Wolf Creek Development, initial plan approved

This is BS, big money at it's worst.




October 23, 2004


Planners OK 2,172-unit lvillage at Wolf Creek



By Mary Ann Lopez
Herald Staff Writer

Despite pending lawsuits, a proposed development at Wolf Creek continues to move forward.

Thursday night, the Mineral County Planning Commission voted 3-1 recommending approval of a 2,172-unit village to be developed in the middle of the Wolf Creek Ski Area.

Texas billionaire Billy Joe "Red" McCombs and his partners are pursuing the Village at Wolf Creek development. McCombs is a co-founder of Clear Channel Communications Inc., and also owns the Minnesota Vikings, among other business ventures.

"The planning commission, at the behest of its county attorney, continues to refuse to review all of the materials in front of them," said Jeff Berman, executive director of Colorado Wild. "They are violating numerous of their own requirements for approval of this massive development pushed by a Texas billionaire."

On Oct. 8, Colorado Wild, a nonprofit conservation group, filed a lawsuit against the Rio Grande National Forest in U.S. District Court in an attempt to block the development. The lawsuit claims a March 11 letter from the Forest Service to the developer, Leavell-McCombs Joint Venture, violated a 1999 agreement between the nonprofit and the Forest Service.

Berman said that the proposal is essentially a development that would be more than half the size of Durango. It would be at the base of Wolf Creek's Alberta Lift, at an elevation over 10,300-feet.

A public hearing regarding the development will be held at 9:30 a.m. Tuesday at the Mineral County Courthouse. The Mineral County Commissioners may or may not approve the development that day.

A public hearing on the proposed Village at Wolf Creek development will be held at 9:30 a.m. Tuesday at the Mineral County Courthouse. The Mineral County Commissioners may choose to make a decision or postpone the matter for a separate meeting on Nov. 1.

At 10 a.m. Nov. 1, a meeting is tentatively set for commissioners to either approve or deny the Village at Wolf Creek development. A meeting will be held at 2:30 p.m. related to the first phase of the development.

The Rio Grande National Forest will hold three open house meetings to share information about the application for transportation, utility systems and facilities for the Village at Wolf Creek Draft Environmental Impact Statement.

The meetings will be held on:

• Oct. 26, 3 to 7 p.m. at the Creede Community Center, Forest Service Road No. 9.

• Oct. 27, 3 to 7 p.m. at the South Fork Community Center, 0254 Colorado Highway 149.

• Oct. 28, 3 to 7 p.m. at the Pagosa Springs Community Center, 451 Hot Springs Boulevard.

A draft of the environmental impact statement is available by calling Tetra Tech Inc. at (703) 931-9301. It is also available online at: www.fs.fed.us/r2/riogrande/planning/planning.htm.

Information about the meetings is available at (719) 852-5941.



If the commissioners choose to postpone their vote, a meeting is scheduled for 10 a.m. Nov. 1 when a decision will be made. A separate hearing will be held at 2:30 p.m. Nov. 1 related to the first phase of the development.

The owners of the ski area have also filed a lawsuit against the developers. In May, Wolf Creek Ski Corporation Inc. filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court. The Pitcher family has owned the resort since 1976 and has said that the proposed billion-dollar resort would destroy the essence of the area.

McCombs owns 288 acres of meadow that is surrounded by 1,300 acres of the ski area. The project was initially proposed as a few hundred units in 1986, Wolf Creek's president, Davey Pitcher, has said.

Pitcher did not return a call seeking comment Friday afternoon.

Bob Honts, the development's coordinator, was traveling and not available for comment Friday. He has said that the project would set a standard for environmentally responsible large-scale developments.

I don't understand how this can go forward, Did the owners of Wolf Creek sign some sort of deal with the developer that is going to force them to develop the ski hill further, or that gurantees access for this development? Otherwise they can pretty well kill it by limiting ticket sales to locals first, or moving that lift, or even just not doing anything. Wolf Creek is no where near the size required to support that kind of development, and as soon as they build the first few condos, and people start showing up to find a small ski area with a few slow chairs the word of mouth is going to knock out any further tourism. They may end up with a hundred beds or so, but I just can't see how they are going to attract people to what is basically a local ski area.

ee

Peeps can still help out Wolf Creek. Letters can be
written, and all the
background is at the Friends of Wolf Creek.

SW Colorado is chock full of disgraces and this one is right up there with AL-P. I am deeply saddened by this news. Count me in for eco-terror if it gets built.

The public comment period was extended...all hope is not lost yet. There will be development there, but hopefully it will not be excessive like the proposed.

What is AL-P?

AL-P is the single largest govt. boondoggle ever. The Animas La Plata Project....perhaps it's A-LP...no matter, it's a fuckin joke.

ALP, stands for the Animas La Plata Project.

It's been a long standing project that finally was scaled back and approved a couple of years ago. Basically it's a project that gives the Ute mountain Indians a portion of the water from the local Animas river, via a big ass hole in the ground by the local kayak hotspot, and reroutes it to a new resivor.

It's basically a big shitfit, as the Animas feeds northern New Mexico and what's left of Southern Colorado for water to ranchers, and often enough there wasn't enough to go around beforehand, now with the project lots of users will likely fall short, not to mention it has been acknowleged by the govt, that it is not cost effective, but in typical fashion it has been given the green light and built anyway.

Thank you Nighthorse Cambell. Dick.

http://www.greenscissors.org/water/animaslaplata.htm

Currently it's about 50% over budget, and not even close to done.

http://www.construction.com/NewsCent.../20040325a.asp


On to Wolf Creek, there are now two other groups suing the developer, read below.

By George Lurie
Herald Staff Writer

Yet another layer of litigation has been attached to a controversial proposal by a Texas billionaire to build the country's newest - and highest - resort in the Pagosa Springs area.

Colorado Wild, a Durango-based environmental group, together with the San Luis Valley Ecosystem Council, filed a lawsuit Tuesday in Colorado District Court against Mineral County after its Board of County Commissioners approved construction of a year-round resort above Wolf Creek Ski Area.

"Unfortunately, we had to take this step to ensure that public concerns are heard," said Chris Canaly, executive director of the San Luis Valley Ecosystem Council.

The Pitcher family, which has operated the no-frills Wolf Creek Ski Area on 1,300 acres of land leased from the U.S. Forest Service since 1976, recently filed its own lawsuit against the proposed project's developers, B.J. "Red" McCombs, co-founder of Clear Channel Communications Inc. and one of Forbes magazine's 400 Richest Americans, and his partner, Bob Honts.

The Pitchers' lawsuit, filed in state court but removed to federal court, came after the Texas-based developers filed their own lawsuit against the Pitchers' Wolf Creek Ski Corp.

The Pitchers own several dozen acres, as well as easement rights, in the area where McCombs and Honts want to build the Village at Wolf Creek on a 288-acre high-mountain meadow atop Alberta Peak.

McCombs acquired the property in 1986 in a land exchange with the Forest Service.

Located above the Wolf Creek Ski Area at an elevation of 10,300 feet, the proposed billion-dollar development - which could be home to some 9,000 residents - would include 2,172 housing units, 222,000 square-feet of commercial space, a train system and its own propane-fueled power plant.

Both Wolf Creek Ski Area and Alberta Peak are nestled within the multimillion-acre Rio Grande National Forest, a pristine swatch of Southwest Colorado backcountry that gets an average of 30 to 40 feet of snow each winter.

Because McCombs' property is not accessible by a year-round road, the billionaire needs the Pitchers' cooperation to find a way to connect his project with the state highway system.

In October, Colorado Wild filed a separate lawsuit against the Forest Service hoping to block road access to the proposed development site.

Recently, McCombs and the Pitchers met in federal court in Durango and agreed to stop talking to the media, at least temporarily.

The Village at Wolf Creek project has been winding its way through Mineral County's Planning Department for four years. In August 2000, county commissioners approved a preliminary plat for the proposed development and last month, Mineral County commissioners gave final approval to the project.

On Wednesday afternoon, a spokesperson for Lonnie Rogers, chairman of the Mineral County Board of County Commissioners, said he could not comment on the proposed development "because of the pending lawsuits."

An environmental impact statement on the project authored by Forest Service officials was released in mid-October. Public comment period on that EIS ends Monday.



Critics of the project claim the EIS was rushed to publication.

"The Forest Service, in allotting a meager 45 days to review plans for a new city the size of Alamosa, has done the absolute bare minimum required by the law," said Mark Pearson, director of the San Juan Citizens Alliance, one of the many environmental groups opposing the project. "This proposed development poses countless negative effects to wildlife and locating a new city on the sharp, downhill curve atop the pass creates staggering traffic impacts."

Bob Dalrymple, a Forest Service planner, said late Wednesday: "We're still receiving quite a few comments on the EIS, and it's not too late for the public to weigh in."

Dalrymple said the majority of comments were "in opposition to the development."

Peter Clark, supervisor of the Rio Grande National Forest, must make the final decision on whether to grant developers access - and under what conditions - to their property across federal land.

Dalrymple added that approval of the project also is contingent on a Biological Opinion to be issued by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service officials studying the project's potential impact to lynx that live in the area.

Clark's final decision could be announced early next year.

Ann Bubb, a Pagosa Springs business owner, hopes the project never breaks ground. "This ill-conceived development will not only ultimately fail given the altitude and snowfall up there," said Bubb, "but also will drive away skiers that come here precisely because it is not developed like Vail or Aspen."

Quote:

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Originally Posted by boobookitty

Letters can be written.

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Done...hope this at least gets reined in.

So shitty. Letter sent.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by eldereldo

Did the owners of Wolf Creek sign some sort of deal with the developer that is going to force them to develop the ski hill further, or that gurantees access for this development?

ee

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I'm not exactly an expert on this issue, but I remember reading that the ski area owners had to work with McCoombs to get the alberta lift built. (McCoombs owns the land at the base of the lift) So they granted him development rights in exchange to put the lift into his land. Or something along those lines. They probably figured since McCoombs' parcel is surrounded by national forest, he would have a tough time getting a road in to develop the land. However, our dear president's bias towards private property rights and development is making that hurdle pretty easy to clear.

SAY IT ISN'T SO!!!!!!

I think there are one too many Texas Billionaires that have little too do but ravage mountain towns with thier McCastles and McResorts. I'm sure George W and "Red" are good 'ol buddies on the ranch.

Letter sent and 4 friends invited to send letters.