Board of Adjustment upholds denial of Shaw guest‑ranch application

The Chaffee County Board of Adjustment on a motion upheld the planning department’s December 3, 2024 denial of a certificate of zoning compliance for the Shaw Guest Ranch, a proposed commercial lodging project on roughly 33 acres west of Poncho Springs and below Monarch Pass.

The decision matters because it rests on how the county’s land use code defines a “guest ranch” after a June 2023 amendment that emphasized ties to an actual working ranch. Planning staff said the applicant’s proposal and materials did not demonstrate that the site functioned as a working ranch and that the project’s scale — 12 proposed detached commercial lodging units plus two existing permitted dwellings — was more properly reviewed as a resort under the county code.

Nick Gomer, planning department staff, told the board the application was submitted in late 2024 and was reviewed under the prior code. “The final application did propose 12 new detached commercial lodging units, goats and infrastructure related to keeping those goats such as a corral or pasture land ... a disc golf…