Carbon County Commission approves large-acre development in national forest

The PUD was approved after lengthy study and scrutiny over a period of four months by Carbon County Planning and Development Department staff and at two long public meetings of the Zoning Commission. As a result of the analysis, 10 amendments to the original application were put forward by the commission and adopted before the PUD was approved.

In an effort to understand their vote, the Rawlins Times sent a general e-mail to each of the five commissioners after the meeting asking their reasons for voting to accept this PUD in light of the public opposition to it.

Three of the five responded, and Commission Chairman John Johnson’s comments were the most to the point.

“Last night was tough. I can assure you I read and re-read the application many times and struggled until the end of the meeting as to where my decision would lie,” he said. “I asked the planning director to read into the record all the (10) amendments attached to the PUD for a reason. Reading through them … one does find (that) most, if not all, (of the) concerns brought forth in (the) verbal comments were addressed in those amendments.

“Again, this took a lot of thought,” he continued. “My strong feelings on private property rights probably tipped the scales for me.”

The public hearing began at the end of the regular commissioners meeting and lasted for 2.5 hours with 35 residents attending. Also there in-person or via Zoom were representatives of Brush Creek Ranch and numerous state officials from the Department of Environmental Quality and the State Engineer’s Office. The five Carbon County commissioners as well as five other county officials were also present. About a dozen people spoke of their concerns or opposition to the development.

The purpose for this hearing was consideration of a PUD for the old Green Mountain ski area. The site is located on a 620-acre private parcel inside the Medicine Bow National Forest 4 miles south of Wyoming Highway 70 at the Bottle Creek Campground turnoff on Forest Service Road 550, some 9.3 miles southwest of Encampment. With approval, the new PUD replaced a previous existing plan for the property that would have permitted Brush Creek to develop 285 units of housing inside the forrest.

Brush Creek LLC, the owners of the Brush Creek Ranch across the valley, bought the property in June 2019 and have since done some minor development and improvements as well as test marketing.

A new development plan was submitted to the Carbon County Planning and Development Department on May 14 and after department review, it was sent to the County Planning and Zoning Commission in July for additional scrutiny.

After the reviews were completed, it was sent to the commissioners in August with the Planning Commission’s recommendation for approval and set for last week’s public hearing.

Green Mountain at Brush Creek Ranch

Following is a summary of the primary points of the 19-page application for the new PUD called Green Mountain at Brush Creek Ranch.

The new plan permits the owner to sell or gift up to 16 35-acre or larger parcels of land on the Green Mountain tract. The 35-acre lots were the source of considerable discussion when the PUD was being reviewed by the Planning and Zoning Commission during two meetings held to discuss this development.

Saratoga resident Jon Nelson, owner of North Fork engineering, is concerned that as well as developing the recreation potential of the Green Mountain area, Brush Creek may be creating a subdivision by proposing to sell off 16 lots of 35 acres or larger without following subdivision rules.

“It appears that a development of lots that are 35 acres or larger are exempt from subdivision regulations,” said Nelson.

County Planning Director Sara Brugger explained that “35-acre lot subdivisions are exempt from county subdivision regulations.”

Carbon County Attorney Ashley Mayfield Davis added that Nelson’s concerns could be addressed if the county were to adopt rules for large-acreage subdivisions. But that hasn’t happened yet.

Development plans for Green Mountain call for a total of 20 occupied buildings “with overnight accommodations” to include:

n Nine Yurts with five bathhouse/kitchen buildings

n Three ski huts

n Two caretaker cabins and one employee bunkhouse

n Five cabins, two historic cabins at Last Chance, two historic cabins at Mid Mountain, as well as one Last Chance Cabin

General development standards will include:

n Willow Creek setback: It will be 20 feet from the high watermark of Willow Creek. This is of major importance to local residents who have concerns about the development’s effect on the Willow Creek drainage that crosses the lower part of this property and empties into the North Fork of the Encampment River just over a mile from the property. This fork of the river is used by the town of Encampment for its water supply.

n Building setbacks: Will be 20 feet from all property lines.

n Maximum building heights: Set for 38 feet, except for communication stations.

n Building separation: This is expected to follow all existing state and local regulations.

n Open space preservation: “Green Mountain will designate 31.4 acres along lower Willow Creek as a dedicated open space to ensure the preservation and protection of the Willow Creek watershed,” according to the newly approved planThe Green Mountain development is so far limited to 31 acres throughout the 620-acre parcel. Also, if any of the proposed 35 acre lots change hands, they “are limited to developing no more than 20% of their deeded land by covenant (to be) recorded with Carbon County,” the plan says. “This limitation will ensure that 80% of all lots are maintained as open space in perpetuity.”

n Utilities development: Water and sewer development in Wyoming, at the county level, is controlled by the state, something repeatedly pointed out at last week’s hearing. The number of wells needed or an estimate of how deep they’ll need to be was not discussed.

n During a summer Planning and Zoning Commission meeting, Ben Jorden of Weston Engineering Inc., discussed at length Wyoming water well regulations.

“The Wyoming State Engineer’s Office reviews all water well permits applications for completeness and then issues a decision,” he said. “The applicant has one full calendar year to drill the water well and put the water to use. If the well is not drilled in that time frame, the permit is cancelled. So, you can’t do everything all at once.”

n Sewage disposal: All buildings will be served by septic tanks and drain fields permitted through the DEQ. Before the county issues any building permit, a DEQ septic tank and drain field permit will be in place. The number of septic systems and how large they could be was not discussed.

n Electrical and power service: There are no power lines serving the area along Forest Road 550 until it reaches the Hog Park Reservoir. Power for the project will be provided by generators. The closest single phase (residential) power line is serving area cabins about 2 miles to the east of the development. In previous discussions about the electrical needs of this project this reporter learned it was suggested that three phase (commercial) power would be needed to electrify this project. The nearest three phase power is at the Encampment Water Plant on the west edge of the town on Highway 70. That would require a new line be laid underground for safety and aesthetic reasons for 5 miles west up along Highway 70 to the Bottle Creek Campground turnoff onto FS Road 550 and then 4 miles south into the project. The estimated cost for the line at $90,000 per mile for nine miles would be $810,000.

n Emergency services: The Green Mountain Association will be responsible for coordinating all aspects of its Emergency Service Plan. It will account for improvements that come online requiring additional considerations.

n Fire protection: All development at Green Mountain will follow Fire Wise Safety standards appropriate to the forested mountain landscape for the property. The Green Mountain Association also will provide and maintain emergency and firefighting equipment. The association also “will coordinate with the U.S. Forest Service on an ongoing basis,” according to the plan.

Winter Access to the Green Mountain development will continue to be by snow vehicles only. Forest Service Road 550 is closed in the winter and used as a major snowmobile access point to the Hog Park Reservoir and all the country south of Wyoming Highway 70. The four-mile portion of FS 550 from Highway 70 to this Green Mountain property has been and will continue to be unplowed during the winter months.

The current agreement between the U.S. Forest Service and Brush Creek LLC limits use of the property to up to 20 people per day over FS Road 550. The winter parking area for vehicles transporting people to Green Mountain is located 0.3 miles north of the intersection of FS 550 and state Highway 70.

Before this PUD was finally approved by the Carbon County Commissioners, 10 new Green Mountain PUD Guide amendments as recommended by the Carbon County Planning and Zoning Commission were read into the record and approved. These require the property owner to meet other regulations, like:

• Limiting the use of the planned helipads on the property.
• Specific directions to the owner to consult with the DEQ concerning watershed protection and permitting.
• Additional specific language requiring the owner to comply with specifically listed state statutes concerning watershed protection.
• Specific language requiring the owner to comply with state statutes concerning water wells.
• Specific language requiring the owner to comply with the DEQ’s authority concerning septic systems.
• Specific language requiring the owner to consult with the DEQ-WQD concerning a sampling plan prior to the issuance of each building permit.

Last week’s decision means the possibility of having 287 homes concentrated on the limited buildable land of a 620-acre parcel deep in the Medicine Bow National Forest is history. The future promises some development under close government scrutiny with a lot of open space remaining on the land.