County tables decision on Stoner resort

County tables decision on Stoner resort

December 6, 2001

By Jim Mimiaga
Journal Staff Writer

Rigorous water-quality and septic standards must be met if a private golf course along the Dolores River is to be approved, the Montezuma County Commission told developers Monday.

The proposed Stoner Creek Preserve features an 18-hole golf course, eight deluxe homes, 10 guest cabins and an expanded clubhouse with suites and a restaurant. The members-only, multi-million-dollar resort would span 390 acres along both sides of the Dolores River on a ranch formerly operated as the Stoner Lodge and Ski Area.

Requests for a high-impact permit were recommended for approval by the county planning commission in October, which commended the plan’s completeness, open-space layout and clustered home sites.

Developers must also go through the planned-unit-development process with the county and secure numerous federal and state permits on health, traffic and environmental impacts before construction can begin in 2003 as hoped.

But the resort’s location on the river 15 miles upstream from where it empties into McPhee Reservoir justifies ample scrutiny at the county level now, said Commissioner Gene Story at the standing-room-only public hearing. The medium-sized mountain river is the source of drinking and irrigation water for ranches and towns in Montezuma County and on the Ute Mountain Ute Reservation.

"There is lots of potential for downriver contamination and we would be remiss if we did not satisfy those concerns," Story said. "The plan has a lot of merit, but we’re talking about a watershed that serves the whole county."

Project planner and investor Peter Jamar tried to assure the commission that golf courses are environmentally sound, despite claims to the contrary. He was agreeable to tougher-than-normal standards on sanitation systems, runoff management, and water-monitoring stations.

"I believe it will improve water quality from what is there now," he said, referring to the cattle waste polluting the river. "Golf-course systems use water very efficiently, much better than the flood irrigation used on the ranch as it is."

Runoff would be contained on the golf course and directed into ponds and soil-filtration systems, Jamar said. He agreed to use organic fertilizers rather than chemical ones when practical. Herbicides would only be sprayed on a spot basis, and use of pesticides is not expected, he said.

Engineered septic systems would be installed for each home. A central sewer system would collect and treat waste from the clubhouse, the lodge’s 20 planned suites and the 10 cabins, each with two suites. The 3,500-square-foot cabins would be clustered on a wooded hillside behind the lodge.

The commission said approval is conditional on developing a sanitation system that is "tougher than state standards," a stipulation to which Jamar agreed.

Several audience members spoke for and against the golf course and resort plan.

Opponents either said it was too exclusive for a poor county or recommended denial to maintain the area’s agricultural tradition.

Proponents said the golf course’s open-space qualities would be preferable to a crowded housing subdivision, 35-acre ranchettes, or a gravel mine. More jobs and increased county tax revenues as a result of the large project were also touted as benefits.

Other audience members offered specific suggestions.

Mancos resident Melissa Gould said special care needs to be taken by resort planners to preserve the natural course of the river and its banks because wildlife depends on it for nesting, food and shelter.

"Establishing a set-back would give the river room to move like it normally would and add to its aesthetic value," Gould said. "Birds and animals along the banks depend on that fluctuation and native vegetation to live."

The buffer method is an alternative to using stone gabions or rip-rap for bank stabilization. Stopping greens and fairways some distance from the river banks would result in less environmental impact and reduce golf-course erosion due to river movement and flooding. The extra space also would act as an additional filter for golf-course runoff.

Buffer zones along the river should be included as a threshold standard in county development codes at any rate, Gould said.

"As people begin to flock to this area, we look to you for leadership and vision to set development standards that protect the Dolores River," Gould said. "Then, in 20 or 30 years, you can say it was a good thing we put in those regulations back then."

McElmo Canyon resident Boss Wright commented that the golf course would be more attractive for wildlife than a ranch with cows.

"The ponds will benefit waterfowl, and I’ll bet you’ll have trouble with all the elk the that a golf course there will attract," he said.

Dolores resident Margie Rogers said a golf course was much more desirable than a spent gravel mine.

"Those are ugly, ugly, and they’re marching up the valley," she said. "Cottonwoods where eagles once perched were wiped out for a gravel mine near my house. Now the eagles are gone there, but a golf course would not do that. It’s a much prettier option."

But Yellow Jacket resident Wade Wilson disagreed, and implored the commission to take the "opportunity to continue the trend of ag-based" land use.

"I think a farm is much prettier than a golf course," Wilson said. "This would be a playground for a few who can afford it and have a negative impact on the way of life in the county."

Concerns about rafting access were also addressed. Jamar said the resort would respect the rights of boaters to float through the property, and added that two golf-cart bridges are designed to be high enough to accommodate river-runners.

Story said that those concerns and others were valid. County officials especially want assurances that water quality would be protected from runoff, and required an in-stream monitoring plan to be drawn up as a condition of the permit.

"We need a water-quality plan in writing, not just an outline," Story said.

Jamar said he had hired the best water consultant in the state for the job, and agreed to set up two water-monitoring stations on the river — one below and one above the property, which sprawls along both sides of the meandering river.

Administrator Tom Weaver suggested after the meeting that to avoid any appearances of bias, an independent consultant should be hired by the county, but paid for by the Stoner Preserve, to analyze water samples.

Story generally agreed, and said the plan submitted by the preserve should consider that option. Results of tests would be public record, Story said.

"The test results would have to be public record, otherwise what would be the point?" he said.

The commission tabled a decision until a water-quality plan of action is submitted by Stoner Preserve. The public hearing was continued until Monday, Dec. 10, at 1:30 p.m.