October 18, 2005

Ski leaders looking to expansion

Mt. Ashland board hopes legal issues dissipate soon

By Robert Plain
Ashland Daily Tidings

The Mt. Ashland Ski Area announced the status of its expansion plans at its annual public board of directors meeting on Monday night.

Bill Little, the new president of the board, said although the expansion plans have been stalled by lawsuits, the nonprofit, community-owned ski and snowboard resort has been moving forward in planning for its growth.

He said the board has decided to create a new position to deal exclusively with the expansion plans. Jeff Hanson, the current general manager of the resort, will take on this responsibility by the end of the ski season, when the association plans to hire someone to replace him in his current duties.

“I’m going to be more community and planning oriented,” Hanson said after the meeting.

The plans for expansion have been hotly debated in Ashland. There are currently two lawsuits, one brought by a local chapter of the Sierra Club and the other by Eric Navickas, an organic farmer and community activist. The Forest Service approved the expansion plans in September 2004, which include new ski runs at lower elevations, a new ski lift to access them and a second lodge facility. Hanson said the expansion will increase the size of the resort from 130 acres to 200.

Little also said the board has consulted with professional contractors about how much their expansion plans will cost. After the meeting, Hanson said they estimate the project will cost anywhere between $5 and $17 million dollars.

He brushed aside concerns that the expansion could become a financial burden to the taxpayers of Ashland, not unlike the Ashland Fiber Network, if for any reason the project does not increase profitability for the ski resort. Recently, a citizen group has approached the Ashland City Council about the financial ramifications for the community if the project proves economically unstable.

“We have tremendous support in the community,” he said. “We know once it is built that it will be a sound investment for the future.”

Hanson said Mount Ashland is still in the research phase of its expansion. “The next step,” he said, “is to develop different options for phasing.”

Little stressed in his speech that expansion is not to be the legacy of Mount Ashland Ski and Snowboard Resort. He said expansion is only a means to achieve their actual goals, which include programs for local children and accessibility for people of all social and economic classes.

“We’ve got some real technical hills,” he said. “But a lot of people in our community don’t want to ski those real technical slopes.”

The expansion would add new ski slopes at lower, flatter elevations that would be enticing to a more broad range of skiers and snowboarders.

Others say the expansion will also adversely affect Ashland’s drinking water because the new plans call for development inside Ashland’s watershed and the plans call for little economic accountability if the resort cannot profit on its expansion plans.

Several of the parties involved in the legal challenges were at the meeting last night. Navickas arrived at the meeting about an hour late. When he entered the meeting — sporting pig tails, a ripped shirt and dirty jeans — a hush fell over the crowd made up of mostly Mount Ashland employees and supporters.

“Everyone glares at me and gives me dirty looks,” he said after the meeting ended. “It’s kind of intimidating.”

His lawsuit is actually against the Forest Service for approving the expansion. He contests that the federal agency displayed a “predecisional bias” in their attempt to facilitate the regulatory process for expanding into the forest and Ashland’s watershed.

“All the analysis was distorted to prevent a healthy picture of the proposal,” he said.

Navickas’ opening briefs are due in court on Oct. 28. The Forest Service will then have 30 days to respond.

Little said during his speech that once “some legal challenges to our efforts” are resolved, the expansion will then be free to move forward at a more expeditious pace.

Also at the meeting, long-time board members and Ashlanders Ron Roth and Pat Aklin, who were participating in their last meeting as members of the board, were thanked for their continual support and assistance, then roasted. Diane McKelvey, who with her husband publishes the Ashland Directory, was named as a new member of the board.

She said she is excited to join the board at this crucial juncture of its existence.

Staff writer Robert Plain can be reached at 482-3456 x 3040 or bplain@dailytidings.com.