Discovery Land Co. plans to resubmit its Stagecoach Mountain Ranch application by early February, meaning public hearings for the large-scale development proposal likely won’t be held before May, according to company representatives and county planning staff.

Kyle Collins, Discovery’s vice president of architecture and planning, said the development team is aiming to resubmit the application by Feb. 1. The resubmitted application is expected to address various public comments made by outside organizations, including the local Sierra Club chapter and the Stagecoach Property Owners Association’s real estate development committee.

Stagecoach Mountain Ranch, a planned 6,100-acre private ski area south of Steamboat Springs, would be among the few exclusive ski developments of its kind worldwide if approved. 

Beyond the ski area, the development proposal includes more than 600 luxury homes alongside 137 workforce housing units, with 95 marked for affordable housing accessible to the public.

The Stagecoach Mountain Ranch application was accepted in September, after which Discovery received a detailed correction letter from county staff requesting additional information and clarifications. 

The Steamboat Springs City Council submitted a referral letter to the county in October expressing its concerns regarding the proposal, a move that prompted public comments from nearly 20 community members, most of whom spoke in opposition to the project.

“We really appreciate (the property owners association) taking the time to review the application, and I think all their comments are appropriate and relevant, and aren’t exclusive to (them),” said Collins in an interview with the newspaper on Jan. 12. “We got similar comments from either outside agencies or the county’s outside consultants, which all will be addressed in our resubmission.” 

Collins said the company hopes to resolve all outstanding issues before advancing to public hearings before the Routt County Planning Commission and county commissioners.

“(Routt County Senior Planner) Alan (Goldich) has said to us, ‘We don’t have to resolve every point,'” said Collins. “Our objective is to resolve every point before we go to a public hearing, but there could be circumstances where we have differences of opinion.”

“But that is not our objective,” he continued. “Our objective is definitely to be on the same page and to try to provide the adequate information or modify the project to address what the staff’s concerns are.” 

The county’s consultants and the relevant referral agencies will then engage in a second round of review, which will take approximately six weeks, with potentially a third round of review, though Collins said Discovery hopes to get it done in two. 

“Even using a conservative timeline, that’s about 10 weeks from Feb. 1,” Collins said. “So that would bring us to the middle of April. I don’t envision you’re having public hearings until May — that would be the earliest.”

Goldich confirmed Collins’ general assessment but noted that the timeline is subject to change.  

“If a third round of review is required, that will probably be further out than May,” Goldich told the newspaper on Tuesday. “There will probably be at least a month’s notice period from the time that we say, ‘OK, we have all the information,’ to before the hearings actually happen.”

To submit public comment on Stagecoach Mountain Ranch ahead of the public hearings, visit tinyurl.com/4w89vm42 or email PlanningDept@co.routt.co.us.