Developer and county clash over road requirement, SIA deadline and letter of credit for Bridger Brewing subdivision

A lengthy exchange at the Broadwater County commissioners meeting centered on whether a road called Vigilante Way North — shown on an amended final plat for the Bridger Brewing East Minor Subdivision — must be constructed under the subdivision's final‑plat conditions and what remedies exist before the subdivision improvement agreement (SIA) expires.

Nicole Brown, Broadwater County Community Development Director and Planner, told commissioners that the subdivision received final plat approval in August 2024 with a condition that an internal north‑south road, Vigilante Way North, be constructed as part of required subdivision improvements. She said the developer executed an SIA with an engineer's cost estimate: construction costs were estimated at $261,763 and the irrevocable letter of credit attached to the SIA was for $327,23.75 (125% of the estimate). Brown said the SIA was signed Sept. 4, 2024 and expires Sept. 4, 2026; the letter of credit expires Sept. 29, 2027; if the developer does not complete the improvements within the SIA term, the county may call the letter of credit and hire a contractor to finish the road.

Developer David Sigler of Bridger Brewing disputed the county's reading of the condition, saying the road was added as a modified access solution and was not strictly required once the alternate access (Coulter's Way) provided legal and physical access to the lots. Sigler described the project's financing timeline and said the developer expected to request release of the letter of credit once the other access was perfected; he offered three potential remedies discussed with county staff: adjust lot lines so one tract directly accesses Vigilante Way, replace the letter of credit with a TED (Tourism and Economic Development) pledge if the county deemed the road a public benefit, or request immediate release of the letter of credit because the legal and physical access had been met elsewhere.

County staff — including the planner and the deputy county treasurer (recorded in the minutes as Haranch) — reiterated the county's formal position that Vigilante Way North was an explicit condition of final plat approval and that the SIA remains in force until its September 2026 expiration. Planner Brown said she had consulted legal counsel and had not identified a procedural way to amend a final plat condition once final plat approval was recorded.

Commissioners did not make a decision at the meeting; Brown said the purpose of the item was information sharing and to put key dates on the public record. Sigler said he had discussed TED funding as an option and that his team would pursue solutions; staff said Mark Mankey (TED contact) had indicated a TED pledge could be an applicable use but preferred the lot‑line solution so TED money could focus on water, sewer and other public needs. No timeline for a formal county decision was set in the meeting.