Pitcher pleads guilty to charges

Randall "Davey" Pitcher, the owner of the Wolf Creek Ski Area, pled guilty this week to a misdemeanor charge of conducting work on Forest Service land without a permit. The charges stem from an incident outside ski area boundaries that resulted in the death of a ski area employee last winter. According to court records, on three different occasions – Feb. 11 and March 3-4 – Pitcher hired a helicopter to transport himself and Wolf Creek ski patrollers to an area on Rio Grande National Forest land, to conduct avalanche training.

On March 4, one of the patrollers, Colin Drew Sutton, 38, of Durango, was caught in a slide on Conejos Peak, about 15 miles from the ski area. He later died from his injuries at Mercy Medical Center.

Pitcher, 52, of Pagosa Springs, was brought up on five misdemeanor charges relating to unauthorized land use and unauthorized usage of explosives. All but one were dropped as part of the plea deal. He could face up to six months in prison and/or $5,000 in fines. His sentencing is scheduled for Tues., Dec. 16, in Durango.

The ski area is also facing OSHA violations in connection with the death. According to violations issued Aug. 26, ski area operators "failed to ensure employees working in remote areas needing emergency assistance had a means of effective and continuous communication" and "failed to ensure employee safety in the work place" by exposing an employee to avalanche hazards as a result of inadequate avalanche mitigation.

The two OSHA violations carry a fine of $7,000.

CDOT unveils new 550 alignment

The Bridge to Nowhere may finally be going somewhere. This week, the Colorado Department of Transportation announced it had decided on a preferred alignment for HWY 550 south that would bypass the infamously hazardous Farmington Hill.

The latest preferred alignment, which would cost an estimated $91 million at full build-out, would strike a compromise between CDOT’s original proposed alignment and that of landowner Chris Webb, whose 600-acre historic ranch would be most impacted by the project.

A public open house detailing the newest alignment will be held 4 - 6 p.m. Mon., Dec. 1, at the Durango Library.

 The latest alignment lies slightly farther west than CDOT’s original alignment but not as far west as Webb’s 2012 proposal. Webb submitted his proposal in response to CDOT’s Supplemental Final EIS of the project, which would connect HWY 160 and 550 south. As a result, CDOT hired an independent team of engineers and consultants to evaluate the Webb alternative as well as other potential alternatives.

The resulting analysis, which was done in conjunction with La Plata County, the City of Durango, the Southern Ute Growth Fund and other property owners, found the Webb alternative unsatisfactory for a number of reasons. Chief among those were concerns over safety of a sharp curve at the base of Farmington Hill; maintenance of a required 90-foot retaining wall; wetland and endangered species impacts; and construction complexity, time and cost.

As such, the independent team went back to the original CDOT proposal, known as “RGM,” and with a few tweaks, released the new and improved version,  “RGM6.”

According to CDOT, the latest alignment, which passes through the far western edge of Webb’s land, has several advantages over its predecessor, including less visual, farmland and noise impacts; less rights of way requirements; and fewer impacts to historic ranches. It is also deemed safer than the other alternatives because it would utilize a roundabout rather than a signalized intersection.

A final record of decision from CDOT and the Federal Highway Administration is expected next spring, pending National Environmental Policy Act documentation. There is no construction time table, but the current design/construction cost estimate for the full four-lane project is $91 million. If a two-lane alignment is constructed as a first phase, the estimated cost is $75 million.

For information, go to: www.coloradodot.info/projects.

USFS favors McComb land swap

Red McCombs got an early Christmas present from the U.S. Forest Service.

Last week, the Rio Grande National Forest announced a decision in favor of a land swap with the Texas developer. The swap, which would trade 177 acres of McComb’s land atop Wolf Creek Pass for 205 acres of Forest Service land, would provide year-round access to McComb’s property from Highway 160. The previously landlocked property, which is located adjacent to Wolf Creek Ski Area’s base, is the planned site of the controversial Village at Wolf Creek.

Access to one’s property is legally granted under an obscure 1980 law called the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act, which allows private landowners “reasonable access” to property inholdings.

First proposed in 1986, McComb’s development originally called for as many as 1,711 residential units, 200 hotel rooms, 821 condos, 522 townhomes, 138 lots and 221,000 square feet of commercial space.

It has been opposed by area residents, environmentalists and even the owners of the Wolf Creek Ski Area, the Pitcher family. Operating under the name Leavell-McCombs Joint Venture, the development has been held up by lawsuits and appeals for years, including a 2008 Record of Decision that was later overturned. 

 “The proposal for the Village at Wolf Creek has been rife with controversy and strong feelings for a very long time, and I’m certainly not so naive as to think that my decision will settle the controversy and strong feelings,” Rio Grande National Forest Supervisor Dan Dallas said at a news conference last Thursday in Denver.

Jimbo Buickerood, Public Land Coordinator with the San Juan Citizens Alliance, called the decision “disappointing” and “absurd.”

“With snow covering this area above 10,000 feet for up to eight months of the year, this is certainly not an appropriate locale to build a city of any size,” he said. “The public has expressed a strong interest in allowing the area to remain a refuge to wildlife with some recreational visitation rather than a trophy-style development accessed through a major new highway interchange that would be wildly out of character with the surrounding landscape.”

Other opponents include Rocky Mountain Wild, the San Luis Valley Ecosystem Council and Friends of Wolf Creek.

The public has 45 days from Nov. 21 to object to the EIS preferred alternative. Objections can be mailed to Regional Forest Dan Jiron, 740 Simms St., Golden, CO, 80401 or emailed to r02admin_review@fs.fed.us. 

– Missy Votel