[DISCLAIMER: The “SVR News Roundup” is the personal newsletter of the author and is not an official publication of the Town of Star Valley Ranch or the Star Valley Ranch Association. The SVR News Roundup provides a weekly summary of publicly available information and also occasionally includes opinion and commentary by the author.]
I’m not sure about you, but the abbreviated post-Memorial Day week sure was a busy one! With that, here’s your news for the week of May 25th, 2025:
Tuesday, May 27th at 4:30pm the Town of Star Valley Ranch (TSVR) Water Utility Board (WUB) held a special meeting at Town Hall. As per this agenda, the primary purpose of the meeting was to review the Town’s budget and to discuss water rates. Ultimately, the WUB put forward a recommendation to the Town Council to incorporate a $2 rate increase (for both metered and non-metered lots) into the upcoming 2025-2026 Town budget.
Also on Tuesday at 6pm the Star Valley Ranch Association (SVRA) hosted a Meet the Directors forum at Cedar Creek Center. Sorry folks, I didn’t see this meeting on the SVRA public calendar and the email and Facebook announcements (as far as I can tell) only came out the day of the meeting. I was not able to attend but would be interested to know if any of my readers attended and if you did—how did it go?
The forum was described as a means to “provide our membership with the ability to not only become acquainted with ALL prospective and current Directors; it will also enable the community to openly discuss the key focal projects planned within 2025 and beyond.” Again, apologies for not getting this into last week’s upcoming calendar items.
Wednesday, May 28th at 2pm the TSVR Travel & Tourism (T&T) Board met at Town Hall. Here’s a link to the meeting agenda. The primary topic of discussion was a recently received lodging tax grant application aimed at resourcing management of the Town’s Ranch Rendezvous Market this summer. The T&T Board did not make any recommendation to the Town Council as an outcome of the meeting as the grant application is currently being reviewed by the Town attorney for a potential conflict of interest issue. I’ll keep you updated on this one.
Also on Wednesday at 5pm, the TSVR Planning Commission met at Town Hall. You’ll find the agenda here; to summarize in brief, the major topics of discussion included a request for variance (which was tabled until the next meeting) and also the latest news on potential development of the commercial lots adjacent to Town Hall. [Note the remaining commercial lots are under contract by the same party that purchased the red barn commercial lot a couple of months ago.]
This Planning Commission meeting was recorded and you can see the video of the meeting on the TSVR YouTube page at this link.
As I’ve mentioned previously, the Town is working to upgrade its audio/visual (A/V) capabilities. In my opinion, this meeting’s AV is much better. Let me know what you think—thanks!
And, to finish up a very packed day, the Town Council conducted a work session at 6pm on Wednesday evening. Here’s a link to the agenda. The main topic of discussion was the third and final draft of the Town’s Fiscal Year 2025-2026 Budget along with the Fee Schedule. A good deal of time was taken talking about water rates with the Town Council opting to increase rates by the Consumer Price Index of 2.3% (or the rate of inflation over the last 12 months) rather than the WUB’s recommendation of a $2 flat increase across both metered and non-metered lots.
This meeting was also recorded and is available for viewing on the Town’s YouTube page (see video embed below).
Unlike the Planning Commissioin meeting earlier in the day, while the video is good on this recording, the audio is hit and miss. It’s possible the reconfiguration of the tables and lack of all council members using microphones was the issue. We’ll keep working on it!
Other news and notes for the week:
On Friday the 30th we learned from the TSVR website News & Notices page via this post that the Town’s grader is down for repairs after a collision. Yikes!
Also on Friday, the SVRA weekly email provided a notice stating the front nine of the Cedar Creek Golf Course will be closed until 10am on Thursday, June 5th and the back nine will be closed until 10am on Thursday, June 6th. Per the email, these closures are “due to chemical sprays that cannot be walked or [driven] on for 3 hours after application”.
Saturday May 31st, the Star Valley Ranch Trail Crew posted an impressive video on Facebook of the high-flow spring run-off occurring along Cedar Creek. Be care if you’re in the area folks!
Click the image above to go to the video posted on the SVR Trail Crew Facebook page. Lastly, a quick update about the Blue Ribbon Barn farm store on Cedar Creek Drive, unfortunately is seems the store will not be opening this season. The Blue Ribbon Barn’s owners cited challenges with being able to operate under their current county zoning and that they intend to look into other ways “to provide the community with local fruits, veggies, eggs, pantry items and more” over the summer. I’ll keep you posted as I learn more about this subject. Darn, I’m going to miss those iced coffees!
Here are calendar items for next week:
Tuesday, June 3rd at 6pm the TSVR Roads Advisory Board will meet at Town Hall.
Saturday, June 7th the SVRA will host a Community Garage Sale. Sign up now to be included on the map! Sign-ups will be taken through 4pm on June 4th.
For more information contact the SVRA Business Office by phone at (307)883-2669 or by email at: office@svrawy.com
Final thoughts—I’m looking forward to what I hope will be a slower upcoming week. I feel like I need a chance to decompress and spend more time in the garden and greenhouse. Speaking of which, my asparagus patch is really coming along—check it out! I also wanted to share an image my husband captured while we were on our trip to Yellowstone National Park (YNP) last month. My husband is still working on lots of other photos, however, in the meantime look at that beauty! Isn’t she magnificent! Good thing there was a Park Ranger there keeping everyone back at a relatively safe distance although we were still pretty darn close! What a glorious place we live in. Okay, that’s all for now—enjoy your week!
Thank you for being a subscriber and I hope you enjoyed the read! If you have Ranch news or photographs to share, please send them my way via email to close2home307@gmail.com. And, if you find this weekly email useful, please invite your neighbors, family, and friends to check out Close to Home 307. Your support and feedback are very appreciated!
Want to customize your Close to Home 307 subscription and the number of emails you receive each week? Please click this About page link and scroll mid-way down the page to learn how to update your settings.