Dear Editor,

On April 29, 2021, Boulder County Commissioners will hold a public hearing on Rocky Mountain Sundance LLC’s application for recognition of their “resort and wedding venue” at 23942 Peak to Peak Highway as a “Use of Community Significance,” a designation they must receive to proceed with their plans for a 13,000-sq-ft resort and wedding venue on the lot, which is zoned “forestry,” bordered by national forest and single-family homes, inside an important wildlife corridor, and authorized only for a single residence.

The old owners of the Sundance were grandfathered in, and prospective buyers were told no future commercial use was possible under county land-use codes. Nonetheless, the new owners purchased the property and applied in 2018 for “use of community significance” recognition, along with a plan to expand the café by 800 sq ft. 

Had the owners truly cared about the significance of the Sundance Café for the local community, they could have worked with Hillary, the Café Manager, to find a way for her to continue operating the restaurant while they worked on raising the funds to bring the Café up to county standards. Instead, they demanded their tenant pay for renovations she couldn’t afford, which ended the long tradition of the Sundance Café. 

The county tabled the application when the owners tried for annexation into Nederland; when that failed, the owners reapplied to the county, leading to this current “re-referral” of their 2018 application. This “re-referral,” however, was accompanied by plans wildly more ambitious than the original 800-sq-ft café expansion. This much larger, much more intrusive, much more “upscale” development does not have the community significance of the old café, and it’s clear its mission is not to the old, local crowd. 

Plans call for rebuilding and more than doubling the size of the old party barn (to 3600 sq ft), which will be an entertainment/wedding venue with two bridal suites, four restrooms, a reception area and 12-seat bar, as well as 52 parking spaces. The Café/Lodge will be rebuilt and almost doubled in size (to 5,595 sq ft) with a two-story restaurant with bars on each floor, as well as a patio bar, dining room and patio, and upgraded kitchen and restrooms. Total parking spaces will increase from 34 to 110.

Compare the “resort’s” three bars (30 seats) and an outdoor patio bar to the old Café’s four-seater bar with a couple of tables. This is a NEW development, NOT a continuation of the Café and its historic significance to our community. The only continuity is the location and the view, which is even better from the neighboring rock formation on national forest land, which is frequently visited.

Making an exception to land-use codes in order to build such a large resort in a forestry zone adjacent to national forest and private residences violates core principles of Nederland’s Comprehensive Plan, Envision 2020, and 2011 Sustainability Resolution. Codes pertaining to noise levels, odors, and other annoyances in residential/forest areas are common to both the Town and county.

Among the many principles of Boulder County’s Comprehensive Plan this development would violate are: a strong preference that commercial developments be within incorporated towns; that their location should not impede the ability of a local community to decide its own future development, that rural areas be preserved, and that Environmental Conservation Areas (ECAs) are subject to special directives to reduce or eliminate development (ER 3.02-3.05).

The property is immediately adjacent to the western edge of the Magnolia Environmental Conservation Area (ECA #14) and is one of three adjacent mining claims that break up what is otherwise a continuous wildlife migration corridor across national forest, county open space, and conservation easements connecting Boulder with the Indian Peaks Wilderness. The county acquired Reynolds Ranch Open Space for the specific purpose of ensuring this migration corridor remains open. Parks and Open Space staff have requested a Wildlife Impact Report.

Based on the above arguments, I oppose, and I urge Town trustees, planning officials, and residents to oppose, recognition of this new development as a “use of community significance.” The land should be governed by the appropriate land-use regulations for forestry zones.

You can find the full plans at boco.org/LU-18-0022. You can provide comments until April 29 to planner@bouldercounty.org or call the Planning and Permitting Department at 303-441-3930.

Susan Wagner
Nederland

(Originally published in the April 8, 2021, edition of The Mountain-Ear.)