Local control vanishes when lawmakers think they alone can fix problems

Wyoming legislators who champion local control on some issues, but are gung-ho to impose state restrictions on city and county governments’ regulatory authorities, are hypocrites.

If they truly believe what they often say — that “the government closest to the people governs best” — then lawmakers should stop trying to dictate local policies and instead leave it to the local officials who understand the unique challenges and needs each community faces.

The inability of the 2-year-old Regulatory Reduction Task Force to even field a quorum last month to vote on draft bills aimed at increasing affordable housing shows the futility of the Wyoming Legislature’s work. A December meeting was canceled. 

It’s likely the lackluster end of a process that embodied the good, bad and ugly aspects of most legislative task forces. The panel’s charter expires at the end of the year, and while the new far-right GOP leadership could renew the task force, it would be best to move in another direction.

First — and it’s not a long list — here are the good parts of the effort.

The task force, created to reduce red tape in the rules, statutes and processes affecting the mining, agricultural and construction industries, soon focused on issues stakeholders suggested: local authority over development permits, fees and zoning regulations.

It was an opportunity to examine the statewide housing situation and determine if local governments are effectively using their zoning authority to encourage developers to build more affordable housing, and block large commercial developments that may exacerbate existing problems by bringing in more workers who can’t find homes to buy or rent.

Though it’s unlikely, housing advocates hoped the findings might persuade lawmakers to give city and county governments more financial assistance instead of taking control away.

Next, the bad:

The task force drafted a bill that would add much more red tape, not reduce it. The proposal required cities and towns with a population over 4,000 to adopt at least five of 13 strategies the state identified to encourage affordable housing.

These strategies were modeled after Montana’s recent zoning law reforms

which supersede community autonomy. Similar changes – but locally driven ones – were recommended in a Harvard University study last year about how Wyoming could increase housing density to make homes and apartments more available and affordable.

Many of the strategies were positive, and some have already been adopted by Casper, Cheyenne and Laramie city councils. They include allowing  duplex, triplex or fourplex dwellings where single-unit dwellings are permitted; eliminating or reducing off-street parking requirements; and allowing homeowners to add auxiliary dwelling units to their lots that can be used by their family or rented out.

These are excellent ideas, but these zoning changes should be authorized by local governments whose decisions are informed by their knowledge of the demographics, economic conditions and cultural aspects of their communities. A state-driven top-down approach with edicts coming from the Capitol limits residents’ voice in the decision-making process instead of engaging them.

The draft bill also required cities and counties to explain to the state why they don’t implement other approved strategies, and justify all fees levied on contractors and homeowners.

Thankfully, the task force tabled the bill. At least we can move the final result to the plus side of the ledger. I doubt if any individual legislators will sponsor such a complex bill on their own.

Finally, let’s look at some of the ugly stuff the task force proposed, but fortunately ran out of time to forward to the full Legislature.

The affordable housing crisis affects the entire state; families and individuals making the median income in our 23 counties can’t afford to buy the kind of “typical” middle-class home that has long been part of the American dream. 

Much of the task force’s work was spent trying to validate some lawmakers’ claims that local building and zoning regulations are stifling development and efforts to build more affordable housing, especially in Jackson and Teton County.

Legislators proposed a Property Development Exactions bill that required exaction and mitigation fees of no more than 2% to be “specifically and uniquely attributable” to any project statewide. Such fees would be prohibited for developers of houses up to 2,500 square feet.

To suggest that charging any fee for a house that size — likely to cost up to $3 million in Jackson — would reduce its “affordability” is laughable.

In fact, as Jackson and Teton County officials told the task force in October, the opposite is true. Since 2010, according to Jackson Town Manager Tyler Sinclair, mitigation fees have “been responsible” for construction of 218 residential units for workers, about 28% of the total homes built.

The task force floated a proposal to limit temporary moratoriums on large developments, then let it sink. The draft bill required local governments to “demonstrate compelling needs to protect or provide essential public services,” even though the Wyoming Supreme Court has upheld the right of counties to impose a temporary land freeze.

The Jackson Town Council approved a moratorium last summer on a 340,000 square-foot hotel complex at the town’s north entrance after the public loudly complained the project would change the town’s character. Of course it would, and that’s a sufficient reason to take the time to talk it over without state interference.

Another bill would add leasing for residential purposes to the list of uses on state lands, and allow Wyoming to consider exchanging state lands for federal property that could then be used for affordable housing.

The bill is likely unconstitutional because of the state’s mandate to manage school trust lands for the maximum benefit of the public school system. That didn’t deter U.S. Rep. Harriet Hageman (R-Wyoming) from embracing the proposal along with other GOP officials. 

But it’s a terrible idea. Much of the federal lands in the West are unsuitable for residential construction, and often lack basic infrastructure like roads or sewers. Two Republican bills in Congress to allow the sale of federal land to states so developers can build affordable homes is an outrageous excuse to transfer ownership of valuable public lands from the American people to wealthy private interests.

It will take years to learn if zoning changes that some of our most progressive communities passed will lead to more affordable housing. The last thing Wyoming should do is rip that authority away from local officials and mandate a one-size-fits-all solution to conditions that are very different across the state.

If the Regulatory Reduction Task Force isn’t given a new life next year, and the final outcome is that no harmful bills survive became law, I guess Wyoming could consider itself lucky. 

But these proposals weren’t well conceived. Co-Chairman Sen. Mike Gierau (D-Jackson) told WyoFile he doesn’t think any more discussion — even if the task force had a quorum to decide their fate at another meeting — would get the bills ready for prime-time.

Whatever work is assigned to a legislative task force typically inspires a “get-up-and-go” enthusiasm at the beginning. Unfortunately, by the time the clock ran out earlier this month, members of this group had little to do but get up and leave. Its unfinished work speaks volumes about the missed opportunities.

Hopefully, when the Legislature next decides to make affordable housing a priority, it won’t be linked to misguided plans to reduce bureaucracy by shoving the locals aside. If you can remember when that worked out well, please let me know in the comments section below. It’s not in my memory bank.