Last month, Gunnison County Commissioners approved the sketch plan for a large expansion at Harmels on the Taylor.
Just seven miles northeast of Almont, Harmels on the Taylor is a historic ranch resort that is surrounded by national forest. The Taylor River flows nearby and trails zig-zag through the canyon, giving guests easy access to horseback riding, hiking, fly fishing and whitewater rafting. The nearly 150-acre property houses the Bites & Brews restaurant, roughly 40 cabins, corrals and a stable, bunkhouses and a laundry facility.
Harmels has been a family-owned business for more than a century. During the mining boom in the late 1800s, the property served as a midway point for miners traveling between Gunnison and Crested Butte. The Roberts family, which managed the ranch for more than 40 years, made it into a modern resort that exists today. Dave and Terri Reynolds took over in 2021, and shortly after began renovating the property and cabins, and revamped restaurant service. In addition to being marketed as the perfect summer family getaway, Harmels is also now a wedding venue.
These small-scale changes are only the beginning for the Reynolds. Draft plans for the Harmels expansion include the construction of roughly 30 housing units, 35 RV sites, an upgraded bathroom and laundry facility, new, larger cabins, a shop, an area with storage units and a new wastewater treatment plant that will replace the old septic tanks.
“We are very excited about our proposed project as we believe it provides a genuine opportunity for the community to address existing infrastructure concerns, existing demands and plan for future growth in an area that is of unique beauty … Along with many of our neighbors, we look forward to preserving this wonderful area for future generations,” the owners stated in a press release. The Reynolds declined to speak with the Times about the project directly.
The proposal has incited mixed feelings from neighbors in Taylor Canyon and Spring Creek, in Almont and from the cabin owners scattered throughout the canyon. Some residents praised the new owners for pumping new life into the aging ranch resort. Others worried about increased traffic on County Road 742 and 744, impeded wildlife migration corridors and how the expansion could affect the water supply of nearby wells.
While all of the investments the Reynolds family have made to date have been positive for the business, Timothy Heuer said he believed the project could further erode the “natural environment that is so special to the area.” He owns property on CR 744 (Spring Creek Road), which is directly across the highway from Harmels. Many neighbors viewed the proposal as a ticket to more crowding and congestion in the canyon.
“We continue to enjoy this wonderful and magnificent area even though the peace and serenity that was present during my childhood, and even recently, has been lost in many ways due to increased development and use of the land,” Heuer said in a letter to the county.
Because of the size of the proposed Harmels expansion, it is considered a “major impact land use change.” This means the draft plans are open to public comment and subject to a three-step review process before any building can begin. A sketch plan is a high-level concept, to be followed by more site-specific engineering, such as traffic studies. By the time a final plan is adopted, the exact size, shape and location of all of the individual projects will have been decided.
With nearly 50 written comments, in addition to the residents who spoke in person at public hearings in November and January, there is a “high degree of public interest” in the Harmels expansion compared to other projects, Gunnison County Planning Director Hillary Seminick said during a county commissioner meeting in February.
The board approved Harmels’ sketch plan on Feb. 4. Despite the large volume of public comments, county commissioners believed that many residents’ questions could not be answered this early in the process. More layers of detail have yet to be outlined, and Harmels’ early-stage design plans are still subject to change. The next stage requires the owners to develop an off-road vehicle management plan and draft deed-restrictions for employee housing and traffic and water use studies.
“It still leaves a wide, wide opening for public engagement … The project has enough of the ingredients to move into the phase where the level of detail — at the time, cost and expense of the applicant — becomes much deeper and really starts to paint a bigger picture,” said County Commissioner Jonathan Houck.
Since the Reynolds took ownership, the pair has refurbished much of the resort and brought the cabins “back to their original charm,” they stated in a press release shared with both the Gunnison Times and the Crested Butte News. The restaurant has also been completely redone with brand new appliances. Harmels is now turning its attention to accommodating increasing tourist traffic in the canyon, and addressing the housing needs for the area.
“The property has received a tremendous facelift and neighbors and guests continue to express appreciation for everything we’ve done … We want Harmels to be a great place to be, and that includes for our employees,” the press release said.
Harmels, listed as a “summer operation” on its website, employs full-time wranglers, fishing guides, hosts, servers, cooks and bartenders, housekeepers and event managers. The business primarily employs college-aged staff from across the United States as well as some from other countries. Some employee housing options are offered, according to the webpage.
As part of the expansion, the family is “working hard” to add new housing for their employees during the summer and the off-season. The proposal includes the construction of four workforce housing lodges that can accommodate five to six employees each, and the conversion of an existing bunkhouse and lodge for roughly 30 new residential housing units.
Harmels has told the county it is willing to provide housing “not only for its employees, but also for the workforce housing needs of the community.” Harmels is central to Taylor Park, Spring Creek and Almont, all of which “will likely require increasing numbers of employees” in the future, according to Jacob With at Law of the Rockies, the applicant’s representative. Visitation to the nearby Taylor Park and Spring Creek reservoirs has increased steadily over years since Cottonwood Pass was fully paved in 2017. The area is a magnet for mountain off-roaders, campers and fishermen during the summer season.
The Reynolds said they have noticed a “very limited” number of RV sites in the canyon that provide fill-service hook-ups, many of which are dated. Because of the topography at Harmels, the Reynolds believed they could build a campground that is difficult to spot from outside of the resort, the press release stated. The proposed RV sites would capture more visitors, along with the addition of roughly eight larger cabins.
These RV sites would not only serve guests, but provide additional seasonal housing for staff, many of whom work elsewhere during the winter months. Twenty storage units are also proposed to give employees and valley residents another place to store their extra belongings.
Some individuals, as well as the Gunnison Country Chamber of Commerce, commended all the Reynolds family for all of the changes they have made to the resort since their recent purchase.
“The new owners of Harmels on the Taylor have taken a deteriorating and run down resort and, through hard work and the investment of a significant amount of capital, turned it into an attractive recreational asset for the public, Taylor Canyon and Gunnison County,” Pete and Susan Dunda of Almont wrote in a letter submitted to county commissioners and the Gunnison County Planning and Commission.
But in a large series of public comments, a number of neighbors worried about the rising popularity of the area as a mountain biking, camping and fishing destination. This has already increased the volume and speed of the traffic on County Road 742 (Taylor River Road), which winds from the Almont turnoff to Taylor Park, and CR 744. Susan Mendenhall, who owns a family cabin on Spring Creek Road, said she remained concerned about “precedent setting-impacts” of the project, traffic and noise.
“Logic tells me they will be significant,” she wrote.
The road from Spring Creek Campground up to Mosca Campground is narrow with blind curves, and many cars, pickups, RVs and side-by-sides tend to drift to the center at high speeds, wrote part-time residents Greg and Martha Harscher. During peak summer season, Harmels’ new RV sites could equate to 50-70 additional OHVs running up and down Spring Creek Road each day, their letter reads.
“Combined with increased ATV, pedestrian and mountain bike traffic, there is an increased likelihood of accidents and people getting hurt,” the Harscher’s letter states.
Others believed the increased density on the property and storage units would impact the quiet and solitude the canyon offers, and the wildlife populations, such as black bear, elk, mule deer and bighorn sheep, that roam through the valley.
“This area is unique because it still has the same sense of wilderness for all who come here, including the Harmel’s guests as it has for generations … Developing Harmels beyond the fishing retreat that it has become, and the quaint ‘dude ranch’ from the past does not fit the area,” said Lorie Green Bobilya, a third-generation owner of the Foster-Green Canyon.
The Reynolds are working with the state and contracted engineers to receive approval for the final designs for a new wastewater treatment plant that will replace aging septic tanks. It is an improvement that is “long overdue and essential to environmental protection in the area,” the pair stated. Substantial engineering both on and offsite will also be required for traffic studies, and determining the final number of RV sites. Once these plans are complete, they will be reviewed by the county and open to another round of public comments.
