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Commission approves Crescent Lodge expansion after resident raises wastewater and irrigation concerns
Summary
The commission approved an amendment to Blue Sky Ranch’s Crescent Lodge conditional-use permit to add rooms, a restaurant and spa; a resident complained of ammonia odors and plugged irrigation heads, and the applicant agreed to move the discharge line below the neighbor’s head gate and continue monitoring.
The Eastern Summit County Planning Commission voted to approve an amendment to the Crescent Lodge conditional-use permit, allowing 16 additional lodging rooms and accompanying facilities including a restaurant and spa.
Planning staff reminded the commission of two prior public hearings on the proposal and said the applicant had provided a DEQ letter confirming compliance and third‑party testing that did not show permit violations. During the public comment period, resident Val Bates (Speaker 8) told the commission the resort’s wastewater discharge produced a strong ammonia odor near the neighbors’ irrigation head gate and had plugged multiple sprinkler heads; Bates urged the county and applicant to relocate the discharge downstream from the head gate and offered to host staff for summertime observation.
Bates described recurring impacts that began after resort operations started and said: "We continue to have strong ammonia, smell, which can be hard to tolerate when we're trying to irrigate using our sprinkler systems. We continue to have multiple sprinkler heads plugged up from stuff in the water." Bates asked the commission to require relocation of the discharge and continued monitoring.
Applicant Mike Phillips (Speaker 4) said testing to date did not show state permit violations but that Blue Sky would work with the Bates family and the county. He told the commission the discharge "is daylighted not directly into a water source... it's a very small tube, and it comes out onto the land," and offered to move the discharge point below the head gate and to continue monitoring. "We'll gladly do that," he said.
Commissioners also questioned staffing and traffic impacts; the applicant said the expansion would add about 20 employees primarily for food service and housekeeping and that internal roads were sized for previously approved room counts. Commissioners pressed the applicant and staff to coordinate with county engineering on striping and long‑term maintenance for roadway treatments proposed to mitigate traffic.
Chair (Speaker 3) moved to approve the CUP amendment; Commissioner (Speaker 2) seconded and the commission approved the project by voice vote. The applicant agreed in the hearing to relocate the discharge below the neighbor's head gate and to continue monitoring as offered.
The commission recorded no roll-call tally in the transcript; staff will incorporate the monitoring and discharge‑relocation agreement into the project record and follow up as needed.
