Creede – Village at Wolf Creek developers Billy Joe “Red” McCombs and Bob Honts predict a summer groundbreaking for their proposed 10,000-person mountaintop resort.
“We could start construction this June,” Honts told a standing-room-only crowd that stayed late into Friday night at Creede’s Underground Mining Museum.
Supporters and foes listened to Honts and McCombs inside, while a small band of protesters outside waved “No Pillage at Wolf Creek” signs. Calm was maintained under the watchful eyes of law officers recruited from five counties.
“All my life I have always wondered why … there is such antagonism toward developers,” said a tired-looking McCombs, a Texas billionaire and Clear Channel radio mogul. He left the four-hour event after two hours because, organizers said, he wasn’t feeling well.
No public comments were allowed at the meeting, which was tightly controlled by the host, the Upper Rio Grande Economic Development Council.
Moderator Jon Boyd accepted written questions from the audience and edited out any political statements before reading them to the developers.
Before village construction can begin, developers must wait through a 45-day appeal period on the Forest Service’s April 3 environmental decision. It granted developers access to U.S. 160 via two short routes from their 287.5-acre inholding within the Wolf Creek Ski Area.
If appeals are filed, a 45-day resolution period follows.
Before the project can obtain final Mineral County approval for the first phase of about 500 units, a state judge has ruled, developers must secure road-construction permits from the Forest Service and Colorado Department of Transportation to link the site to U.S. 160.
“We’re already working on that,” Honts said.
Honts said the partners also plan a championship golf course and conference center at a lower elevation than the 10,300-foot village. He wouldn’t specify which county that is planned for – Mineral, Rio Grande or Archuleta.
Honts said the Friday forum was needed to correct myths about the project spread by an outspoken state Rep. Mark Larson, R-Cortez, Durango-based Colorado Wild and negative press.
Despite their claims, Honts said, the project was planned to include more than 2,000 residential units from its inception in 1986, and Wolf Creek Ski Corp. knew it.
Honts and McCombs denied charges of colluding with the Forest Service, Agriculture Undersecretary Mark Rey or Mineral County to manipulate the environmental assessment and permitting.
Larson, whose district includes Archuleta but not Mineral County, was invited to appear as a panelist, but boycotted the event. He said it favored project proponents.
