Wilder development gets go-ahead from planning commission

Low bridge a concern

One of the county’s most well known subdivisions is looking for a facelift for its Taylor River-front property. The Wilder on the Taylor developers have applied to the Gunnison County Planning Commission for an owner’s complex that would give Wilder owners a place to get away.

The complex would require a one-bedroom expansion to several existing 80-year-old log cabins, a relocation of one cabin and the construction of a club house-type building alongside an exercise room and a children’s play pavilion.
Jerry Burgess, an engineer with Schmueser Gordon Meyer, told the Planning Commission on a site visit in April that the cabins would be available only to Wilder homeowners and their guests and not to the general public.
Since the cabins sit right on the river bank, with stilted porches reaching midway down to the high water mark, the commissioners were reassured that the bedroom expansions would be added to the opposite side of the cabins. That plan allows for a reasonable buffer between the cabins and the river.
At a public hearing on the plan Friday, May 7, Burgess told the Planning Commission that the line he drew was conservative, keeping new construction a good distance from the water’s edge.
But commissioner Richard Karas reassured Burgess that the regulations asked only that applicants mitigate their impact, and didn’t bar any development inside the 25-foot buffer between the development and the high water mark.
One of the cabins will be moved to make room for a central owner’s complex building that will have a small kitchen, living and meeting areas, office space and a walkway leading to a separate exercise room and pool.
Burgess said he had heard some concerns about how the pool water would be disposed of. At the public hearing, he first told the commissioners that the pool would be drained only every few years.
But when draining the pool is necessary, the solution his team came up with was a chemical that would bond with the chlorine in the pool water. Once the chemical is added to the water, he told the commissioners, it would neutralize any negative effects the chlorine would have on soil where the water is dumped, which will likely be the hay meadow next to Taylor River Rd.
But commissioner Richard Karas wasn’t convinced that the plan mitigated all of the possible impacts of chemicals in the soil. “So when you mix in this additive, it might neutralize the chlorine, but what is the byproduct? Something must come out on the other end of the process.” Burgess told Karas he didn’t know what the chemical byproduct would be, other than salt, but said he would find out.
Scenic River Tours owner Ches Russell attended the public hearing to raise a question about a different kind of development near the water.
“I’m a neighbor just upstream of Wilder. I see that they received a letter from the Army Corp on April 23 in regard to the bridge. I would like Wilder to let the public know what their plans are with the bridge.”
The bridge Russell was referring to crosses the Taylor River on the Wilder property, connecting two parcels owned by Lewis Shaw, the subdivision’s developer. At the time of the site visit, the water was passing just a few feet below the bottom of the structure. On the side of the historic bridge closest to the Wilder property, debris had blocked the river entirely.
That debris was the focus of a letter the Army Corps of Engineers sent to the development’s representative Ron Welborn.
The letter gave three reasons the logjam under the Wilder bridge was of major concern. Referring to the heavy recreational traffic the river gets, it said, “The woody debris caught on the bridge has the effect of a ‘strainer’ and in our opinion poses a serious hazard to public safety.”
Disruption to the flow of water and the danger that the jam could wash out and take the bridge with it were also concerns cited by the Corp.
“We recommend that you remove this debris from the bridge immediately,” it says.
Welborn told the commissioners that he had “responded accordingly to the Corps request” and pointed out that the issue had nothing to do with the application that was the subject of the public hearing.
Even so, the commissioners were interested in the topic and asked that the letter be made available to the entire Planning Commission for reference.
Commission chairman Karas said, “At our last meeting, the applicants informed us that the debris is actually on the shore line and not caught by the bridge. So it’s worth exploring that.”
The bridge is a problem point for rafters and the Wilder because it requires a portage, which sometimes makes for uneasy company on land.
And the Wilder owners make their position known with a large sign upstream from the property that states in no uncertain terms that the water ahead is private property and trespassers will not be given free passage.
All of the development being proposed on-land is also leading to other concerns about parking issues as well as wastewater treatment and disposal. Despite all of the added activities and attractions on the Wilder waterfront, Burgess explained that the parking shouldn’t be a problem, since homeowners will be more likely to walk to the owner’s complex rather than drive.
In the event there is heavy traffic, Burgess said, parking would be “unlimited” along the 8,000-foot road leading into the subdivision and about 50 more spaces would be available in the area of the horse barn and corrals.
But the wastewater treatment and disposal is a different matter, since the system designed to handle it will likely be put to good use. Burgess told the commissioners that the Wilder developers have gone above and beyond what is necessary to fill the need created by the expanded owner’s complex.
Right now, the riverside cabins are served by a septic tank that appears to sit just a few feet from the high water mark. But to meet the needs of the owner’s complex, along with the 27 homes that will be constructed at Wilder when the current phase is built out, Burgess told the commissioners that the plan currently includes a wastewater treatment system that would pump the wastewater away from the river to be treated to federal and state standards before being discharged.
Julie Ann Woods, a planner with Elk Mountains Planning Group, said the Planning Commission has asked that she address issues with “parking for larger get-togethers, how the pool will or won’t be drained, a specific site plan with dimensions from variable outer buffer and best management practices for erosion control.”
After the public hearing the commissioners asked the county’s planning staff to draft a decision granting permission for the minor impact proposal at Wilder.