{"id":53019,"date":"2020-06-20T00:57:26","date_gmt":"2020-06-20T06:57:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/limits-on-noise-hours-weigh-on-durango-hot-springs\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T04:02:37","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T10:02:37","slug":"limits-on-noise-hours-weigh-on-durango-hot-springs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/limits-on-noise-hours-weigh-on-durango-hot-springs\/","title":{"rendered":"Limits on noise, hours weigh on Durango Hot Springs"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Bryan
Bryan Yearout, co-owner of Durango Hot Springs, formerly Trimble Hot Springs, says a noise limit and a requirement that would force the hot springs to close at 9 p.m., both of which are conditions of approval of their La Plata County land-use permit, harm their ability to operate a viable business.<\/span>Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Durango Hot Springs owners initially believed revitalizing the aging, historic Trimble Hot Springs would create for them a solid business and provide a new lease on life for an attraction in the Animas Valley that needed freshening.<\/p>\n

However, Bryan Yearout\u2019s and Dan Carter\u2019s purchase of the hot springs and their five-year plan to invest $10 million in the operation required them to seek a new land-use permit, and they now worry conditions for approval will cut into profitability, perhaps even their ability to keep the business viable.<\/p>\n

Yearout said conditions of approval that require the hot springs to close at 9 p.m. and to maintain a noise limitation of between 55 decibels and 60 decibels 25 feet from the property line are more stringent than any historical requirements ever imposed on Trimble.<\/p>\n

He wonders why Durango Hot Springs can\u2019t operate under the historically accepted practices at the springs, where a business has operated since 1882 when Frank Trimble built a two-story hotel.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey want us to abide by 60 decibels, 55 at nighttime, and you know a normal conversation is 65 decibels. We\u2019re a venue for music, we\u2019ve got a swimming pool for kids. And they\u2019ve kind of just taken away 60 to 70% of our business by wanting us to adhere to these noise criteria that nobody else has to adhere to,\u201d Yearout said.<\/p>\n

\"Bryan
Bryan Yearout, co-owner of Durango Hot Springs, formerly Trimble Hot Springs, talks about construction progress being made at the site north of Durango. He hopes for an early July opening for the business.<\/span>Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Neal Starkebaum, community development director for La Plata County, said as new owners planning substantial renovation and expansion, Yearout and Carter are required to apply for a land-use permit, and anything that was a nonconforming use from past operations will have to be brought into conformance. That includes hours of operation and noise limitations for outdoor businesses, which are covered by the code as buffering issues.<\/p>\n

\u201cThose standards are intended to provide buffering for adjacent properties to mitigate or alleviate any potential adverse impacts to the surrounding landowners,\u201d Starkebaum said. \u201cThe existing land-use code requires businesses adjacent to lots with a dwelling to cease operations by 9 p.m. and also set limits for the amount of sound that can be created on the business site.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yearout maintains the county is applying a residential standard in the land-use code to its commercial operation. But Starkebaum said the current code is clear and has buffering standards in place for any business operating adjacent to homes.<\/p>\n

In discussions with the county before he purchased the hot springs, Yearout said, \u201cEverybody knew that we were going to maintain the same operating hours as Trimble Hot Springs.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said Trimble operated until 10 p.m. and occasionally 11 p.m. in the summer.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got very much kind of a bait and switch going on with all of the things that we\u2019ve got in our business plan,\u201d he said. \u201cHistorically, with Trimble, for at least the last 35 years, since 1987, they had a swimming pool, they had swimming lessons. They had a stage here with the swimming pool. When Ruedi Bear owned the property, they had a whole actual business that was related to music.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Construction
Construction continues at Durango Hot Springs, formerly Trimble Hot Springs, on Thursday with hopes of an early July opening for the business north of Durango.<\/span>Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Dan
Dan Carter, left, and Bryan Yearout, are co-owners of Durango Hot Springs Resort and Spa.<\/span>Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald file<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Even more dire, Yearout said the land-use permit would require Durango Hot Springs to adhere to the new land-use code\u2019s rule, which hasn\u2019t yet been adopted, that an outdoor business close at 7 p.m. when the new code becomes effective.<\/p>\n

Starkebaum noted under the new land-use code, Yearout and Carter would have the ability to negotiate closing hours with the La Plata County Planning Commission and, in appeal, to the county commissioners. He said the 7 p.m. closing time under the new code would be negotiable.<\/p>\n

However, under the current land-use code, Starkebaum said neither the Planning Commission nor the county commissioners have the ability to alter or remove conditions of use required by current code.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe (county commissioners) as well as the Planning Commission are subject to the standards within the land-use code,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Durango Hot Springs<\/a> has a public hearing before the La Plata County Planning Commission scheduled for June 25, and Starkebaum noted that the county is recommending approval of the land-use permit. But Yearout and Carter are not sure the business will be viable with the noise and hours-of-operation restrictions.<\/p>\n

The cause of Durango Hot Springs has now entered the La Plata County commission race, with at least one candidate, Independent Jack Turner, backing the hot springs.<\/p>\n

Turner said in an email: \u201cThe hot springs have been a commercial operation, historic icon and a local treasure since the 1800s. I cannot imagine being asked to exit the hot springs, pools, etc., at 8:55 p.m. (or 6:55 p.m.) while the sun is still up. What does that say about common sense?\u201d<\/p>\n

parmijo@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

onerous conditions for county permit could crush business<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":53020,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[28,884,1745,193,29,4259,4599],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-53019","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-headlines","tag-hermosa","tag-la-plata-county-officials","tag-land-use","tag-newsletter","tag-newsletter-sign-up","tag-trimble-hot-springs"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53019","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=53019"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53019\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":88200,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53019\/revisions\/88200"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/53020"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53019"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=53019"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=53019"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=53019"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}