Commission postpones liquor-license decision for Bitter Wyoming Ranch over access, lease and permitting questions

The Laramie County Board of Commissioners voted Oct. 21 to postpone consideration of a retail liquor-license application for the Bitter Wyoming Ranch event venue at 470 Happy Jack Road until its Nov. 4 meeting to allow outstanding lease, state-licensing and site-plan issues to be resolved.

Applicant remarks and neighbor testimony focused on whether the property has safe, legal access for commercial events and whether the applicant has the necessary lease and State Liquor Commission approvals. The applicant, identified at the hearing as Miss Radell, said she owns the property and is seeking to restore the historic venue and apply for a conditional permitting path: “We’re hoping to restore portions of that with the main event being wedding, graduation parties, those types of things,” she said, adding that the operation would rely on shuttles and that she is working with the Bureau of Land Management on access.

Several nearby residents and landowners told the commission they worry about traffic, emergency access and easements. John Eisbart, a neighbor who lives on Bobcat Trail, said the neighborhood road is narrow and unsuited to heavy event traffic: “The last thing I would think the public would want is 120 plus guests who’ve been consuming alcohol to go through our small HOA,” he said. Jason, who said he was speaking as a concerned neighbor and planning official, described portions of the current access as a 10-foot-wide, rough two-track that cannot safely accommodate commercial ingress, egress or emergency apparatus: “If we were to try to get a fire truck in there, not gonna be able to do it very easily,” he said, and urged postponement until access and site-plan questions are settled.

Neighbors also presented a written easement limiting an existing access road to residential use. Justin Hesser, an attorney representing nearby property owners, read language from that easement and told the commission the document expressly limits the easement to residential purposes, arguing that the restriction is relevant to whether a liquor license should be issued.

County staff and the county attorney said different parts of the authorization process are handled by different authorities. County Attorney Mark Voss said he reviewed state liquor statutes and found no express prohibition on conditioning a county action on an approved site plan, but he recommended a continuance because the applicant’s lease and state-licensing review remained unresolved and the site-plan and access concerns fall under the planning process. “So it’s a long-winded way of saying, I don’t see anything that prohibits the board from essentially approving a liquor license on condition of getting a site plan, but my preference would be to continue the matter,” Voss told commissioners.

Commission discussion reflected those legal and practical concerns. One commissioner proposed conditional approval; others argued postponement was the wiser course to allow the State Liquor Commission to review the amended application and for the planning department to complete its conditional-use and commercial site-plan review. The board adopted a motion to postpone the item to the Nov. 4 meeting so the applicant could secure State Liquor Commission review of the lease and continue through the county site-plan and permitting process. The motion passed by roll call with unanimous recorded votes.

What happens next: County staff said they will ask the State Liquor Commission to review the amended application and the lease and will notify interested parties of scheduling. The applicant and planning staff will continue pursuing the conditional-use and commercial site-plan processes required under the county’s recently adopted 2025 land-use regulations.

The public hearing record and testimony included maps, photographs and written correspondence from neighbors; the commission closed the public hearing before its deliberation and vote to postpone.