Breck expansion plans get people talking
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- Created on Wednesday, 27 July 2011 14:22
- Written by Dena Rosenberry
Voices supporting and opposing White River National Forest supervisor Scott Fitzwilliams' preferred option for the Breckenridge Ski Resort Peak 6 expansion were heard at the Breckenridge Town Council's open house Tuesday.
The Peak 6 proposal is in the Draft Environmental Impact Statement stage, which Fitzwilliams previously said is “halfway there.”
Public comment is part of the process.
Read a full report of Tuesday's meeting in the Summit Daily News.
Fitzwilliams' preferred alternative includes a six-person chair to the top of the mountain, a slope-side restaurant and several clear-cut, intermediate trails. (The resort has since said it will withdraw the restaurant.)
The hearing room was beyond capacity Tuesday.
Some local homeowners said they support the expansion, citing benefits to skiers, the resort and the town.
A youth ski racing group also supports the plan, hoping it would provide room for their training as well as guest skiers and riders.
Others advocated solving the congestion problem by encouraging Breckenridge to operate better within its current boundaries - perhaps by replacing older lifts with higher speed/capacity lifts.
Environmental impact concerns many, such as cutting old-growth trees that aren't lodgepole pine and increasing traffic within lynx — and other wildlife — habitat.
“It's unbelievably beautiful in its natural state,” said one participant, who grew up in the area. “It's what you think of when you think Colorado forest.”
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