Park County commissioners are assessing a more than $630,000 fine against a Crandall area lodge, saying the owners have operated in violation of the county’s zoning regulations for more than two years.

“I just believe that this thing has been kicked down the road long enough,” Commissioner Lloyd Thiel said before the July 16 vote. The commission unanimously adopted Thiel’s suggestion to penalize Beartooth Lodge owners Mallie and Richard “Zig” Zickefoose Sr. $750 a day, dating back to March 21, 2017. That’s the day commissioners affirmed planning and zoning staffers’ determination that Beartooth Lodge has too many rental cabins.

In addition to the fine, the county has also filed a civil lawsuit against the Zickefooses in Park County District Court. The July 10 suit from County Attorney Bryan Skoric asks a judge to order the couple to stop violating the county’s zoning regulations.

“[The county] does not have an adequate remedy at law to halt defendants’ continued violation of the Zoning Resolution,” Skoric wrote, “and injunction is therefore a proper remedy in order to protect the public health, safety and general welfare and sustain the integrity of the Zoning Resolution.”

The Zickefooses have not yet made a formal response to the county’s suit or the newly assessed fine. However, the Zickefooses contend that they obtained the proper permits for their business and believed they had the county’s blessing to operate their bed and breakfast and rent out the three cabins they advertise on their website.

“I would really like to know what we’re doing that’s so terrible,” Zig Zickefoose said in a recent interview.

The couple appealed the commissioners’ decision to Park County’s District Court in 2017, but Judge Bill Simpson ruled in favor of the county earlier this year. The Zickefooses initially planned to appeal Simpson’s decision to the Wyoming Supreme Court, but dropped that challenge last month on the advice of a new attorney. Zickefoose said he and his wife instead want to find out what Beartooth Lodge must do to get into compliance with the county’s rules.

“But I think they’re not going to be happy unless they totally shut us down,” he said.

While the fine approved by the commissioners sounds massive — the penalty theoretically stood at $635,250 on July 16 — they have previously settled allegations of zoning violations for a small fraction of the penalties they initially threatened to impose. In moving to assess the maximum $750 per day fine against the Zickefooses, Thiel specifically said he was doing so “knowing we [the county] probably won’t get it.”

During the July 16 discussion, County Planning Director Joy Hill told commissioners she believes it’s “a pretty pivotal case for Park County.”

“There’s a lot of people in the public watching this particular item with concern — and not happy concern; they’re really not in favor of this particular activity,” Hill said of Beartooth Lodge. “So I’d like you to keep that in mind.”

Commissioners initially indicated that they would discuss the matter further before making a decision. Chairman Jake Fulkerson said he wanted to confer with the county attorney about how many days to fine the Zickefooses “to make sure it’s realistic.” However, Thiel said it was his understanding that Skoric wanted the commission to make that determination — and he urged the board to take action.

“This thing has been going on for 2 1/2 years. I think we’re all pretty much aware of what’s going on, and I think that we get the ball rolling right now and assess these fines,” Thiel said, adding, “I think something needs to start right now.”

The rest of the commission agreed to assess a fine going back to March 2017.

A highway commercial business

At the crux of the dispute is the classification of the Zickefooses’ business. They contend it’s a bed and breakfast, which is allowed in the Crandall area, formally known as the Upper Clarks Fork Planning Area. However, the county determined that Beartooth Lodge is a highway commercial business like a motel or hotel; such businesses are prohibited in that planning area.

County zoning regulations define a bed and breakfast as a single-family residence where up to four rooms are rented out to the general public. Beartooth Lodge’s cabins wouldn’t seem to meet that definition. However, Zig Zickefoose contends that after issues with bedrock forced him to build a two-room bed and breakfast rather than a four-room facility, a former staffer in the planning and zoning department gave him permission to rent out two cabins to basically make up the difference. Commissioners, however, were skeptical that former assistant planner Becky Conrad would have said that and Judge Simpson declined to overrule the board’s findings on appeal.

“There is no evidence to corroborate this assertion but for [Zickefoose’s] testimony,” he wrote in part.

Simpson upheld the commission’s determination that Beartooth Lodge is a highway commercial business.

Part of the reason the Zickefooses dispute the designation is that, although an archway for the lodge is visible from Wyo. Highway 296 (the Chief Joseph Highway), the property actually lies along a private road next to the Clarks Fork of the Yellowstone River; the Fishing, Trapper and Bear Cave cabins and the bed and breakfast are not visible from the highway.

“We’re running our business and trying to make a living,” Zig Zickefoose said, “and we’ve been doing this for five or six years and now all of a sudden there’s a problem.”

What’s out of compliance?

Zickefoose said he wants to know what he has to shut down to be in-line with the county’s rules.

“They haven’t told me how to stop being a highway commercial business,” Zickefoose said.

In an interview, county planner Hill — who came onto the job last year and was not involved in any of the initial permitting — said that off the top of her head, she wasn’t sure what it would take for the Beartooth Lodge to come into compliance.

However, a 2015 report prepared by planning and zoning staff indicated that the Zickefooses could only rent out two cabins once they opened their lodge, which serves as a bed and breakfast. (The county’s zoning regulations generally allow residents to rent just one accessory housing unit. However, one of the Zickefooses’ cabins, known as the “Bear Cave,” was built before the regulations were created and therefore is exempt.) Assuming that interpretation still stands, the Zickefooses would need to stop renting out either the Fishing or Trapper cabin.

The 2015 report was compiled when the Zickefooses submitted a request to add up to nine campsites and another rental cabin on their 6.34-acre property. Commissioners’ denied the request for the special use permit following a show of opposition from neighbors.

“From that point on, they [county officials] have been trying to shut us down like we’re doing something bad up here,” Zickefoose said.

County records indicate that Crandall residents have been making complaints about the property since at least 2012.

It was in November 2016 that the county notified the Zickefooses they were operating in violation of the zoning rules.

During the July 16 commission meeting, Hill indicated that, beyond the current fines and pending lawsuit, Beartooth Lodge could face additional trouble.

“There are other violations on the property that the county has not addressed,” she told commissioners.