The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
“It gives us a feel for where they’re going”
Crested Butte Mountain Resort officials handed in the company’s Master Development Plan to the Forest Service this week, and plan on submitting an official ski area expansion proposal by July.
The Master Development Plan is a catalogue of CBMR’s development plans over the next 10 years and beyond. Some of the projects included in the document, like the Mountaineer Square North base area facilities, have already been proposed and are under review by the town of Mt. Crested Butte, while other projects like the North Village are still in the planning stage.
The Master Development Plan also includes information on the ski area’s proposal to expand lift-served skiing onto neighboring Snodgrass Mountain, but it is not the official expansion proposal. CBMR vice president of resort planning and devlopment Michael Kraatz says the official Snodgrass project proposal letter should be given to the Forest Service sometime in June. The Master Development Plan was being delivered on Tuesday, May 26.
Grand Mesa, Uncompahgre and Gunnison National Forest communications and external affairs staff member Corey Wong says the Forest Service requires ski areas to periodically develop master development plans, as part of their special use permits, to describe the vision of the ski area’s current ownership.
“It’s something they should be developing and sharing with the community to minimize surprises. It gives us a feel for where they’re going, so when they come to us in X number of years with a specific project, we can see how it fits in the big picture,” Wong says.
Wong says the document must be updated every so often, to reflect changes in the economy and the resort’s clientele, but also to reflect changes in technology and forest use.
“It’s a 10-year planning horizon,” Kraatz says. “When you’re looking at a plan that covers that length of time it needs to be able to adapt… It sets forth a vision, but it is changeable.”
Wong says the Forest Service asks for development plans on private land to be included as well, even though the Forest Service may not necessarily have authority over those developments.
“We want to make sure the private land and base area facilities are working with the forest piece, and vice versa,” Wong says.
CBMR gave a public presentation of the Master Development Plan on March 4. Kraatz says the elements of the plan haven’t changed since the meeting. The last few months have been spent assembling and compiling the document.
Wong says the Forest Service gave a quick review of an early draft of the Master Development Plan about a month ago, and asked CBMR to include additional information on certain aspects of the plan. He says the Forest Service will now review the Master Development Plan and make a decision whether or not to accept the document within the next few months.
If they do not accept the plan, Wong says the Forest Service may have CBMR make additional changes and re-submit the document. If the plan is accepted, it does not mean each of the proposed projects have final approval. Wong says there would be a separate public involvement and review process for new developments described in the plan that fall under the Forest Service’s jurisdiction, such as Snodgrass.
CBMR does have approval for a number of projects in the master plan that will occur on the main mountain. The forest service approved CBMR’s Main Mountain Improvements plan early in 2008, including lift upgrades, brush and tree cutting, and the Red Lady Lodge dining facility.
A copy of the Master Development Plan will be posted soon on snodgrassfacts.com.
