Twenty minutes south of Jackson, past the traffic circle at Hoback Junction, a nonprofit is finishing a nearly 100-acre nature park along the Snake River. Walkways, native plantings, a river overlook, the whole thing timed to open sometime this year. A mile up the highway, the volunteer fire station that has needed replacing since 1993 just lost a vote it needed to win.
Both stories are about land south of town. They show how ownership and approval processes can shape the path of local projects.
The Land The Community Bought Outright
Astoria Hot Springs has a history worth knowing if you live near it. The springs sat along the Snake River for decades as a modest public pool, and in 2012 a developer proposed building a hotel over them. Locals fundraised millions to buy the land instead and build something the public would still control. The rebuilt facility, run by the nonprofit Astoria Park Conservancy, reopened in September 2020 with six mineral pools ranging from about 100 to 104 degrees.
That project has kept moving because the Conservancy owns the ground it sits on. The current expansion, a roughly 100-acre nature park adjacent to the pools, is projected to open this year, adding walking paths and a river overlook to land the community already controls.
Compare that to the building a mile up the road.
The Building The County Still Doesn't Own
Hoback's Firehouse 3 sits at 10995 South Highway 89, on land that belongs to the Wyoming Department of Transportation, not Teton County. The station was built in 1981, runs entirely on volunteers, and covers Hoback Junction and the surrounding rural area. It was flagged as needing replacement in 1993. It was flagged again in 2012.
By 2022, the case for a new building had become urgent enough that voters approved a $15 million Specific Purpose Excise Tax measure to design and construct it. Fire Chief Brady Hansen, describing the stakes to Wyoming Public Media that year, put the risk plainly:
"Will the doors go up?"
The comment was about a bad winter storm jamming the garage doors on a station that houses five emergency vehicles in a footprint built for a much smaller department, gear stored in a hallway next to the exhaust pipes. Voters said yes anyway. Money was set aside. The next step was simply getting the land.
That part has taken years. In October 2025, the Teton County Board of County Commissioners passed a resolution formally asking WYDOT to relinquish an appropriate parcel near the traffic circle. Fire Chief Mike Moyer told Buckrail the county had already spent about a year working with WYDOT to identify a workable site, with the request then queued behind Federal Highway Administration sign-off and a final check from the state Transportation Commission.
On August 25, 2026, that commission voted no. Not against the fire station itself, but against relinquishing, or handing over, the state property the station would need to sit on. More than three decades after the building was first flagged as inadequate, and four years after voters funded its replacement, the project still lacks a site.
Two Kinds Of Land, Side By Side
| Project | Who holds the deed | Where it stands |
|---|---|---|
| Astoria nature park | Astoria Park Conservancy (nonprofit, community-funded) | Pools rebuilt and reopened in 2020; roughly 100-acre park expansion on track for this year |
| Hoback Firehouse 3 replacement | State of Wyoming, WYDOT right-of-way | Flagged for replacement in 1993 and 2012, funded by voters in 2022, still without land as of August 2026 |
| South Park Loop Road / Highway 89 signal | State highway, WYDOT | Signal heads being installed this year at an intersection long flagged as hazardous |
| Northern South Park zoning | Private ranch land, Teton County zoning authority | County Planning Commission recommended denial of an upzone request, keeping the decision with local government |
The four examples show different project statuses: the nature park expansion is on track on land the community controls, the firehouse still needs a site after the commission's vote, signal heads are being installed at the highway junction, and the county Planning Commission has recommended denying the zoning request.
The Intersection That Took Years To Get A Light
The third row deserves a closer look, because it's the one most residents drive through without thinking about the backstory. South Park Loop Road connects to Highway 89 at two separate points, and the whole corridor has drawn safety concerns for years. A Jackson Hole News & Guide editorial named the junction near Movieworks Plaza as particularly problematic, part of a stretch of Highway 89 with a higher posted speed where cyclists have been hit in recent years and a pedestrian was killed in 2016 near Stellaria Lane. Separately, WYDOT crews began installing new signal heads at the South Park Loop Road and Highway 89 junction near the Maverik gas station in the last week of August, according to local news coverage.
It's a genuinely good thing for anyone who uses that crossing daily, whether heading into Rafter J, Melody Ranch, 3 Creek Ranch, or the older South Park Ranches parcels south of the loop. The installation marks a step in addressing safety concerns at this intersection.
A County Zoning Decision in Northern South Park
A separate example comes from county zoning. Up in Northern South Park, a landowner proposed rezoning a portion of the property to allow greater residential density. Teton County's Planning Commission voted 4 to 1 to recommend denying the request. The Planning Commission's recommendation is part of the county zoning process.
What The Season Actually Looks Like Right Now
None of this changes what South of Jackson feels like on a Tuesday evening in early fall. The Snake River is dropping out of its summer highs, and guides are already reporting good wade access in the stretch below the South Park bridge as flows ease off. That window tends to hold through September and into October, when water levels concentrate fish and make the river easier to read from the bank rather than a boat.
It's also the start of elk rut season along this same river corridor, typically running from early September into October, when bull elk compete for mates in the meadows and cottonwood bottoms that line the valley floor here. Anyone who has lived south of town through a few autumns knows to watch for it near dawn and dusk, especially where the highway runs close to the river.
That's the rhythm underneath all the civic back-and-forth. The fishing turns. The elk start bugling. The nature park by the hot springs gets closer to open. And the fire station, for now, still needs a site after the commission's vote.
The Takeaway Worth Keeping
If you live south of Jackson, these examples offer a way to follow local projects: note who owns the land and which approvals are pending, since both can shape a project's timeline.
In South of Jackson, land ownership and approval processes are part of the picture alongside market conditions.
If you're weighing a purchase or sale in this corridor and want a read on how these kinds of local dynamics show up in property decisions, from access and infrastructure to the pace of nearby development, VYSTA is a good place to start that conversation. Request a Private Consultation whenever you're ready to talk specifics.