Don’t confuse the May 19 decision by federal judge Richard P. Matsch – a ruling invalidating a land exchange that, if allowed to stand, would have cleared the way for construction of the Village at Wolf Creek – with a death knell for the project. But if the decision in favor of project opponents reads like music to the ears, we certainly understand.
It is a victory for the coalition of environmental and community groups that have been opposed to the project since it was first proposed three decades ago. The project is planned on a parcel of private land adjacent to Wolf Creek Ski Area but separated from access to U.S. Highway 160 by national forest land.
Matsch agreed with opponents that the approval of the land exchange in 2015 was the result of a flawed and limited environmental review process influenced in favor of the developers, Leavell-McCombs Joint Venture, through political pressure.
Unfortunately, that revelation is nothing new in this saga. Many locals suspected the same when the original land exchange proposal was denied by the Forest Service in 1986, but then suddenly approved just two weeks later.
In one fell 40-page swoop, the ruling restores much-needed balance to the process of determining if a high-altitiude luxury development for as many as 8,000 to 10,000 people should be expedited with road access granted via a land exchange with the Forest Service.
But it doesn’t kill the project.
The developers may appeal the decision, as might the Forest Service, which is obligated to provide access to the private land. The parties may go back to the drawing board and come up with a new exchange proposal, beginning this process again.
Don’t expect them to abandon the project, though we wish they would despite the fact that Mineral County could use the jobs and the economic boost such a project could provide.
Opponents are quite right. The location is all wrong. At 10,000 feet elevation, the alpine ecosystem is too fragile; emergency services too far away.
The Village at Wolf Creek website boasts an attractive slogan: “Mountain Solitude Reimagined.”
We’ve got a better one: Mountain solitude. Period. It’s time the developers learned the difference.