Executives with Discovery Land Company said plans have been delayed several months as they revised the development in response to community feedback.
Developers submitted a planning application for Stagecoach Mountain Ranch to Routt County on Wednesday afternoon, officially starting the development process for the private skiing community that will likely extend into 2026.
In an interview with The Yampa Valley Bugle, executives with developer Discovery Land Company said they believe they have made meaningful changes from what was shown to the Stagecoach community in July, largely due to comments received through an outreach process that delayed the application several months.
Perhaps most significantly, developers say the plan submitted Wednesday no longer includes a golf course along the shores of Stagecoach Reservoir, nor the homes that would have flanked its links.
“I think it’s a thoughtful use of the land, it’s careful, it’s not overdone,” said Ed Divita, a founding partner with Arizona-based Discovery Land Company, which owns the property that was once Stagecoach Ski Area 20 miles south of Steamboat Springs in partnership with the local Wittemyer family.
“It’s going to bring good jobs, it’s going to bring more housing, it’s going to bring improvements to the roads, it’s going to bring improvements to the infrastructure,” Divita continued. “Those are things that are needed for the area.”
The Yampa Valley Bugle has not reviewed the contents of the planning application.
Routt County Planning Director Kristy Winser said in an email late Wednesday that her team had received one of what she expected to be several submittals for the project. More are expected Thursday, she added.
“Please understand that with a large-scale development of this size requiring a number of land -use applications, it will take time for us to process and verify the entire submittal to make it viewable to the public,” Winser said. “In addition, we have other large-scale developments ahead of this application in our review queue.”
The application for Stagecoach Mountain Ranch sets in motion what will likely be one of the most closely watched development approval processes in the history of Routt County. Developers argue the private residential community will boost the coffers of local governments, add new public amenities to Stagecoach and preserves the character of the area. Many who live near the proposed gated-community fear it could have the opposite effect.
Caption: A rendering of a map of Stagecoach Mountain Ranch. (Discovery Land Company/Courtesy)
The plan for Stagecoach Mountain Ranch — as explained by developers — now includes 613 total housing units, down from roughly the 700 presented this summer and the 800 outlined in pre-planning documents The Bugle reported on in April 2023. Out of the more than 5,000 acres that make up the development, Divita said 55% will remain open space, as developers utilize Routt County’s Land Preservation Subdivision regulations.
In a presentation shared with The Bugle developers list numerous features of the project they believe will enhance the Stagecoach area. This includes a community marketplace, complete with gas station, small market and daycare center, adjacent to a 14-acre civic open space with an amphitheater.
Other benefits include a new cell phone tower in the Stagecoach area, funding for improvements on Routt County Road 14 and contributions for infrastructure upgrades for both the Oak Creek Fire Protection District and the Morrison Creek Water and Sanitation District. Apart from the luxury housing, Divita said they would build 137 additional housing units, with 95 of those being deed-restricted affordable and available to the general public.
“At full build out, we anticipate 481 direct employment positions and we are hoping to make many of those be residents of Stagecoach, Oak Creek or nearby areas,” Divita said.
This project is at the very beginning of what Divita said he expects to be a long planning process that will last into 2026. Divita expects the next six months will include a back-and-forth with the Routt County Planning Department, as a project this large will likely need additional pieces or refinement.
Noting he was being optimistic, Divita said the first public meetings before the Routt County Planning Commission and Board of County Commissioners considering preliminary approval of the project could take place this summer. If given preliminary approval, the project then goes through another final approval process, Divita said.
“The world’s most favorable, optimistic [final approval date] is like January of 2026,” Divita said, noting that his colleagues were chuckling at his hopeful prediction.
No golf course — for now
While the plan being submitted for Stagecoach Mountain Ranch does not include the talked about golf course, that part of the project has not been totally ruled out, Divita said.
The rational for dropping the golf course and the homes around it was two-fold, Divita said. First, his team has heard consistently that residents visually appreciate the current open space in that area. Perhaps more importantly, there have been consistent concerns about how a golf course could impact water quality in Stagecoach Reservoir, Divita said.
Nutrient-rich Stagecoach Reservoir saw toxic blue-green algae this summer, which required Colorado Parks and Wildlife to caution people to stay out of the water in Morrison Cove. The reservoir is considered an “impaired water,” by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment.
Divita said they have science that shows a golf course could be designed to help improve water quality, but added that the science and engineering supporting that claim has to “mature before its ready to defend that it’s a benefit.”
“We have not closed on the [golf course] property,” Divita said, adding that they are under contract and have put down deposits to buy it. “I would say, without any question, we won’t be talking about an application there within the next year, and probably longer.”
Caption: A rendering showing the proposed base area of the mountain, the location of a community space and workforce housing near the #2. (Discovery Land Company/Courtesy)
‘Unique, member-only settings’
All but seven units of the luxury housing is expected to be on the mountain property, Divita said. The other property is known as the Stetson Ranch and plans to include seven, five-acre homesites in a Land Preservation Subdivision. This property is just west of the intersection between County Roads 14 and 16.
Divita said their team has not prioritized identifying in detail how much homes or buildable lots will cost at Stagecoach Mountain Ranch, rather they are focused on the upcoming planning process. There has been no effort to pre-sell lots or solicit a list of potential owners for the private community, he said.
Documents obtained in a public records request by The Bugle in April estimated that 90% of the homes at Stagecoach Mountain Ranch would be second homes, likely occupied for an average of 25 days a year. At a meeting with Stagecoach Residents in July, an estimate shared for homes in the community ranged widely from between $2 million and $20 million.
Discovery Land Company, founded in 1994 by investor Mike Meldman, owns or operates more than 30 exclusive properties across the globe catering to homeowners seeking “unique, member-only settings,” according to the company’s website. Meldman is one of three founders of Casamigos tequila with George Clooney and Rande Gerber.
The Yellowstone Club, one of Discovery’s most famous private communities near Big Sky, Montana, boast members like Bill Gates, Justin Timberlake and Jessica Biel, according to Fox Business. In 2022, Meldman told Architectural Digest that the COVID-19 pandemic has "dramatically magnified demand" for the private communities Discovery offers.
Skiing will only be available to homeowners in Stagecoach Mountain Ranch. Divita said keeping amenities private allows for significantly reduced traffic volumes on the road network in Stagecoach and prevents the development from increasing surrounding property values, and in turn property taxes.
This summer, Stagecoach residents said they were concerned the development could cause steep increases in property values, which would cause increases in property taxes they couldn’t bear. Divita said his team has worked with Routt County Assessor Gary Peterson to ensure that doesn’t happen.
“The ski mountain is going to have a value, and [Peterson] is going to allocate the value of the ski mountain to each of the properties that use the ski mountain,” Divita said, adding that if there was public access, the value would need to be spread across those homes as well.
A chart Discovery created based on a financial impact study estimates the project at full buildout will add more than $300 million in property valuation, that would then be taxed by the county, South Routt School District and other special districts. In total, Developers estimate this would generate $29 million in annual property tax revenues.
Feedback from the community has sought some level of public access to what is planned as a private ski mountain, and Divita said the concept of a community ski day is still under consideration.
“I have talked to some people and we are researching if we could have some community ski day without having a major traffic impact and causing a problem or causing a [property tax] assessment problem,” Divita said.
Top Photo Caption: Ski runs into Stagecoach Mountain can be seen from Sunshine Peak at Steamboat Resort roughly 20 miles north. (Dylan Anderson/The Yampa Valley Bugle)