NORTH CREEK -- The rusty skeletons of chairlifts
creaked back and forth in a chilly breeze Monday, dangling on a skinny
wire that hasn't carried a skier since 1976.
At the North Creek Ski Bowl, scattered ski
tracks weave through the snow around the old lift poles, shadowed by
Gore Mountain. Even on this unseasonably warm January afternoon -- seemingly
perfect for a quick ski -- not a soul is in sight, save a few maintenance
workers in the Town of Johnsburg's garage below.
For a video tour of the Ski Bowl, and an overview
of the project, click here.(Not working)
Though now a ghost of its former self, this
neglected ski lift is on the verge of resurrection. The town of Johnsburg
is set to turn it into a new, triple-chair lift that leads to the Ski
Bowl's intermediate and expert-level terrain, and ultimately, the trails
at Gore.
It's one part of an enormous effort to transform
the Ski Bowl from a quiet snow-tubing haven into a winter destination
that rivals the best ski resorts in the Northeast.
The Adirondack Park Agency will present the
Ski Bowl expansion project as an amendment to Gore Mountain's plan for
future development at a 9 a.m. meeting Thursday at APA headquarters
in Ray Brook.
Members of the public and other state agencies,
such as the Olympic Regional Development Authority, will be able to
submit comments on the project until Feb. 9, when the APA is scheduled
to form a consensus on the project, said ORDA spokesman Sandy Caligiore
said.
"We'll really have a barometer as to how
the public feels about a development like this in the Adirondacks,"
Caligiore said.
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The town of Johnsburg has already secured $800,000 in state and
federal funding to renovate the ski hut on the property and is now in
the process of applying for a $520,000 grant from the state Office of
Small Cities to build the triple-chair lift, said Town Supervisor William
Thomas.
Meanwhile, Sen. Elizabeth Little, R-Queensbury,
will watch for Ski Bowl funding in the final budget of George Pataki's
gubernatorial career, to be revealed next week.
About $11 million is needed to build the larger
lift that will link the Ski Bowl with Gore Mountain.
Though she doubts the project will get its own
line item, Little was optimistic."It would be nice if it would,"
she said Tuesday.
A multimillion-dollar project that will sweeten the pot -- or in this
case, the bowl -- for the state is just months away from an Adirondack
Park Agency decision crucial to its future.
That $200 million private project, spearheaded
by Mac Crikelair of Fronstreet Mountain Development, would build 175 townhouses,
20 single-family homes, two inns, a member-exclusive lodge, an equestrian
center, a golf course and a restaurant at the Ski Bowl.
Ultimately, the private development and the ski
lifts would give people staying in homes or hotels at the Ski Bowl direct
access to Gore Mountain. They would be able to ski from the top of the
mountain down into the quaint, but struggling, hamlet of North Creek --
an approximately 30-minute downhill run.
If the agency approves the project, it will set
off a domino effect of land swaps -- one of which includes property needed
to build the larger ski lift connecting the Ski Bowl to Gore.
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"We're ready to go forward," Thomas said.
"But obviously (Crikelair) needs his approval from the Park Agency
to do his development before anything can move forward."
Approval of the development guarantees the
town will undergo a revaluation sometime within the next two years.
Residents already wrestling with high property taxes worry they won't
be able to afford the taxes generated by the sharp increase in property
values.
But Thomas believes the project will do more
good than harm in the end.
An impact study from the state Comptroller's
Office showed that linking Gore Mountain with the Ski Bowl could bring
as much as $45 million into the region's economy. Thomas and Town Councilman
Sterling Goodspeed said the Ski Bowl project could initially provide
as many as 300 new jobs.
APA spokesman Keith McKeever said the project
is already in good standing with the agency, after some "cooperative"
pre-application meetings.
The APA expects to receive the application
sometime within the next month and could take up to three months after
that to approve or deny the project.
"We've been working very well together,"
McKeever said. "I can't say we're going to rubber-stamp it, but
there's been a very good relationship with the applicant and the town
on the project."
Gov. George Pataki did visit the North Creek
Ski Bowl last July and praised the development project, but he made
no formal funding pledge.
No applications for state money have yet been
submitted.
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