On top of Green Mountain

Editor’s Note: This is the second in a series of articles on the Green Mountain ski area.

On July 12, representatives from Brush Creek Ranch will appear before the Carbon County Planning Commission in regards to a zone amendment for the Green Mountain ski area from Residential to Planned United Development (PUD).

The public hearing comes almost 20 years to the day after the Board of Carbon County Commissioners (BOCCC) approved a previous zone amendment for all of Section 36 of Township 14 North, Range 85 West.

First considered an area with “good ski potential” in the 1960s by the United States Forest Service (USFS), the 620-acre State of Wyoming owned public school section was eventually swapped for 640 acres of private property west of Centennial.

Swapping to zoning

The land swap between the State of Wyoming and Encampment resident Pat Lynch—a former USFS employee and owner of Western Heritage Company—likely seemed to drag on for both those in support of and opposition to the proposal. While a public hearing was held in Saratoga on January 19, 2000, the actual decision was pushed back.

Though a decision was expected on April 13, 2000, it wasn’t until May 11, 2000 when the swap was approved. In that nearly five month period, Valley residents—and even some outside the area—voiced their stance on the issue repeatedly in the Saratoga Sun’s Letters to the Editor. Additionally, the Wyoming Board of Land Commissioners—which is composed of the state’s top five elected officials—came under fire for the last minute rescheduling of the meeting in which the decision was made.

The Wyoming Board of Land Commissioners, which included then Governor Jim Geringer and then Wyoming State Treasurer Cynthia Lummis, ultimately approved the swap. Though an appeal effort began almost immediately after the swap was approved, Lynch’s Green Mountain Development Company moved forward with the potential development of the site.

Following the swap, Green Mountain Development Company partnered with Sand Creek, the Ranch Preservation Company, LLC, to form the Grand Encampment Mountain Resort, LLC (GEMR). Though an appeal, led by Doug Boykin, had been filed in the First Judicial District Court, GEMR was able to move forward with site analysis and master planning.

“We’re not a party to the appeal,” explained GEMR spokesperson Bruce Burger in an October 18, 2000 article. “It’s strictly between Mr. Boykin and the State. We followed all applicable regulations and guidelines very carefully and we feel at this point that the matter will be resolved positively.”

More than a year after the swap was approved, and with no apparent success with an appeal of the decision, GEMR applied for a zone amendment from Open Range (now Ranching Agriculture and Mining or RAM) to Residential. Following a July 3, 2001 meeting of the Carbon County Planning Commission—which was chaired at the time by Henry Hewitt and included Valley residents such as Sonja Collamer and the late William Speer—a recommendation was made to the BOCCC for approval.

The county commissioners—then just three including Linda Fleming and the late Art Zeiger—followed the recommendations of the county planning commission and planning director Ron Kilgore.

Included within the zone amendment, however, was a Declaration of Covenants for the newly rezoned parcel. The document dictated no dwelling could be constructed or installed unless a PUD application was approved by the BOCCC.The PUD must include an alpine ski facility “with residential uses and related amenities” or a new zoning amendment was approved.

Additionally, the termination of the Declaration of Covenants could only occur if any portion of the property were to be included in a PUD application approved by the county commissioners or an application for a zoning amendment approved by the county commissioners.

Development Density

When a public notice ran in the June 16, 2021 edition of the Sun, the possibility of Brush Creek Ranch owner Bruce White either selling or gifting up to 16 parcels seemed to catch people’s attention.

A flyer, with the title “Say ‘NO’ to Brush Creek’s Planned Unit Development (PUD) Zone Change for Green Mountain” included language from Brush Creek Ranch’s PUD application submitted to Carbon County Planning and Development.

Under the “permitted uses’’ section of the PUD, any lots sold would be held to a certain criteria. Included within those permitted uses is language stipulating a maximum of 20 percent of each lot acreage may be utilized for buildings with a minimum of 80 percent of each lot acreage dedicated to open space.

Additionally, a total of 20 buildings owned by Green Mountain at Brush Creek would be on the 620 acre site including nine yurts with five bathhouse/kitchen buildings, an employee bunkhouse, four historic cabins and two caretakers cabins. Those buildings, according to the PUD, would account for 31 acres of development on the 620 acre parcel. Combined with the development limitations on the 35-acre lots—approximately 107 acres—less than 140 acres would be developed leaving more than 480 acres of open space.

When the property was rezoned from Open Range to Residential in 2001, it permitted a total density of 285 dwelling units. At least one of the concepts reduced that number by nearly 100, with 190 dwelling units planned for the Grand Encampment Mountain Resort, which was to be a mix of public and private use with a potential plethora of amenities.

The current PUD presented by Brush Creek Ranch includes plans for four helipads for guest and emergency access, downhill skiing chair lifts, small ponds and nordic trails. When GEMR was pursuing funding—to the tune of $15 million—from the Wyoming Business Council, the proposed amenities ranged from trout ponds to mountain biking to ice skating depending on the season.

Other amenities, which were listed during a public presentation in Rawlins in March 2002, included a community cafe, coffee house, gourmet market and a mountain sports shop. Private amenities included a member’s lodge, a restaurant, a library and a members-only fitness facility with swimming and a spa.

Of the 620 acres, approximately 288 would have been used for the development of the 190 dwelling units and the rest of the Grand Encampment Mountain Resort. 

“This is approximately one dwelling unit per ‘developable’ acre, which defines the very low end of typical building densities at well-planned, low-impact residential areas in resorts and family retreats across the western US (United States),” said Burger in March 2002. “These areas typically see from one or two, to up to 20 or more dwelling units per acre, depending on the resort and the type of dwellings being built.”

The list of amenities and the number of dwelling units settled on by GEMR weren’t arrived at arbitrarily. In late 2001, the development company had contracted with EcoSign Mountain Resort Planners of Vancouver, Canada and Economic Research Associates of San Francisco, California.

Funding fallout

Throughout the life of the Green Mountain ski area, funding appeared to always be an issue. The Green Mountain Recreation Committee formed in 1988 and eventually proposed a one percent sales tax to fund development of the ski area. During the 1990 election, however, the initiative failed to pass and the committee was eventually disbanded.

After the land swap and rezoning of the ski area, the Grand Encampment Mountain Resort entered its financing phase near the end of 2001. During a December 2001 meeting of the Encampment Town Council, Lynch provided an update to the governing body at the time and informed them of the steps still left to take.

Lynch told the town council GEMR was working with the Wyoming Business Council on calculating the financial side of the business and that preliminary numbers were promising. According to Lynch, a computer model from the business council calculated the first 10 years of development would see an economic impact of $85.8 million on resident income and $195 million on business income.

During the March 2002 presentation in Rawlins, the Wyoming Business Council’s computer model was referenced again by Burger. According to him, the model showed the potential of 40 full-time and 28 part-time jobs, $7.1 million in total tax revenue, 1,150 additional population in Carbon County and 187 more students in county schools.

Near the end of March 2002, the Carbon County Visitors Council voiced their support of a $15 million loan to GEMR from the Wyoming Business Council. The funds for the loan would have come from money set aside by the Wyoming State Legislature for the purpose of economic development and were managed by the Wyoming Business Council.

This, however, did not sit well with some opponents to the ski area who believed the project should be funded privately and not with public funds. A hearing originally set for May 2002 was postponed and by September 2002 it was reported by the Saratoga Sun the developers of the resort were still searching for financing.

“We’re still actively examining various finance packages for the Green Mountain Project,” Burger said in a September 18, 2002 article. “This challenge, which is the natural one at this stage, is especially complex given the current jittery financial markets.”

In that same article, Burger dispelled rumors GEMR had abandoned the project and insisted both GEMR and Sand Creek remained at “full-throttle” in efforts to put together the right package of equity and debt to bring the resort to Encampment.

Approximately two months later, however, Burger told the Sun the developers might consider suspending the Grand Encampment Mountain Resort.

“Conditions in the private real estate capital markets for projects across the United States, and specifically for a 190-dwelling unit concept at Green Mountain, are not favorable right now,” said Burger in a November 20, 2002 article. “As a result, the GEMR ownership group is seriously looking at suspending active development work for the time being, and placing the property back in our real estate inventory for future action.”

Future Action

For nearly 20 years, there appeared to be little progress on anything coming to the Green Mountain ski area. That is, until July 2019, when word spread quickly the property had been purchased by Brush Creek Ranch.

At the July 11, 2019 meeting of the Encampment Town Council, Mayor Greg Salisbury confirmed the rumors which had been circulating and informed the council and the public he had met with owner Bruce White.

“I just had a meeting with Bruce White this morning, after we had heard a lot of rumors and we just wanted to know what was actually happening,” said Salisbury. “With that discussion, we learned they did purchase the property and, basically, what he said at this point and time is that they are going to put in a little bit of a ski area, mostly for personal use and some of their clients.”

The concerns expressed by Salisbury echoed concerns nearly 20 years before, mainly that of the Town of Encampment’s watershed via Willow Creek. According to Salisbury, he reminded White any developments on the property would have to wait until it was approved by the county commissioners.

In January 2020, now-former Planning Director Sid Fox appeared before the Riverside Town Council with Commissioner Sue Jones. Fox informed the governing body he had told Brush Creek Ranch they would need a PUD and a zoning act from the BOCCC. At the time, Fox and Jones informed the Riverside Town Council Brush Creek had requested a two year period to determine if the area was viable for skiing. 

An article in the November 8, 2019 edition of Forbes magazine, however, appeared to show Brush Creek Ranch was confident of the skiing viability of Green Mountain.