A proposal to realign the boundary of the Mount Sunapee resort has the support of the state, but environmental groups say expanding the area now under lease to the Okemo Corporation could be a step in the wrong direction.
In 1998 When the Okemo Corporation of Ludlow Vermont took out a 30-year lease on Mount Sunapee, state officials hailed the agreement as way to ensure the future of not only Sunapee, but also Cannon Mountain, New Hampshire?s other state-owned ski area. So far, the deal seems to have worked out??Lease revenue has improved maintenance at Cannon, More skiers are on the trails at Sunapee, and Okemo has plowed more than 12 million dollars into a new lodge and better lifts and expanded snowmaking.?.Johanna Lyons of New Hampshire?s department of resources and economic development, says the fruits of the lease have state officials favorably impressed.
They embody the state park philosophy on recreation?..Yes we?ve had concern over collateral development, but whatever they?ve done so far is stuff we would have proposed?.There?s adjacent development to the state park on almost all our borders anyway.
The adjacent development Lyons refers to is the driving force behind Okemo?s push to redraw the existing lease boundary. Okemo wants the leased area expanded by 175 acres so it borders a 100-acre parcel the company purchased last year. Company officials say the expansion will allow several new trails to be cut and mountain manager Jay Gamble says the Okemo corporation also has a larger goal.
Out of the top twelve ski areas in the state mountain Sunapee is near the bottom in terms of lodging. We aren?t going to solve that ourselves. I think for a long time to come we?re not going to have anywhere close to the lodging that?s been established in other areas. But to have a little more, I think would be a benefit.
The proposal alarms many environmentalists. They fear it could destroy patches of old growth forest in Sunapee. They?re also concerned it could change the character of the area. Tom Elliot of the New Hampshire Sierra club says state parkland should not be sacrificed to facilitate private development.
We see this as a significant breach of trust for the people of New Hampshire and its state government?.who are completely ignoring the potential for real destruction of Mount Sunapee and the Sunapee Park.
Critics complain Sunapee?s management is being coy about its plans. Charlie Neibling of the Society of for the protection of New Hampshire forests, says Okemo should be forced to clarify it?s intentions -- short and long term ?before the state acceeds to any requests to change the lease.
We ought to be making a decision about expanding the lease boundary at the same time Okemo is prepared to answer any and all questions about why that expansion is necessary. Right now all their saying is we think we may want to do this we think we may want to do that?but that?s a long way off. I think if that?s the case then there?s no need to move along with this right now.
Mountain Manager Jay Gamble says critics of the lease expansion are exaggerating it?s impact in order to freighten people. He adds that anyone concerned about Sunapee?s future will have plenty of opportunity to comment on it?s future development.
There?s no project proposed, there?s not a spade of earth turned. But before those things would happen it would have to be approved by the landlord, the presented to the towns of Newbury and the town of Goshen, then to DES for whatever pertinent permits apply.
The modified lease would also have to pass muster with the executive council. A public hearing is Scheduled for August 1st at the Sunapee base lodge.
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