Boulder County taking no position, yet, on Eldora ski area expansion proposal

BOULDER — Boulder County isn’t taking a position, at this point at least, on Eldora Mountain Resort’s plans to expand its ski area boundaries and upgrade its facilities.

However, Boulder County’s staff and Board of County Commissioners have submitted a list of issues and concerns they say the U.S. Forest Service should address as it settles on the scope of the environmental impact statement, or EIS, that that federal agency will prepare about the ski area’s proposals.

«The county acknowledges the amenities the resort provides, including recreational and economic opportunities, and feels any future EIS should describe those attributes» as well as considering concerns about the potential environmental impact of the ski area

projects, Boulder County officials said in a letter the commissioners approved on Tuesday.

«The county recognizes that there are a significant number of county residents who are downhill skiers or snowboarders who value the location of a ski resort in Boulder County,» county officials said in that letter, «and that there is real value to these residents in maintaining the long term viability of the Eldora ski area. »

The proposed Eldora Mountain Resort projects include expanding the ski area’s Forest Service special permit boundary, providing two new ski lifts and a number of new trails, increasing the amount of parking on the resort’s private lands, expanded snowmaking onto new terrain and construction of new roads and utilities to serve the additional terrain.

Boulder County officials wrote that the Forest Service’s analysis should include attention to potentially negative impacts the Eldora Mountain Resort projects might have on wetlands, riparian areas, wildlife movement and wildlife habitat, water quality and water quantity.

Among those concerns is how the resort’s expansion plan, and its extension of the ski area’s boundaries toward Middle Boulder Creek, would impact that area.

For example, county officials said in their letter, «introducing disturbance into the corridor … may be disruptive to wildlife which use riparian corridors for movement, breeding, etc. Further, snowmaking, and the night lighting that comes with it, is loud and disruptive to nighttime movements of animals. Night grooming to accommodate the man-made snow also adds to the disruption. »

Developing the environmental impact statement, Forest Service officials have said, could take more than a year.

Boulder County Commissioner Will Toor, who suggested some of the language in the county’s letter to the U.S. Forest Service, said during Tuesday’s meeting and in a Wednesday interview that for the time being, it’s important for such county communications about the resort’s plan to be as «neutral in character» as possible.

«We’re only asking questions» that should be answered in the environmental impact statement, Toor said, because there’s a need to understand both the impacts and the potential benefits of the ski area’s proposed projects.

Toor said he wanted to make it clear that «we’re not taking a position one way or the other» on those projects yet.

John Fryar can be reached at 303-684-5211 or jfryar@times-call.com.

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