Since 2017, Stowe Mountain Resort & Smugglers’ Notch have secretly been working on a gondola that would connect the two ski resorts. The project, which was revealed by the Vermont News & Citizen in June, drew widespread criticism from the local community and environmentalists. Bill Stritzler, who’s the owner of Smugglers’ Notch, led the P/R efforts for the gondola, arguing it was the key to the ski resort’s continued survival. The latest development in this saga makes it seem like it’s off the table… for now.
The Vermont News & Citizen reports that Stowe and Smuggs have withdrawn their plans to construct an interconnect gondola. The reasoning for this is likely because every person that they have to go through to implement the plans is thoroughly against the proposal.
The plans have been thoroughly debated this year by the Barre District Stewardship Team. Brad Greenough, who’s a forester who’s part of the Barre District Stewardship Team, penned a letter to the Department of Forests, Parks, and Recreation in Vermont, strongly voicing their disapproval of the plans.
“The members of the Barre District Stewardship Team have reviewed and discussed this proposal thoroughly and with an open mind over the past two years. It is the unanimous decision of this Team that this project does not move forward. If it does move forward, it will be without the Team’s support and against the strong and unequivocal recommendation of the Barre District Stewardship Team.”
Here are some of the issues that the memo pointed out:
“The placement of towers by helicopters, the operation of large equipment for ground construction, and the use of chainsaws to thin the corridor, will all impact the movement and reproductive patterns of species using the area. Both the noise and visual disturbance will, at minimum, cause a temporary disturbance to local species, including Bicknell’s Thrush and black bear…
The ease of access and the increased number of users the proposed lift would provide is highly likely to result in undue impacts to these areas and would likely lead to increased illegal cutting of ski glades within the understory and midstory in these communities resulting in alteration of the community structure.”
For approval of the gondola project, they would need to acquire an Act 250 permit. Act 250 approvals were set up to protect environmentally significant land, basically for situations exactly like this. The land it would have been built on is historically significant. It is a part of the Mt. Mansfield Natural Area, which became a national landmark 43 years ago. Making changes to the area would require amending Vermont’s long-range management plan. As part of Stowe and Smugg’s environmental plan for the project, they offered 164 acres of land for conservation.
Julie Mayo, who’s the secretary for Vermont’s Agency of Natural Resources, described her reaction to the memo:
“While not saying no, never, I agree with the memo’s assessment, which is that this would be a really significant lift for anyone to pursue this sort of project and may, in the end, be insurmountable.”
Following the withdrawal, Bill Stritzler said that while they withdrew the project for now, it doesn’t mean that they’re going to try again. Here was Bill’s reaction to the whole situation:
“This is the Department of Forests, Parks, and Recreation and we see a lot of the F and P and not a lot of the R in their commentary, but that’s also understandable, because the main focus of the team is on the effect on the surrounding environment. I would say we also thought that our proposal for mitigation was a lot stronger and more valuable than they’re willing to give it credit for…
What we have not done any reasonable amount of work on is to develop a clear understanding of the economic impact that this project might have on our region and potentially on the state. That’s going to be the focus for the months to come, is developing a clear understanding of the economic impact. We think there is a story on the value of this project to the economy, particularly the regional economy. That may then become the basis for us deciding that we want to try to move forward.”
It’ll be interesting to see what the future Smugglers’ Notch entails after this gondola debacle.
Image Credits: Stowe Mountain Resort, Smugglers’ Notch
