ROCK SPRINGS — After listening to comments during a public hearing, the Rock Springs City Council unanimously approved the preliminary plat for the Mustang Ridge Subdivision located along Stagecoach Boulevard.

The Council hosted a public hearing allowing residents to comment on the application submitted by Amundsen Construction.

The proposed subdivision will include 283 single-family residential lots on a nearly 12-acre parcel of land, which will be constructed over 10 phases, City Planner Laura Leigh said. This will be a multi-year project. The subdivision will be located north of the Sweetwater Drive and Stagecoach Boulevard intersection. Fifty of the lots will be smaller in size to allow for smaller homes that will cost less than the bigger homes.

Rock Springs resident Luke Geffre, who lives on Thunder Gulch Lane and experienced flooding on July 28, said he has concerns with water mitigation at the Mustang Ridge Subdivision.

Geffre read from an email he sent the Councilors in his ward and Rock Springs Mayor Tim Kaumo.

“I just want to voice some concerns regarding a plat approval by Amundsen Construction, Inc., for the Mustang Ridge Subdivision,” Geffre said. “While I’m not against the subdivision itself, my concern, along with many of the homeowners in the surrounding neighborhoods, are mitigating the runoff and flood waters coming from the White Mountain before any lands are cleared for the proposed subdivision.”

Geffre suggested the city look at extending the summit drainage further north as a long-term water mitigation solution. He said he appreciates the the city’s short-term solution for water mitigation along Stagecoach Boulevard, but there is only one storm drain from Sweetwater Drive to Summit Drive along Stagecoach Boulevard.

“With the addition of the Mustang Subdivision, this will only compound the issue of insufficient drainage and flooding,” Geffre said.

He said until the city can figure out a way to catch the water coming off of White Mountain, the new subdivision will only create more problems. Geffre said people are going to be paying a lot of money for the lots and homes and being worried about potential flooding shouldn’t be an issue.

“You don’t expect to have any issues when you pay a certain amount for these lots,” he said.

Mayor Tim Kaumo agreed with Geffre saying during the final plat portion, the city will look closely at the drainage plans and determine what it thinks is needed for water mitigation. He said they will need to determine who is responsible for paying for additional drainage mitigation projects such as expanding a drainage ditch or constructing a detention basin. Will the city or the developer be responsible for paying for that?

“Those are the kinds of discussions we will see as it moves towards the final plat stage, but right now we are talking about a preliminary plat approval…” Mayor Kaumo said.

City Planner Laura Leigh said preliminary play goes through Rock Springs Planning and Zoning and then before the Rock Springs City Council. At the RS Planning and Zoning Commission meeting back in September of 2021, the preliminary plat was unanimously approved.

Leigh said a couple of detention lots have been added to the plat, however the sizing of those lots will be determined through the final plat process.

After the preliminary plat is approved by the City Council, then the plat plan is reviewed phase by phase.

“That’s where the engineers are really looking at the drainage, they’re looking at the calculations, we’re looking at utility locations, (and) construction of the actual subdivision improvements,” Leigh said. “It’s too preliminary at this time to really get into the drainage too much. By ordinance the developer is responsible to retain the drainage of their property and that’s what they are looking at this stage.”

Other Business

The Council listened to a fiscal year 2021 audit presentation from McGee, Hearne and Paiz representative Brittany Nelson to told the Council they had a clean audit. The Council unanimously approved the audit report.

To watch the entire meeting see the video below. The subdivision discussion starts around 1:19:48.