BOULDER COUNTY — Boulder County Commissioners last week provided a pathway for a group of Lyons-area rental cabins to begin operating legally after four years of violations, illegal construction, and orders to stop allowing guests to stay on the property.

Riverside Cabins are located alongside the St. Vrain River just 2.5 miles outside of Lyons on a property used as a resort since at least the late 1800s. Welch Resort operated there from 1893 to 1937 before being sold and renamed The St. Vrain Mountain Ranch Resort. 

At some point in the 1950s, the property became Shelly’s Cottages. Thus it remained until the 2013 flood, which devastated the property. 

The damage rendered the resort inoperable, and so the cabins sat unrented until Denver-based investment company Rockmont Capital Partners bought the land in January 2021 for $305,000, according to Boulder County property records. Rockmont renamed the property Riverside Cabins.

How soon afterward Riverside began renting is unclear; Rockmont did not respond to numerous requests for comment. They were operational at least by September 6, 2022, when Boulder County sent the first official notice that Riverside was running its business illegally. 

Commercial lodging isn’t allowed on the property under current County code. Shelly’s pre-dated the rules, so it was exempted. But that exemption expired while the business sat dormant for seven years post-flood. And Riverside had not asked for permission to restart the rentals.

They also hadn’t applied for permits for the construction work they were redoing: remodeling cabins; installing fire pits and propane tanks, lights, and signage; putting in a hot tub; and building stairs down to the river and a swimming hole. 

Between 2022 and 2025, the County sent nine letters to Rockmont Investments, telling them to cancel any bookings and stop advertising the cabins on vacation rental sites. Riverside could only begin renting once all its permitting issues were resolved and commissioners gave it the green light, officials wrote.

“Please immediately forward us evidence that all current rentals have been cancelled and all future rentals have been disabled from the date of this letter forward,” the last letter, dated October 3, 2025, reads. “If the Board of County Commissioners approves the Special Use Application for a Resort Lodge on the Properties, the Special Use Review conditions have been met, and all work on the cabins and throughout the property has been fully permitted and inspected, then you may commence the use of the Properties in accordance with the regulations surrounding the Resort Lodge Use.”

County commissioners did approve the use on Tuesday, January 13, but there is more work to be done before Riverside is fully in the clear. Several conditions were attached to the approval, including but not limited to: 

• Property owners must get permits for all completed work on the site.

• A 28-guest limit on the site, unless the septic system is updated. Riverside currently advertises room for 34, including that figure in communications with County planning staff.

• Fire pits on the site—previously powered by illegal propane tanks, which Rockmont representatives said had been disconnected—have to be removed.

• The property must receive Wildfire Partners certification, signifying the property is defensible and resilient to fires.

Riverside will also have to go through a historic preservation process to see if the property is qualified to be landmarked. The County’s Historic Preservation Advisory Board (HPAB) deemed it eligible in 2018 and 2023, but there may have been too much work done on the structures in the meantime.

In notes to commissioners, County staff noted “extensive interior remodels” of the cabins. 

The historic nature of the property was a major point of discussion during the January 13 public hearing. What didn’t get much attention was the long history of violations on the site. 

During the three-hour hearing, only Commissioner Ashley Stolzmann nodded to it, saying, “It doesn’t necessarily assert the most confidence of an applicant with a real care for health, safety and welfare.” 

Stolzmann asked Riverside’s representatives how they planned to address neighbors’ ongoing concerns, which include trespassing by guests, light and noise disturbances, and the impacts of unpermitted construction.

“We are trying to be the best neighbor possible and reaching out and trying to continue that dialogue,” said Tom Parko, a consultant hired by Rockmont to help navigate the County’s approval process.

Four neighbors contacted the County with concerns about Riverside’s ongoing operations; a fifth expressed support for the project’s approval. At least one neighbor’s battle with Riverside devolved into legal filings. 

Cat Oehlman was the sole speaker at the public hearing. Her comments came at the end of five years of frustration, she said.

“I’m very skeptical that, even with provisions and requirements, that it will be enforced or monitored or have oversight,” Oehlman said. “And why wouldn’t I have that feeling? After three notices, no accountability, no action has been taken. It’s been a nuisance, nuisance, nuisance.”

“Right is right,” she concluded. “What I have to do for permits, they should have to do for permits. It’s that simple.”

The County can assess one-time fees of $1,000 per violation, plus $100 per day until issues are remedied. But Jesse Rounds, a manager with the code compliance team, said no fines were charged for the years of illegal rentals, Estes Park Trail-Gazette reported this month, since Riverside took steps to seek approval.

Rounds and another member of the code compliance team did not respond to emailed questions about assessed fines.

As of Friday, January 16, cabins were still available to book on Vrbo, Airbnb and Riverside’s own website.