{"id":23301,"date":"2025-03-03T15:29:56","date_gmt":"2025-03-03T22:29:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/glamping-tent-development-proposed-for-outside-mancos\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T04:32:52","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T04:32:52","slug":"glamping-tent-development-proposed-for-outside-mancos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/glamping-tent-development-proposed-for-outside-mancos\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Glamping\u2019 tent development proposed for outside Mancos"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Under
Under Canvas, Inc. is a luxury camping company that was founded in Montana in 2009. It has applied for land north of Mancos to build glampsites there.<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

A high-end \u201cglamping\u201d company has its sights set on property north of Mancos.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s unclear how many acres they\u2019re after.<\/p>\n

The posted public notice at the property says \u201c141 acres, more or less,\u201d though the company\u2019s application<\/a> for acquiring the land says \u201ca 346-acre parcel.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"A
A notice of public hearing for the proposed development of property at 12695 Road 40 north of Mancos. (Courtesy photo)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Acreage aside, neighboring property owners have expressed concerns of the proposed \u201cglamp sites\u201d as a \u201cfull-blown commercial operation.\u201d<\/p>\n

What the company, Under Canvas Inc., <\/a>has applied for is a high impact\/special use permit at 12695 Road 40, property that is zoned ag-residential.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith the development of each camp, Under Canvas\u2019 goal is to take a minimalist approach, limiting the impacts of development and use of resources to create an ecofriendly outdoor experience,\u201d its application reads.<\/p>\n

\"The
The parcel north of Mancos that Under Canvas Inc. hopes to secure and build luxury campsites on.<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

The proposal is up for review at a Planning and Zoning meeting on March 13 at 6 p.m.<\/p>\n

The outcome of that meeting will be a recommendation for or against the development; the final decision on whether or not to approve it is up to the Montezuma County Board of County Commissioners, said Planning and Zoning Director Don Haley.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are objective and subjective parts of the land use code,\u201d Haley said. \u201cWe don\u2019t make decisions on the subjective parts.\u201d<\/p>\n

At present, Under Canvas Inc. has eight \u201csafari-inspired tent\u201d sites across America, from Acadia National Park on the East Coast to California\u2019s Yosemite in the West. Each night, glampers pay anywhere from $250 to $900 to stay in one of their tents.<\/p>\n

It develops near national parks because it aligns with the company\u2019s core values, like how \u201cproviding opportunities to immerse in nature foster environmental consciousness,\u201d and \u201cbeing outdoors inspires.\u201d<\/p>\n

The land near Mancos is attractive then, because it\u2019s \u201conly 10 minutes from town, with its art galleries, breweries and restaurants and 18 minutes to Mesa Verde National Park,\u201d its application reads.<\/p>\n

Under Canvas also has tents in Moab, a development that was highly contested in 2021.<\/p>\n

A June article from The Salt Lake Tribune<\/a> <\/em>that year cites critics\u2019 concerns that such developments \u201chave found a way to sell accommodations at luxury hotel prices while bypassing zoning, safety and fire mitigation standards \u2026 all while putting pressure on remote areas outside of developed towns and cities.\u201d<\/p>\n

Over 3,000 signed a petition<\/a> against the site near Looking Glass Rock in Moab.<\/p>\n

The land in question belongs to Utah School and Institutional Trust Lands Administration, and they decided to lease it to the \u201cresort\u201d company despite the aforementioned concerns.<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for SITLA quoted in that article said that Under Canvas was \u201cdeemed the best partner for use of those parcels.\u201d<\/p>\n

They went on to underscore \u201cthe company\u2019s emphasis on land preservation, low-impact approach to development, focus on allowing everyone to enjoy the outdoors and region, and economics\u201d as their reasons for approving the development.<\/p>\n

Neighboring properties to the company\u2019s proposal in Mancos echo the same concerns from critics years ago in Moab, specifically when it comes to fire risk and water use.<\/p>\n

The public hearing on March 13 will be in the county commissioner\u2019s hearing room at 109 W. Main St. in Cortez.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Planning and zoning will make a recommendation on March 13<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":23302,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[28,83,29],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-23301","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-headlines","tag-mancos","tag-newsletter"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23301","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23301"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23301\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":78061,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23301\/revisions\/78061"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23302"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23301"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23301"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23301"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=23301"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}