JACKSON — The geodomes are up, but local public land and water advocates are more concerned about a different development in the use of state lands.

While Meghan Quinn, director of Protect Our Water Jackson Hole, is disappointed that Teton County has not taken more actions to prevent the glamping installation near Teton Village, she said she’s looking beyond that to proposed legislation that could take counties out of state land oversight entirely.

New draft legislation from Rep. Steve Harshman, a Natrona County Republican, effectively guts compliance with local land-use desires, Quinn said.

The bill adds the word “residential” to a list of optional uses on state lands and extends the maximum lease from 75 to 99 years. That could open the door to a residential development the size of Rafter J on the state’s 640-acre parcel between the Aspens and Teton Village where the glamping domes now sit, Quinn warned.

Harshman also nixed language that requires compliance with “all applicable land use planning and zoning laws.”

In the draft legislation, that line is crossed out and replaced with “all minimum standards adopted by state regulatory agencies [...].”

Local attorney Mark Sullivan championed a local specific purpose excise tax measure that 65% of Teton County voters approved Nov. 8 to raise $8 million for a local government trust to acquire state trust or private land to prevent development and instead preserve open space and public access.

Harshman’s legislation, he said in a text, represents “the single greatest threat to our community’s well-considered comprehensive plan and zoning regulations.”

Sen. Mike Gierau, a Teton County Democrat who was just reelected, said Tuesday that he hadn’t read the draft bill yet, though he’d been told about it Monday. He said he didn’t yet want to hypothesize.

Bill author Harshman did not immediately return a request for comment.

The draft bill is just the latest example of what Quinn views as a losing fight for local control.

Basecamp Hospitality’s geodomes were called into question by Quinn, her board members and other water watchdogs after the company put in a different septic system from what was originally proposed.

Instead of carting all wastewater offsite, a septic system that puts grey-water from showers and sinks into a leach field was installed.

The Office of State Lands and Investment told state lawmakers in late October that the leach field permits were approved by the Department of Water Quality to reduce the impact of trucks carting off waste.

But that wasn’t communicated locally, Quinn said, and the run-around has not been sitting well.

The Teton County Board of County Commissioners filed a lawsuit against the state land commissioners, who voted to issue the glamping permit, arguing that the use wasn’t “temporary” as stated in the five-year permit.

Teton County District Judge Melissa Owens later threw out the case, finding that the county didn’t have standing to sue the state under Wyoming law. She did not rule on the merits of the county’s argument that the state improperly used temporary permits when the land commissioners should have used special use permits.

While Teton County Engineer Amy Ramage told commissioners by email that the county didn’t have authority over the septic system, she said she would not consider the setup “temporary.”

“There has absolutely been conflicting information given by Basecamp/Mountain Ventures about doing a tank storage/haul-off setup,” Ramage wrote on Nov. 3.

Communication and safety issues were the focus in a Nov. 7 meeting between county staff and glamping representatives. Minutes from the closed meeting show county Planning Director Chris Neubecker reaffirming that the county wanted work halted until Basecamp obtained local permits for building, grading, electrical and zoning compliance.

Basecamp representatives said they would confer with the Office of State Lands and Investments on which permits to submit to the county, the notes said.

“We may disagree on planning and zoning issues. When it comes to safety, we welcome the comments,” said Chad Staheli, one of the glamping representatives.

Work continued last week. Basecamp CEO Ryan Thomas said in a Nov. 14 email that he would suspend “vertical construction” this week. He did not have a target date to open.

Protect our Waters Director Quinn said that watching the county sit back to avoid legal issues regarding county and state jurisdiction was understandable but not responsible.

With new legislation on the horizon and two other 640-acre parcels in Teton County, Quinn said she thought the biggest risk county officials could take would be doing nothing.

“They’re just going to get rolled over every single time,” she said.