Stagecoach Mountain Ranch application complete; developers eyeing January for first public hearings
- Dylan Anderson
- Sep 11
- 4 min read
Routt County Planning accepted the application on Wednesday, officially kicking off the review process for the private skiing community planned south of Steamboat Springs.
Land long known as the defunct Stagecoach Ski Area now has seven yellow Routt County Planning Department signs surrounding the property after officials officially accepted the development application for Stagecoach Mountain Ranch on Wednesday.
The application was first submitted to Routt County planners in December 2024, and had since received three Notices of Incomplete Application, meaning the County needed more information from developer Discovery Land Company prior to officially starting its review process.
Kyle Collins, Vice President of Planning and Architecture for Developer Discover Land Company, said they received notice on Wednesday that the County now deemed the application complete. When he got that letter, Collins said he quickly picked up signs from the planning department and started placing them in designated areas around the property.
“I picked up our signs, nailed them in at seven different locations,” Collins told The Yampa Valley Bugle on Wednesday at an event hosted by the developer in Yampa. “We got them in, so now the fun begins.”
County planner acceptance of the application for Stagecoach Mountain Ranch signals a new phase for the private, 600-home development that features a homeowner-only ski area. While all one project, Stagecoach Mountain Ranch actually consists of 11 different development applications. Collins said this review phase will feature further back and forth between developers and the county as the application is reviewed by both planning staff and outside consultants brought on to help assess this project.
After a lengthy explanation of how long each step of the review process could take to play out, Collins said his projection puts the first public hearings for Stagecoach Mountain Ranch to be held sometime in January 2026.
The project will first go to the Routt County Planning Commission, which has asked for a full month to review materials prior to holding a hearing. From there, Collins projected they would have multiple hearings before the Board of Routt County Commissioners, roughly a month later in February.
“The first hearing will be in January, then they want to have a month between the Planning Commission referral and the BCC,” Collins said, adding that he expects multiple meetings at both boards. “They want to have plenty of opportunity, depending on what the turnout is for the public.”
Discovery's public outreach underway
The Yampa Valley Bugle first reported on the existence of efforts to reawaken the defunct Stagecoach Ski Resort 20 miles south of Steamboat Springs as a gated community targeting ultra-wealthy buyers in April 2023. A year later, The Bugle reported the developer behind Montana’s famous Yellowstone Club, Arizona-based Discovery Land Company, was leading the project.
Current plans show 613 units of luxury housing at Stagecoach Mountain Ranch, ranging from Condos to homes on large mountain lots, with another 137 units of employee and workforce housing, bringing the total to 750 units. Developers estimate that the max occupancy would be 50% at any given time and that most owners of a home at Stagecoach Mountain Ranch will spend 20 to 25 days a year at the property. Developers also note various community amenities included in the project such as more park space, new trail connections and a significant amount of commercial space, features Collins said were inspired by the 2017 Stagecoach area plan.
Discovery Land Company has hosted several community meetings in recent weeks meant to combat “misinformation” about the project with facts about the actual plans. Collins said a meeting in Steamboat Springs two weeks ago at Howelsen Hill brought together many of the “heavy hitters” of the community.
Collins said he didn’t see himself as selling the project when interviewed by the Bugle at one of these meetings held in Yampa on Wednesday; rather, he was just answering people’s questions.
“This is probably our fifth community meeting in this format,” Collins said. “We had a really good turnout of people just asking intelligent questions and trying to learn more about the project.”
The open-house style meeting in Yampa on Wednesday featured large boards displaying information about various aspects of the project and offered residents the opportunity to speak with developers and some of Discovery’s hired consultants directly.
Through these meetings, Collins said he feels water quality has been a top area of concern for locals, in addition to what community benefits are included in the project. No longer part of current plans is a golf course along the shores of Stagecoach Reservoir, an aspect of the development nixed from this plan late last year.
While it is not part of this application, Collins said they are still looking at options to add a golf course as one of the amenities at Stagecoach Mountain Ranch in the future. Collins said they have even looked at putting it on the backside of the mountain, which would offer views of the Flat Tops.
“It’s not a critical part of the project; if it didn’t happen it’s not like we wouldn’t go forward,” Collins said. “Obviously, the biggest issue in that is water quality. We’ve done golf courses in sensitive areas before very effectively.”