Mt Sunapee Ski Resort Has Plans to Expand

By David Darman on Friday, March 5, 2004.

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The company that runs Mt. Sunapee ski Resort has unveiled its development plans.

Okemo officials want to cut 50 acres of new ski trails, and build 250 condominiums next door to the resort in Goshen.

New Hampshire Public Radio’s David Darman has more.

Okemo officials want to cut the new trails on the western face of the mountain.

They say they need 175 acres from the state to make that happen.

Okemo already has trails on 960 acres on the north side of the mountain.

Okemo Sunapee general manager Jay Gamble says the new trails will make the mountain even more attractive to skiers.
04 32 mt Sunapee has two large pods of skiing. And from a competitive standpoint, many of our competitors in other areas have 3 or 4 major top to bottom pods of skiing. And I think the skiing, the terrain we’re talking about, very much enhances the ski experience of mt Sunapee. 04 54

Okemo plans to build a new high speed ski lift on the west side of the mountain.

And the company proposes to put 250 condominiums on land it owns at the base of the new trails.

To make their plan work, Okemo is asking the state to expand the area it leases for skiing to the edge of Sunapee State Park.

If approved, Okemo would then be able to provide residents of the condominium development direct access to the ski trails.

Randy Richards of the town of Sunapee says he opposes the plan.

He says an expansion would betray promises Okemo made in 1998, when it won a 30 year lease to run the resort.
57 46 …They now wish to cross the buffer zone between the park and their newly acquired land in Goshen for a ski in ski out condo project. The park buffer zone exists for a reason. It exists to buffer public park lands from private lands and private gain. 57 114

The state entered the lease agreement with Okemo in 1998.

The rent from Okemo helps fund the state’s other ski area, Cannon Mountain in Franconia.

State officials say the deal has worked out very well.

It brings in about 500,000 dollars a year.

But environmental groups are worried about Okemo’s expansion plans.

The Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests has a particular stake in the plan.

The group gave the Sunapee land to the state in 1948.

Charlie Niebling of the Society says the Okemo plan does not fit with the spirit of the public park run by the Department of Resources and Economic Development, or DRED.
25 135 dred has no duty to grant, and should recommend against the lease expansion requested by mt Sunapee. In our judgement the lease expansion is proposed largely, if not entirely, to enhance the profitability of private enterprise. And therefore, there is no compelling public interest in its approval. 25 154

DRED’s power over the proposed project ends at the boundary of the state park.

Several local residents joined Niebling to speak out against the new development.

Cynthia Reardon Phillips lives in Goshen.
19 115 we walk around the trail around Gunnison lake to bring serenity to our lives. We look upon the shoulders of mt Sunapee. We enjoy its peacefulness. And we are sickened to think that it will be butchered by swaths of ski trails 136

The Okemo plans for expansion are the first phase of a 5 year Master plan that the company has to file with the state.

That plan is due in May.

In the meantime, Parks Director Richard McLeod of DRED says the company’s plans for expansion are neither definite, nor detailed.
08 150 we still don’t know the scope of the housing. We still don’t know if the town of Goshen is amendable to the housing. These are all questions that need to be answered.

The Mount Sunapee Advisory Committee is scheduled to hold a hearing on the project Tuesday morning, at the Mount Sunapee Resort.