Tamarack president updates Valley County commissioners on roads, housing, marina and mountain expansion

Scott Turlington, president of Tamarack, told Valley County commissioners on April 7 that the resort and related entities have been tracking tax and infrastructure contributions and are working with the county on outstanding road, housing and recreation projects.

Turlington opened with a property-tax overview, saying the economic analysis included in commissioners’ packets shows “the total tax charges, the PUDs contributed, just under $31,000,000.” He reviewed the capital contribution agreement (CCA) obligations, what Tamarack has paid to date and what remains as future credits or obligations.

The discussion focused on paving work and credits tied to off-site road projects. A commissioner noted surprise that the county received a credit on paving to employee housing under a 70/30 model and said, “I don't think that I would have requested that be paved down to the employee housing if I knew that you were gonna get a $545,000 credit for it.” Turlington replied that an earlier project (project 2) had been handled under a separate memorandum of understanding modeled on a 70/30 split and that the same approach could be memorialized for future one-off projects outside the CCA.

Turlington described the S Bridge/causeway as the outstanding off-site improvement still in the CCA and said Tamarack expects credit negotiations to be handled on a project-by-project basis when the county requires work that is not part of the original phasing. “If the county says to us, hey. You need to do x… then we would expect a credit for that for a future obligation,” he said.

On housing and development, Turlington said since 2022 the county has approved 59 units and Tamarack has 83 units pending. He said Tamarack currently provides 302 employee beds, with 273 on-site at the resort. He told commissioners, “total that we've paid…and, again, employee housing being the big one, to date, going back to... is $23,500,000.” He also said about $2,200,000 remains recorded as future obligations in the CCA.

Turlington said village construction is largely complete: 130 condos in Village Plaza are finished and about 45,000 square feet of commercial space is leased except for one end-cap. Mid Mountain Lodge received a county certificate of occupancy in late November and opened in December.

On Heritage, Turlington said Tamarack exercised a right of redemption in October 2024 and reacquired roughly 500 acres plus about 200 additional acres, giving the company “just over 700 acres” of previously approved PUD land. He noted the original PUD approval covers 2,043 dwelling units (DUs) and that about 600–700 of those units remain to be built; he said dwelling-unit counts and EDU (equivalent dwelling unit) rules can cause some differences when counting hotel rooms versus full residential units.

Regarding mountain expansion, Turlington said the only approved path currently is the plan negotiated with the U.S. Forest Service and that the Forest Service has approved moving forward with plan-level review and stakeholder engagement; the Forest Service had begun NEPA-related public outreach. He said the expansion would add lifts mostly to the south side of the mountain and that final land-management options could change if a state/federal land-exchange route is chosen.

On the marina project, Turlington said the marina is on Bureau of Reclamation-managed land with a lease administered by the Idaho Department of Parks and Recreation. He described a phased approach: if cultural surveys and the tribe’s studies conclude as expected, the bureau would finish its NEPA process and the resort could have construction permits after the season. He said the planned first phase would prepare for about 100 boat slips with upland fueling and a small retail structure on a 20-year lease.

Turlington summarized vegetation and erosion-control work completed last year: “We did 26 acres of revegetation mat on the mountains, so over a million square feet, 21,000 linear feet of wattles, and about 1,100 feet of silt fences and water bars.” He said the state inspected and found no detrimental findings from last year’s runoff incidents.

Turlington also raised financing mechanisms for future off-site improvements, saying Tamarack plans to petition for a local improvement district (LID) for Heritage infrastructure but prefers a community improvement district (CID) statute change for better off-site financing and to allow different cost apportionment. Commissioners asked for a follow-up workshop; Turlington said he could bring an MOU for prior projects and the resort’s legal and consulting team to a work session.

Why it matters: commissioners and Tamarack are negotiating how to assign costs for roads and other off-site improvements under an existing capital contribution agreement that affects county budgets, credits owed and the timing of infrastructure work. The outcome will influence which entity fronts construction costs, how credits are recorded against future obligations and how housing and recreational infrastructure proceed.

Next steps and follow-up: commissioners asked Tamarack to provide the project-2 MOU used to document a previous 70/30 arrangement and requested a workshop within the next 60 days on LIDs versus CIDs and statute changes. Turlington said he would return with detailed documents and team members for a work session.