Nordic Valley had a major terrain expansion last year, adding a dozen new trails alongside a detachable six-pack chairlift. More trail and lifts could be on the way too, but could a new base village be next up? The Nordic Village would completely transform the base area that surrounds the small ski area into a commercial and residential complex. Some of the buildings would include townhomes, multi-family residential buildings, mixed-use residential and commercial buildings, a pond with a boathouse, an outdoor amphitheater, a hotel, and more. Plans call for between 693 to 763 housing units that would be built in a ten to fifteen-year time span. The village isn’t being developed by the owners of the ski area, Mountain Capital Advisors, but rather Skyline Mountain Base, who owns the land surrounding the base and is planning to build on it. The ski resort fully approves of the plans. The news followed Snowbasin Resort’s expansion plans, which will also build a large base village and a Club Med hotel in the coming years.
For me, I think these base village plans are a bit too ambitious. For one, the area around Nordic Valley is already pretty developed due to the Wolf Creek golf course. Part of the charm of Nordic Valley is its small base area and cute lodge. This will obviously eventually change as the resort grows bigger, but it seems excessive. While their base lodge is small and will eventually need a larger replacement, this seems a little excessive. According to the Standard-Examiner, locals aren’t so stoked on the plans either. Jan Fullmer, who leads a new grassroots group called GEM, said that “People are very concerned because of the number of units that are going to be there…We’re losing a sense of community, that’s No. 1.” I hope that not every ski resort in Utah ends up with giant homogenous base villages, and can keep their charm instead. Skyline will need zoning changes by the local county in order to have their plans approved, which could happen in March. 
Image Credits: Nordic Valley, Nordic Village
