Routt County Commissioners reject 200-unit Tailwaters project in Stagecoach

Developers requested a two-month delay in consideration of the project to address wildlife and land dedication issues, but Commissioners unanimously voted to reject the application.

The 200-unit Tailwaters project will need to try again after the Routt County Commissioners denied the development application for the new neighborhood in Stagecoach on Tuesday, rejecting a request from developers for more time to address concerns with the development.

The project wasn’t being considered for approval on Tuesday, as outstanding issues regarding wildlife mitigation and land dedication had not been resolved since the project was tabled for a second time on March 25. Edwards-based developer Saltbox Custom Homes also disagrees with a $7.8 million payment for road improvements the county has said it would impose on the Tailwaters project.

Commissioners appeared annoyed that Saltbox didn’t share any updates at the meeting, only sending a representative who said he was there to “ensure that we would table this until we had the full team here.” Instead of granting that requested 60-to-75-day delay, Commissioners unanimously voted to deny the project.

“I will share some disappointment in the fact that we had tabled this to allow them to do the work that we’d asked of them,” Commissioner Tim Redmond said.  “I find it somewhat disappointing it doesn’t seem like they’ve made much of an effort. … The fact that nothing was presented at all by the applicant kind of weighs pretty heavy.”

“It’s disappointing that there is just one representative here at this very important meeting and that they didn’t provide any additional information,” said Commissioner Angelica Salinas. “They requested this date. … I’m not sure what another tabling would do.”

“I can count to three, and it sounds like there is not a lot of appetite in this room for tabling,” said Commissioner Sonja Macys, prior to the motion to deny the development.

Tailwaters was one of the last development applications to slip into the process prior to Routt County updating its Unified Development Code last year, meaning it wasn’t subject to updated public benefit and affordable housing standards. If developers opt to submit another development application following Tuesday’s denial, it would now need to meet those standards as well.

As more development applications are in the works for Stagecoach, Tuesday’s vote could prove to be an early signal that Routt County’s governing board won’t be lenient with future projects, even if they are in areas designated for growth like Stagecoach. The most notable of upcoming applications — Stagecoach Mountain Ranch — is in line to be considered later this fall.

In denying the project, Commissioners stated two key issues with the development application — that it fails to properly mitigate impacts to Columbian sharp-tailed grouse habitat and that the project doesn’t have an agreement with Morrison Creek Water and Sanitation District to provide water.

Saltbox asked the decision to be tabled in a letter to planning staff on June 2, just over a week before Tuesday’s hearing. Of the four issues that the project was initially tabled for in February, Routt County Planning Director Kristy Winser said there had been little movement on any of them.

Geovanny Romero, the district manager with the Morrison Creek Water and Sanitation District, said they had requested a two-acre parcel to be able to serve the development with water. Saltbox did allocate some land, but Romero said it is in a wetland and therefore unbuildable, so he suggested they find another option.

“They did not agree with that and I suggested that they should approach the [water district] board and try to negotiate some terms,” Romero said. “I haven’t heard since.”

Without an agreement, the project doesn’t have a will-serve letter from the district, meaning there is no water for the project. Macys said she found it offensive that Morrison Creek was offered an unusable parcel after making a specific request to Saltbox.

There was also little movement on the wildlife issue.

All of the 90-acres where Tailwaters is planned is considered high-priority habitat for grouse and Commissioners felt the initial option presented by developers failed to mitigate impacts to that habitat. That idea would have applied a real-estate transfer fee to homes in Tailwaters that would have gone to CPW for projects that improve habitat.

Commissioners soundly rejected this idea in February, when the project was first discussed at the board level. A letter from Saltbox owner Nick Salter sent to the county on June 2 says they had revised their mitigation plan and submitted it to planning staff, but said that implementation details still needed finalization. Commissioners said this plan didn’t past muster either in the motion to deny the project.

Briefly discussed as well was a $7.8 million payment that staff calculated as a condition of approval for the project. Commissioners signaled they would stand by that number back in February. Saltbox’s attorney argued the figure was not supported by the county’s code requirements in an April letter to planning staff, but the County Attorney’s office stated it was simply a “difference of opinion.”

“Development in Routt County must pay its own way, including paying for the cumulative impacts to the county road system created by development,” wrote Lynaia South, senior assistant county attorney in a May 13 letter. “Routt County is requiring Tailwaters to participate by paying its proportionate share in compliance with all applicable laws.”