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Commissioners postpone Fox Run subdivision after groundwater and water-rights concerns
Summary
The Carbon County Board of Commissioners postponed final action on the proposed 14-lot Fox Run subdivision to Dec. 30 after commissioners raised concerns about a small modeled aquifer drawdown and potential impacts on senior water rights; staff and the developer will amend conditions limiting irrigation uses of wells.
The Carbon County Board of Commissioners on Dec. 2 postponed action on a proposed 14-lot subdivision near Fox after officials voiced concerns about groundwater impacts and the legal ability to appropriate water for new homes.
Commissioner Bill Bullock initially moved to approve the preliminary plat and a variance from design standards for the project the planning staff called Fox Run; Commissioner Scott Miller seconded and the motion carried. County contract planner Forrest Mandeville said the development would be along Highway 212, roughly four miles north of Red Lodge, and that lots would be sold individually with buyers responsible for home construction.
Commissioner Scott Blain pressed county staff and the developer on hydrology and water-rights implications, citing a Geosyntec technical memorandum that modeled an anticipated drawdown of about 0.004 cubic feet per second. Travis West, representing the developer, said the plan is to withdraw an irrigation right and apply to transfer that right to domestic use, which he said would yield roughly 0.45 acre-feet per lot for domestic use and 0.2 acre-feet for irrigation. Geosyntec is continuing a study of flows between Willow Creek and Rock Creek that county staff described as not yet complete.
Blain successfully moved to amend the findings to note the possibility of ‘‘significant adverse unmitigated impacts on the aquifer’’ and to flag potential interference with senior water rights if the legal ability to appropriate water is unclear. Commissioners also discussed adding language to conditions 4(b) and 14 to prohibit the use of wells for irrigation.
To allow those condition edits, Commissioner Scott Miller moved to postpone further action on the subdivision to Dec. 30, 2025 at 9:30 a.m.; Commissioner Bill Bullock seconded and the motion carried. County staff and several project consultants left the meeting after the vote.
Next steps: staff and the developer are expected to revise the findings and conditions to address the groundwater language and the irrigation restriction before the Dec. 30 continuation. The county noted that, for new exempt wells, DNRC rules will require a Notice of Intent effective Jan. 1, and that final water-right determinations may depend on the ongoing Geosyntec study.
