Planning board votes to approve, recommend Burrows land use change request to county commissioners

At the May 17 Hot Springs County Land Use Planning Commission (LUPC) held at the Annex building, County Planner Bo Bowman presented an application from Derrick Burrows who has requested a land use change from the Agricultural land use category to the Commercial land use category, for 8.2 acres, to allow a 12-unit tent (teepee) campground. He proposes to erect up to twelve teepees on wooden platforms, to be marketed as short-term rentals.

The subject property is an 8.2-acre property located in the southwest quarter of the northeast quarter of Section 25, Township 43N, Range 95W. Fronting on the west side of Hwy 20 N, it is addressed as 191 Hwy 20 N.  

The Hot Springs County Rural Fire District, Thermopolis Fire Department, and Wyoming Department of Transportation have been notified of this proposal by mail. All adjoining property owners have also been notified by mail. According to Bowman, as of May 17, no written comments have been received.

The applicant proposes to construct up to twelve wooden tepee platforms and erect up to twelve canvas tepees for short-term lodging use. The campground would have no running water, but the tepees would have electric lights and natural gas heaters. Portable toilets would be provided near the parking lot. At this time, there are no shower facilities onsite, and the applicant would provide customers with daily memberships to Hellie’s Tepee Spa (1.7 miles away, at Hot Springs State Park) for access to showers and thermal pools.  

The tepee campground would be located in the southeast corner of the property, on a gently sloping grass area bordered by the bluff above the highway, the applicant’s shop building on the west, and a steep drainage gully on the north. This campground area amounts to approximately 4.3 acres. Or roughly one-half the area of the subject property.  

Each rental tepee would have a base diameter of 18 ft. (2 to 3 occupants) to 22 ft. (2 to 5 occupants). They would be approximately 15 to 18 feet in height and are constructed of fire-retardant canvas on wood poles.  

The applicant proposes to bring electrical service to the property, possibly by boring under the highway. At this time, there is no domestic water present, and water would be hauled to the campground. The applicant hopes to construct a toilet/shower facility on the premises at some future time, once domestic water is made available.  

Bowman said in his Staff Recommendation, should the Land Use Planning Commission recommend approval of the Burrows Land Use Change, placing the 8.2-acre parcel in the Commercial land use category to allow a 12-unit complex of tepees for use as short-term rentals, staff proposed 10 conditions. Included, but not all, of those 10 conditions were: Any walkway and parking area lighting in the campground area shall consist of low-wattage, downcast fixtures set no higher than 36 inches above the walkway; Should the applicant propose to install outdoor lighting in any portion of the campground, including the parking area, a Lighting Plan shall be submitted to the Planning Office for review and approval. The plan should indicate the location and intensity of all outdoor fixtures.; Should the applicant propose onsite or offsite signage for the proposed activity, a Sign Plan, including images of all proposed signs and a map of their locations, shall be submitted to the Planning Office for review and approval; If the proposed tepee campground is to include fire pits, only USFS or similarly designated fire pits shall be used. Campground rules shall prohibit fires except in these designated pits. These shall be used in accordance with local fire restrictions.

LUPC Chairman Adam Estenson opened the meeting for public comments and every person who spoke gave their testimony in support of the application. There were no comments against it.

The positive testimony included Hot Springs County Commissioner Paul Galovich, who referred to the possible use of the tepee short-term rental to complement a possible American Indian cultural center. There were other public comments that the tepee short-term rentals would bring more tourism revenue and employment to the town. There were some concerns brought up, such as the opinion to remove the RV trailers and abandoned campers on the applicant’s property. One public comment complemented the planners’ report to include lighting on pathways.

Chairman Estenson then closed the public comments time and held a discussion with the commission board members. LUPC Board member Harvey Seidel asked, “I want to know how this relates to the Stevens tipi thing, that if it’s connected or if that’s gone by the wayside, or we are replacing one with the other.”

Seidel was referring to the 2021 land use change application of Michael and Michele Stevens, which was recommended by the LUPC for a change from Agricultural to Commercial land use but then later was denied by the Hot Spring County Commissioners (HSCC). That matter is currently in litigation with the Stevens suing the Hot Springs County Commissioners.

Bowman replied, “Derek represented to me that Michael Stevens approached him with the suggestion of moving that operation to this site…  the issue before us here is not personalities, but the question of whether the proposal is suitable at this location. And so that’s really what we’re focusing on. I knew full well what we were talking about, what was represented to me, that we were talking about the same operation. So the answer to your question is yes. And so we look at the proposal in the context of this piece of real estate. And is that workable?” 

Bowman added that both the LUPC and the HSCC both “thought that this was a great idea. They encouraged them to find a more suitable location. It looks like they’ve made an effort to do that.”

Chairman Estenson said, “I want to echo that sentiment that regardless of anything else, we’re looking at this property.” Estenson then asked Michael and Michele Stevens, who were in the audience, if they wanted to make a statement in regard to the application.

Michael Stevens said, “Thanks for the invitation to speak. I just want to reiterate everything that I heard here from our public, especially Commissioner Paul Galovich. Our intention has always been to shine a light on our native heritage, ancestry, and the importance of that to our county. It lives very deeply in the culture of our community, and the history goes far and wide, and that’s always been our incentive. We actually have an adopted daughter that is full-blooded Lakota, and in this whole project of providing tepee experiences for our guests and travelers and the tourists that come to our county is one that is very well received. And seeing that the population has been stagnant here for such a long time, we see a benefit to grow our community, to bring additional value to not only the tourists, the guests, but increase employment, increase other opportunities. And we’ve experienced the tepees actually being a destination attraction, if you will. So we’re excited that, you know, as you look at this and make a decision to use this location for a tepee going up and know that this will benefit many, many, many people in our community, businesses, the places that the guests go to eat, to go to the state park, shop at the hardware store and look for reasons to spend longer here in this part of our state. So I’ll leave that. Thank you for your time and consideration.” 

The LUPC board members discussed this further and board member Seidlel wanted to add a condition to the application that there would be a restroom facility, such as a portapotty, in place at the beginning of operations. Board meamber Merrill Ready added his request for a condition that there will be a water tank in place to help fight fires, since the property would have fire pits. 

Chairman Estenson then asked the board to go through their checklists. After doing so, the board did not have any concerns about the checklist requirements. Board member Seidel made a motion to recommend the application to the HSCC with the two additional proposed conditions and Board member Ready seconded the motion with the two added conditions for the application. The board voted and passed the approval of the application unanimously to recommend to the Hot Springs County Commissioners. The HSCC will review Burrow’s application on June 6 at 10:25 a.m. at the Annex building.