After four public hearings over six months, a small employee housing complex will be allowed on the north end of Late Bloomer Ranch, a farm and agricultural incubator east of Driggs.

In 2019, owner Corinne McAndrews started the farm on a 66-acre property near the state line with a plan to raise livestock and grow flowers and to provide land for other small farmers to experiment and build their own operations. She was also aware of the local housing crisis and wanted to offer rentals on-site for employees and farmers participating in the incubator. Because she planned to install a row of seven temporary homes or RV trailers on 1.15 acres of the property, she needed a conditional use permit for a campground, according to county code.

The location of the proposed “campground” on the northwest corner of the property, near Teton Creek and a Teton Regional Land Trust conservation easement, drew ire from neighbors and from the partners of the Teton Creek Corridor Project, a multimillion-dollar effort to preserve the creek, riparian corridor, surrounding agricultural lands, wildlife migration and recreational access. The TCCP partners expressed concern that the campground would cater to short-term guests and that having residential uses within in the migration corridor would negatively impact the wildlife that passes through the rich riparian habitat.

Through three county planning and zoning meetings, McAndrews made adjustments to the proposal and provided additional information, including a wildlife study. After reviewing the study, Idaho Fish and Game staff biologist Jacob Gray pointed out in a letter to the planning department that the adjacent Targhee Hill Estates, a vacant 101-lot planned unit development with lots averaging 0.32 acres, will have a much more significant impact on the riparian habitat than the seven-unit Late Bloomer Ranch housing. Gray recommended moving the campground farther east and clustering development to reduce that impact.

Just to the north of the ranch is another planned unit development, Redtail, which straddles the creek corridor and has 53 lots averaging half an acre.

McAndrews agreed to shift the cluster of tiny homes and Airstreams farther east on the property, limit tenants to long-term occupancy and provide landscape screening.

On Nov. 23, the Teton Board of County Commissioners approved the conditional use permit for a campground with 23 conditions, including but not limited to: approved culinary and waste water connections; signage pertaining to the future Teton Creek pathway; leash requirements for dogs; bear proof waste storage; at least one parking stall per home; native plant vegetative screening; and the possibility of inspections at any time by the county.