Plans to build a high-end resort at the mouth of the Clarks Fork Canyon ran into stiff headwinds last week, with the Park County Planning and Zoning Commission unanimously voting against the project.

The developers of the proposed Soori Wyoming retreat are in the earlier stages of the planning process, but after hearing from a roomful of Clark residents opposed to the project, board members felt they’d heard enough to make a recommendation.

“I can’t help but feel that, if we had a fully completed application with everything addressed, that there’s nothing about the project that fits Clark, Wyoming,” said board member Duncan Bonine.

The board’s recommendation to deny a special use permit for Soori Wyoming is only that — a recommendation for the Park County commissioners to consider. Developer Soo K. Chan could continue the process and try his luck with the county commissioners at a later date.

Chan, a renowned architect from Singapore, said at the close of Wednesday’s meeting that he and his team “knew it was going to be a process.”

“In the end, we want to be in the community, that’s in harmony. That’s part of the [Soori] brand,” said Chan, who participated in the meeting remotely with his team. “We feel that if the community objects to this hotel, certainly there’s no point in pushing forward.”

Chan asked planning staff what could be done on the property “with certainty, since we already invested money into this site and as a private property rights owner,” and specifically wondered if he could construct a couple ranch houses.

County Planning Director Joy Hill noted that there are a number of things Chan can do with his 161-acre parcel; as an example of things allowed by right under the county’s rules, he could fairly easily subdivide the property, if the lots were at least 35 acres in size.

Hill suggested Chan and his firm, SCDA, take some time to consider their next steps.

“Obviously there’s been a lot brought to the table for you to consider from the neighborhood,” she said.

Chan bought the property sight unseen in early 2021 and submitted plans for Soori Wyoming in November. The design calls for 11 “cabins,” connected to a 14,200 square foot main house containing a restaurant, pool and other amenities for guests. The aim is to have the resort be carbon neutral, offering “palatable off-grid hospitality.”

“We are not very commercially driven,” Chan said. “We just want to demonstrate that there’s a new way of actually creating a natural experience for guests.”

While the plans would allow for up to 34 guests at a time, Chan said the average occupancy would be around 10 guests, which he compared to a large family. The resort would employ about 20 workers, with some living in quarters constructed on-site. In total, the plans call for the construction of 14 buildings totaling just less than 31,000 square feet on the now-vacant parcel.

Chan, who’s been involved in ambitious projects around the globe, designed Soori Wyoming with the intent to blend into the surrounding landscape with low-lying profile.

“We want to be in harmony with nature,” said JJ Yeo, an associate director at Chan’s firm, SCDA New York, “but not just nature, but with the community, with people.”

‘Very special piece of geography’

Part of the Soori brand — which includes a luxury resort in Bali, Indonesia — involves offering guests an authentic experience. Chan and Yeo have spoken about wanting to use local businesses, workers and know-how in building and operating the resort, and that the intent is to preserve the site as much as possible.

However, roughly two dozen Clark residents in attendance at Wednesday’s hearing contended the project would not be in harmony with the area — one of the criteria that must be met before a special use permit can be issued.

“There’s nothing less authentic than staying in a resort, looking at where people slept in tepees, slept in wall tents,” Marshall Hesson said, adding that, “You can’t experience the spirit if you put it right through the heart [of Clark]. I mean, you go down that canyon, and it’s absolutely a sight to be seen, I don’t care how many times you’ve seen it.”

Some speakers expressed surprise that the parcel is private land and suggested it should remain undeveloped.

“It is a very, very special piece of geography in this whole globe of ours; I can’t even believe that it’s allowed to be considered to be built on for a resort,” said Jim Siemons, who recently moved to the area. “As lovely as the architect has made it, there is a diminution of that land for all of us, because all of us right now can go there and look at it and enjoy it and really respect it.”

Bonnie Craig said the developer “didn’t take into consideration that there are 800 homes in Clark, and everyone in Clark moved here for a reason — and that reason was to get away from development.”

Kathy Ackley, a longtime resident, said the community has already had problems from other people “coming in and causing trouble.”

“We came here for a nice, peaceful, quiet place in a rural area. And this is going to take that away,” she said.

Other commenters suggested the resort would make Clark a “JV version of Jackson” or serve only “elite people,” while driving away common people there to see the unspoiled view.

Referring to a comment Chan made about wanting to enhance Clark’s reputation, Susan Muttart, who recently moved to the area, offered that, “I don’t think any of us want the reputation to be enhanced. We like it the way it is.”

Muttart said she’d conducted an unscientific poll on Facebook in which there were five votes in favor of the project, eight maybes and 97 nos. No members of the public expressed any support for Soori Wyoming’s plans at Wednesday’s hearing, though the planning office did receive three supportive statements ahead of the meeting (alongside 18 opposing it). Concerns ranged from impacts on the wildlife that frequent the area to additional traffic to noise during construction and the risk of wildfires sparked by the resort’s planned outdoor fire pits. Multiple residents questioned if the developers really understood just how extreme the winds can be at the mouth of the Clarks Fork Canyon — a factor that had led Chan and his team to consider a limited operating season.

“I struggle a lot with anybody telling somebody else what to do with their private property, and so I’m on the fence on a lot of it,” said Kodi Dodge, a lifelong resident. But Dodge said he sees a negative impact from the project “on everything out there and on the community. I don’t see an upside to it.”

Some residents complained that they didn’t know about the project earlier, but Planning Director Hill explained that Wednesday’s hearing was actually held earlier in the process than usual.

“We don’t normally put an incomplete application through, for obvious reasons. However, because we know the scale of this project, and we fully anticipated a lot of public comment, we wanted the applicant to have the opportunity to hear all of the concerns and to know whatever obstacles could arise,” she said. “Because as you can imagine, a project of this scale has a lot of investment associated with it.”

Hill told the citizens gathered on Wednesday that the county appreciated their input and encouraged them to continue to weigh in.

“We are listening,” she said.

Project faces potential obstacles, restrictions

With the hearing being held earlier, plans for water and septic systems remained extremely preliminary, as did potential restrictions that might be imposed to mitigate impacts on wildlife. The Wyoming Game and Fish Department noted that Soori Wyoming’s parcel — owned by Chan through Clarks Fork Canyon LLC — is very near crucial mule deer and bighorn sheep winter range, within crucial elk winter range and a half-mile from a golden eagle nest. According to comments made at the hearing, it’s possible those concerns could lead to some limits on at least construction activity for much of the year, but no representatives from the wildlife agencies were present to elaborate.

Meanwhile, Park County Engineer Brian Edwards said the applicant would have to improve both the private road and bridge to accommodate the increased, commercial use of the property. An added hurdle is that the road crosses BLM property in an area with significant cultural resources, including Native American tepee rings. 

“Those BLM requirements as it relates to NEPA [National Environmental Policy Act] and cultural resources are going to come into play,” Edwards said, “and could result in substantial delays in getting the project going.”

He also noted concerns about the stability of the surrounding slope, including erosion and falling rocks, though he said there would be ways to mitigate those issues. But the Planning and Zoning Commission felt it didn’t need more information.

“I’m a big fan of private property rights: You buy a piece of property, you should be able to do with it what you want in, you know, nine out of 10 cases,” said new board member Bob Ferguson. “This is one of those cases that I see so many potential problems affecting not just the neighbors on either side, but the entire community, that would probably vote against it just on that basis.”

The board voted 3-0 to recommend denial of the special use permit. Hill said the developers have no particular deadline by which they need to decide on next steps, saying they could take up to a year.