

Teton County CourthouseAlright, so we been hearing about it for months, and there are those of us that have been intimately involved in understanding the issue, and resolving it. For those of us that have not, a simplified understanding, below. ***Do not rely on this post for building eligibility matters, refer to Teton County Planning & Zoning for questions and/or accuracy, http://www.tetoncountyidaho.gov/department.php?deptID=18&menuID=1

What’s the issue?
A number of building site owners – okay, let’s not call them building sites anymore… A number of lots, vacant land, acreage (whatever) have been declined a building permit within Teton County.
Why?
Now the fun part (it’s difficult to simplify here). Teton County has zones, areas that are restricted to various types of use. Each of these zones have regulations (rules) associated to protect the development and future development of the county, & cities within. Much of the County is comprised on A (agriculture) 2.5 and A20 zoned areas. According to Teton Valley Code: Title 8 of the Teton Valley code, The purpose of these areas is “to designate and provide opportunity for development of residential land use on marginal agricultural land” or “to control development on the most productive agricultural land in the county” HOWEVER just because development is allowed in these areas (and other zones) does not mean George can split 2.5 acres off the family farm and build his dream house. That is why we have Teton Valley Code: Title 9, subdivision regulations. In the instances where a building permit was not granted, the “site” was not split properly along the way – hence the term we keep hearing, “Illegal Lot Split”.
Give me an example!
Alright.
The greatest and most common example is what is called an Agricultural division” process the County had (and still has) available as a simple way to divide acreage. Agricultural exemption: A bona fide division or partition of agricultural land of agricultural purposes, which is the division of land into lots/parcels, all of which are twenty (20) acres or larger and maintained as agricultural lands. This exemption does not apply to a division for residential purposes. <— NOTE; residential purposes.
So, what’s the problem? Just follow the rules, and you have a buildable parcel, right?
 
Well, yeah. No. Here’s a few issues that came up:
1. A split or subdivision was applied with the County and the county accepted or “signed off” even though it did not meet underlying zoning requirements. In many of these instances the County argued that it was signed off by someone who may not have had authority to sign, and it did not meet the zone requirements. The consumer/developer argued “but the County signed off”.
2. Many people went through the process for a division (or those years before them) that did not allow a permit, yet the county provided a permit in many cases. Now that the problem exists on a higher level, the County had denied permits – not only to they neighbor with the same problem, but in some events the person who already had a home in place which meant no remodel, no addition, no new garage, etc.
How were these mistakes made?
 
There’s a few reasons for this, mostly (in my opinion) related to the evolution from a sleepy town of farmers to a growing resort destination. A good example of this is an amendment to the ordinance passed June 14th, 1999. Prior to this date, one could divide no less than 20 acres (through a relatively easy process with the county) and retain building rights. After June 14th, 1999, this could only be done on one occasion, called a “One Time Only Split of One Parcel of Land”. However, many kept on splitting like the good ‘ole days. No one caught on, and kept on splitting and building on. One of the big issues from the eyes of a Real Estate Professional or a Title Expert, in most cases there was no identifying information on a survey map, or more importantly a deed. Much of this information may not exist if an “agriculture only deed” was called… an agriculture deed (or some other form of identifier). If we have no indication something was split improperly 30 years ago, how do we know without an extensive search performed by the County for EVERY example that is outside a platted subdivision?
What’s the fix?
In light of all of this, the County took steps to create a resolution earlier this week (July ’16).
Simplified:
1. Those who went through the process and the County approved (even if it did not meet underlying zone requirements) will in most cases be approved regarTeton Valley News 7-14-16
2. Those who bought property with the expectation of building rights but later learned it was improperly split prior can, in almost every case, apply for the proper process, essentially reversing the prior split and moving forward as it should have been done from the get go. Remember, almost all of these cases are between June 14th 1999, and sometime in 2014 when the County started catching on to all of this. In addition, many of these parcels still have an availabe “One Time Only Split” that can be utilized to help remedy the situation.
You can read more about the problem in a recent amendment to Article 9, Chapter 11, Building Permit Eleigibility of Previously Created Parcels Also, see an article written by the Teton Valley News Article 7-14-16

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