PINEDALE — On Nov. 8, Sublette County Commissioners got a taste of the long hours spent by Planning and Zoning officials, “hot topic” developers and citizens debating the values of ancient mule deer and pronghorn migration corridors and greater sage-grouse habitats, with the new Forty Rod West subdivision mixing with all three.
After four hours, they voted to table a vote on owner-developer Jason Moyes’ preliminary plat approval until their next meeting Tuesday, Nov. 19.
County Planner Dennis Fornstrom, Moyes and Rio Verde Engineering’s Aaron Seehafer presented them with the same preliminary plat they presented at the recent Sublette County Planning & Zoning Commission’s Oct. 17 meeting – which, with three additional agenda items, ran from 6 p.m. to 1 the next morning.
Suggested changes weren’t made to the preliminary plat. With Seehafer and Sublette County Planning and Zoning Commission Chair Chris Lacinak relating very different interpretations from the Oct. 17 meeting, commissioners want clarity from Sublette County Attorney Clayton Melinkovich, who was away at a conference.
The 43-lot subdivision, west of Highway 191 and north of Daniel, overlaps and touches crucial wildlife winter range, Wyoming’s Daniel Sage-Grouse Core Habitat, the designated Sublette Mule Deer Migration Corridor and the recognized Sublette Pronghorn Migration Corridor. The 299-acre subdivision, for which Moyes anticipates real estate and home construction costs at $450,000 and up, would also bring more jobs, boost the local economy and attract more families, supporters say.
P&Z Commission members Holly Roberts, Ken Marincic and Chase Harber voted to recommend the preliminary plat, including Wyoming Game and Fish seasonal wildlife restrictions on construction and adjusting lots of less than 5 acres to 5 acres. Lacinak and member Blake Greenhalgh voted against the motion. Previously and on Nov 8, citizens questioned Harber’s potential conflict of interest as owner of High Mountain Real Estate with the past Harber family real estate transaction selling Moyes’ Pronghorn Crossing subdivision (under construction) and other Bloomfield blocks in the town of Pinedale.
Moyes told commissioners that his wife Melinda is the sole broker for Pronghorn Crossing.
Now the Board of Sublette County Commissioners must agree on nine findings of no significant adverse impacts required to approve the preliminary plat, according to Melinkovich. Moyes received a 1-year extension to work toward the final plat.
On Nov. 8, Fornstrom briefed elected Sublette County Commissioners – chair Sam White, Tom Noble, Mack Bradley, Doug Vickrey and Dave Stephens at their meeting, rescheduled from Tuesday, Election Day. That specific agenda item with public comment and Moyes’ responses began at 3 p.m. and ended about four hours later with them agreeing to table the vote until the next Nov. 19 meeting. In those four hours, Moyes accused “a certain commissioner” of bias and a conflict of interest, calling for the commissioner to recuse himself from this vote. In 2022 after he bought the empty pasture, Moyes said, Vickrey called him and asked if he could graze cattle for a couple of months, as he had done with the past owner. Moyes said Vickrey refused to pay market rates “and that commissioner has been vehemently opposed” to Moyes’ subdivision since. “‘No you can’t lease my land for free,’” Moyes said he told “this commissioner,” who attends “hot topic” P&Z meetings and voiced negative opinions before voting on Moyes’ applications. “No way I can look at these scenarios and say I’m getting equal treatment (and) due process.”
Vickrey appeared prepared. “I’m the one Mr. Moyes is talking about. … Mr. Moyes bought the property. He made the call to me and offered (a grazing lease) to me. I said, ‘no sir, I don’t believe it would be appropriate.’” Vickrey said he “would defy Mr. Moyes or anybody in this room of (him) making false assertions about anything.” He held up his phone, saying he had 29 emails from his constituents, county residents opposed to the Forty Rod West subdivision.
Wyoming Game and Fish’s Brandon Scurlock and Will Schultz, who wrote the July 12 letter informing Moyes of the agency’s recommendations, attended the Nov. 8 meeting to answer questions. Moyes is not required to adopt the recommended 500-meter-wide migration corridor, which he called a “swathe” through his proposed subdivision. He proposed an open slough adjoining central residential lots for wildlife movement, which will have no structures and wildlife friendly fences for lot owners’ livestock grazing there. Moyes asked why a corridor should be wider than the 150-foot wildlife-crossing bridge over Highway 191 north of Daniel. Scurlock said miles of the tall wildlife fences ease pronghorn and mule deer to funnel through the crossing.
“Landowners should be encouraged with incentives,” he said, adding wildlife considerations have reduced the subdivision from 61 to 43 residential lots. “There’s no incentive. We don’t believe we’re required to pit anything in there. It’s already taken one-third of the project and they want us to take one-quarter more out.”
Scurlock said he tried to initiate meetings with Moyes to discuss an open corridor without fences, cattle or other livestock. “There is no back and forth. We offered to work with the proponent a number of times.”
As proposed, he said, “We feel (the subdivision would) negatively affect a functional migration corridor and mule deer stopover.”

With downward trends for Sublette mule deer and recent pronghorn herds’ losses, Scurlock said the wildlife might go around but need “increased resiliency” right now. “The truly migratory animals pass through this property twice a year.”
Moyes urged commissioners to prioritize children over wildlife and his private property rights. He said his children received death threats at their Pinedale schools. And families who would support the Forty Rod West subdivision were unable to attend commissioners’ daytime meetings, unlike “the 20 or 25 people” in the audience.
Back and forth
Not all of the audience spoke – but they did listen – during public comments. Two stood and spoke in favor of the Forty Rod West subdivision. Kari DeWitt of Pinedale said “the last 5-acre lot on Pole Creek Road” sold, showing a local demand for nice housing, and if she saw the subdivision for the first time, she would think “how nice” it was.
Gary Sanders, who lives in the original Forty Rod on the east side of the highway, said having a new subdivision across the highway might mean more students and a new bus stop at the intersection for school kids. He argued that deer and pronghorn wander through the houses there.
Jay Sandford, who also lives in Forty Rod, disagreed, saying migrating pronghorn and deer travel through larger agricultural tracts or 10- to 40-acre lots.
Moyes asked why Forty Rod was allowed to develop with no wildlife mitigation. Mary Lyn Worl of Pinedale explained that the subdivision was built when there were few, if any, planning and zoning regulations.
Linda Baker, also of Pinedale, went to the commissioners’ table with the history of the Sublette County Comprehensive Plan, often referred to as protective of agriculture and wildlife. She said former Sublette County Commissioner Joel Bousman, who approved the Forty Rod West’s 2022 rezoning with White and Noble, was adamant about protecting wildlife.
Moyes pointed out it also gives high priority to economic development and private property rights. Public comments 

Dan Smitherman of Bondurant said he was not “anti-growth but pro smart growth. We haven’t even talked about sage-grouse yet. Issues with mule deer and pronghorn need to be resolved.” Moyes’ land falls in the Daniel Greater Sage-Grouse Habitat, which requires mitigation under the Governor’s Executive Sage-Grouse Order (SGEO).
This is Sublette County’s first major subdivision in many years and the first to be developed under the sage-grouse, Sublette mule deer and pronghorn migration corridor executive orders. Tesa Manning of Pinedale wished the land was rezoned to Rural Residential-10 instead of RR-5. “We are preserving sage-grouse aggressively to keep them off the Endangered Species List,” which would be “catastrophic” for ag landowners and ranchers.
“The decisions you make today could affect migrations for the next 6,000 years,” she said.
Bill Ames asked Chair White if they were considering sage-grouse mitigation in this decision.
“No, it’s Game and Fish’s wheelhouse to enforce that,” White said. “But we’ll take it into consideration.”

Jocelyn Moore of Pinedale questioned Moyes’ proposal to give the county an open space for fire suppression management if taxpayers are on the hook for liability.
“I don’t really want to pay to rebuild a home I can’t afford to buy,” she said. County planning regulations call for developers to install water storage, in this case, three 100,000-gallon tanks, which Moyes said he would consider. 

Wrapping up 

Commissioners began signaling their intentions to table the vote and wait for Melinkovich for specific legal guidance.
“We have 30 days to make a decision,” White said. “This is the first major subdivision since I’ve been on the board.”
Noble agreed.
“We could tweak it now and save us a month,” Moyes said if Melinkovich would clarify if lots smaller than 5 acres are allowed under county regulations.
Bradley, who was not on the BOCC in 2022, told Moyes: “If they have to be 5-acre lots, I’m probably not going to vote for this.”
“I agree heavily with Mack on the size of those lots,” said Stephens, who with Vickrey voted against the rezoning.
Noble also reminded Moyes of Commissioner Bousman’s 2022 request “to work closely with Game and Fish.”
Vickrey repeated that the migration corridor needs to be wide enough to function. “If you can put a corridor in there on the west side, it would be a win-win.”
“And you would be a ‘yes’ vote?” Moyes asked.
Vickrey demurred. “We need to have the county attorney here for legal ramifications.”