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Big setback for Wolf Creek development

By Joanne Kelley, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published February 19, 2008 at 6:14 p.m.

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Developers of a huge ski village near Wolf Creek Ski Area have agreed to settle a lawsuit by submitting to a full environmental review of their plans, a move that could set the project back several more years.

As part of a settlement filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court, developers also agreed to pay $250,000 in court fees incurred by the environmental groups that initiated the lawsuit in 2006.

Colorado Wild and the San Luis Valley Ecosystem Council sued the U.S. Forest Service over its approval of access roads to the development without a full environmental analysis. The project's developers joined the case as defendants.

"After nine years of false starts, behind-closed-door dealings and tainted analysis, the public will finally get a fair review," said Ryan Demmy Bidwell, executive director of Colorado Wild.

The development has faced repeated delays over the years amid protracted legal battles over various zoning and environmental approvals.

Under terms of the settlement, the Forest Service agreed to conduct the environmental review itself rather than contract with a third-party firm, as it does with many other projects including the more limited environmental study the conservationist groups has objected to in the Wolf Creek lawsuit.

The public will have another opportunity to comment on the development during the Environmental Impact Statement process.

The controversial Wolf Creek proposal involves building housing and commercial space for as many as 10,000 residents next to the rustic Wolf Creek Ski Area, which typically gets well over 400 inches of snow each year and is located about 250 miles from Denver in southwester Colorado.

Owned by Texas billionaire Red McCombs, the property is completely surrounded by public forestland and currently lacks any year-round road access.

Bob Honts, who has spearheaded the development for McCombs, could not be reached to comment about the ramifications of the settlement deal.