Current Projects
Reshaping Development Patterns (Updated 8-26-2010)
** NEWS AND UPDATES **
- VARD to present Reshaping Development Patterns at the Community Matters Conference. On October 6, 2010, our project will be featured at the Orton Foundation's Community Matters Conference in Denver, CO.
- DVD's of our workshop at Teton Springs are now available for purchase for $40.00 to cover our production and shipping costs. To order your copy, please send check payment with "DVD" written on the memo line to:
VARD PO Box 1164 Driggs, ID 83422
- Reshaping Development Patterns was just awarded funding in the 1% for the Tetons campaign! Click here to see our video for the project.
- This June, Reshaping Development Patterns was featured on Open Spaces on Wyoming Public Radio. Click here for the podcast.
- Reshaping Development Patterns is featured in our Summer 2010 newsletter.
RESHAPING DEVELOPMENT PATTERNS
We are pleased to announce our partnership with Western Lands and Communities, a joint venture of the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy and the Sonoran Institute, to explore best management practices for reshaping unsustainable development patterns. Teton County, Idaho and Arizona's Pinal County have been identified as rural and urban case studies for this pilot project.
PHASE 1 - The Salt Lake City workshop.
To kick off the project, in November 2009 a workshop was held in Salt Lake City in conjunction with the University of Utah's Metropolitan Research Center. Planners, economists, developers, attorneys, and bankers from around the country came together to discuss the challenges and opportunities faced by unsustainable growth in rural western communities like ours. The goal was to study our patterns of growth and consider the full range of problems and solutions related to premature and obsolete subdivisions.
Click here for a summary of the Salt Lake workshop
PHASE 2 - Community workshops at Teton Springs Resort.
The second phase of this project took place on April 29-30, 2010 when VARD hosted a community-wide workshop at Teton Springs Resort to discuss the reality of premature and obsolete subdivisions. We had a terrific and diverse turnout of community members, which indicates that this issue certainly resonates with valley residents. Market analysis, developers, bankers, planners, attorneys and many other panelists provided their perspective on the past, present, and future valley development trends. The boom/bust pattern of growth has been unsustainable and expensive to service. We need to plan our recovery and redirect growth into more sustainable models.
Click here to see the full workshop agenda
Click here to see pictures from the big event!
Click here to see 2010 Teton Valley development photos
PHASE 3 - Facilitated plat redesign.
Can you take an obsolete subdivision and redesign it to benefit both the developer and the community's pocket books? The third phase is scheduled for October when VARD presents the results of our facilitated plat redesign pilot project.
Click here to learn about our first pilot project, the redesign of Targhee Hill Estates
Studies and maps for this project:
Click here to view our project library
Our partner organizations:
