In October 2022, federal judge rejected Forest Service approval of an access road to a billionaire’s proposed village atop Wolf Creek Pass.
According to a 2022 story in the Colorado Sun, by Jason Blevins:
The decision Thursday is the third rejection for Texas investor Red McCombs, who has spent 36 years trying to develop a highly controversial village on about 300 isolated acres in the Rio Grande National Forest adjacent to the Wolf Creek ski area. Environmental groups have fought for decades to block McCombs’ vision for as many as 8,000 units in a mountaintop resort.
U.S. District Judge Christine M. Arguello on Thursday confirmed an earlier ruling that the Forest Service “failed to consider important aspects of the issues before them, offered an explanation for their decision that runs counter to the evidence, failed to base their decision on consideration of the relevant factors, and based their decision on an analysis that is contrary to the law.”
Environmental groups hailed the decision.
The land owned by Leavell-McCombs Joint Venture (LMJV) was obtained in a 1987 land swap with the U.S. Forest Service, and at the time, the legal documents reportedly stated that McCombs planned to construct about 200 units on the property.
There appear to be varied opinions about how big the development would be, if it’s ever constructed.
8,000 units — as reported in the Colorado Sun article — would mean almost as many housing units as in nearby Pagosa Springs. All located at an oxygen-starved elevation of 10,000 feet.
However, the Village at Wolf Creek website claims that the developers are projecting only about 1,700 units.
The original land swap, in 1987, appeared tainted by possible government corruption.
After more than 20 years of court battles over the proposed development — with opposition funded by a consortium of environmental groups including Rocky Mountain Wild, San Juan Citizens Alliance, the San Luis Valley Ecosystem Council, and Wilderness Workshop — the Village at Wolf Creek appeared to be dead in the water. Or rather, dead in the wilderness.
But that was apparently not the end of the story.
According to an April 25 story written by editor Randi Pierce in the Pagosa Springs SUN, a federal judge has affirmed a 2018 biological opinion related to the Village site, and also affirmed the Forest Service’s 2019 Record of Decision. The 65-page ruling was filed on April 19.
Excepts from the SUN article:
On Friday, April 19, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circut ruled that the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) is required to provide access to a 300-acre parcel on Wolf Creek Pass that is owned by Leavell-McCombs Joint Venture (LMJV) — the site of the proposed Village at Wolf Creek…
A concurring opinion by Judge Allison H. Eid states, “I agree that we must resolve this appeal as described in the Court’s opinion because of how the parties litigated this case. I therefore join the Court’s opinion in full. However, I write separately to clarify that for the purposes of this case we assume, but cannot here decide, that provisions of law such as [National Environmental Policy Act] and the [Endangered Species Act] may constrain the Secretary’s power to grant access to inholdings pursuant to ANILCA [the Alaska Na- tional Interest Lands Conservation Act]. We have not yet considered the effect of the ‘[n]otwithstanding any other provision of law’ clause contained in § 3210(a) of ANILCA. Nor did the parties raise its application in this case. Accordingly, the question of how ANILCA interacts with other, potentially conflicting statutes remains open to resolve in a future case”…
LMJV spokesman Clint Jones said LMJV is “obviously pleased with the ruling and feel like it was the correct ruling under the law…”
Environmental groups were naturally disappointed by the ruling, although it’s not clear what other legal hurdles still face LMJV in its ongoing quest to develop the property. Clearly, the personnel working for the U.S. Forest Service are not the same people as 36 years ago, and we don’t yet know what the attitudes of the current staff might be.
The Pagosa Springs SUN reported that “The U.S. Department of Justice could not be reached by press time Wednesday to comment on behalf of the USFS.”