In support of the Eclipse Snow Park proposal
Editor:
This is in response to a letter in last week’s Clear Creek Courant regarding Eclipse Ski Park at St. Mary’s/Alice and is in support of the proposed partnership plan between the U.S. Forest Service and Eclipse.
As a resident who actually lives near the glacier, I’ve watched families, school outings and outdoorsmen enjoying our mountains and lakes. While there are some hardy hikers year-round, summer is definitely the peak for visitors up here.
That said, Fall River Road is not at full capacity at any time. This new plan is requesting approval for off-season use of Eclipse (weekends in April and May, several full weeks in June) before the summer hiking season begins. The St. Mary’s Glacier area should be shared with everyone. It should not be controlled and shut off from the public.
Will the Eclipse project dramatically increase our tax base in Clear Creek County or add a tremendous number of jobs? Probably not, but can we afford to pass up any opportunities to improve our county?
The original St. Mary’s/Alice development plan several decades ago included more than a thousand homes, a golf course, a ski area, a restaurant/lodge and more. Much of those plans never came to fruition and the community went quiet. We desperately need to increase our tax base to maintain our roads, improve our water system, save our lakes from filling in and simply to share our area with others.
While I’m not proposing a major resort here, we do need controlled development with additional housing and business opportunities like Eclipse Snow Park.
I live at St. Mary’s Glacier by choice, but that choice means I do not have paved roads or garbage collection, and I spend a lot of time shoveling snow at 10,500 feet. That said, I can understand the people on Fall River Road being concerned about road noise, the same as anyone who builds/buys a home on a county road.
The Coors family has a long history in Clear Creek County and throughout Colorado. Michael Coors is continuing that family involvement.
• Michael Coors owns the property surrounding access to St. Mary’s Glacier, but even after we have beaten him up for nearly six years, he not only welcomes everyone to cross his land to get to the glacier, but he also has provided a parking area that has eliminated the road issues we had in the past.
• He has offered his property to the community for rummage sales, etc., and supports the Alice Historical Society in maintaining our rich history.
• He offered to donate land to the community for our firehouse.
• He offered to donate the current ski chalet to a local family to move it to their property.
• He donated the stamp mill from his property here to the Visitors Center in Idaho Springs.
• He pays property taxes on a substantial number of acres in Clear Creek County.
• He offered to pay to install guardrails on the switchbacks coming up Fall River Road.
There has been far too much speculation and personal opinion regarding the Eclipse Snow Park project. Mr. Coors has worked with the county and the community to modify his proposals over the past years. This current plan has answered every concern voiced by commissioners and residents.
Isn’t it time we allow this one-year plan and give him the chance to prove he can and will do what he says at Eclipse?
Jim Schaitel
St. Mary’s/Winterland
Eclipse Snow Park proposal is a bad idea
Editor:
As reported in the Courant, Michael Coors/Eclipse Snow Park has applied to the Forest Service for a temporary special-use permit that would allow operation of a ski training camp on Forest Service land. This proposal must be denied for several reasons.
First, ESP’s property is not zoned for any ski operations, as the requested zoning change was denied by the county. District ranger Dan Lovato wrote that the first hurdle had to be ESP “getting the county to approve their zoning change.”
Second, reportedly Mr. Coors crafted this most recent proposal “to address community and county concerns.” However, ESP did not notify community members and possibly not even the county, since letters were sent by the Forest Service, not ESP; and these letters may have been the first the county heard of ESP’s most recently crafted plans.
In 2010, ESP tried to get a legislative Forest Service land swap without notifying county officials either. How concerned is ESP about appropriate procedures or our concerns?
Further, community and county concerns that were the basis for denying the rezoning have not been addressed. Fall River Road is still a safety issue. Just this weekend, in clear weather, we lost one of our community members who was familiar with Fall River Road to a tragic accident. We cannot ignore the fact that Fall River Road is steep, narrow, winding, prone to adverse weather and a dead end.
Problems with law enforcement and ambulance access (and expenses to support a commercial operation), as well as emergency egress, have not been addressed either.
Third, the Forest Service must do what is in the best interest of the public. There is no public need for a ski training facility, especially since Echo Mountain now will serve this purpose. It is not in the public interest to have a ski operation in a residential community. Echo did not make money and did not raise home values or increase building in the area. It is not in the public interest to create, at best, a handful of seasonal, low-paying jobs. It is not in the public interest to have an owner/operator running over and killing ancient bristlecone pines with a snow-cat to make snow features for the Campus Rail Jam Tour, film projects, and snow-cat and snowmobile-led skiing and boarding outings.
It is not in the public interest to have ESP operate a commercial ski facility within a mile of the national James Peak Wilderness Area.
It is in the public interest to have trailhead facilities and access to the wilderness. Mr. Coors and a partner are providing paid parking facilities used by hikers heading up St. Mary’s Glacier. However, ESP does not allow access through the portion of Anchor Gulch that it does own, the most viable way to access James Peak. It would be in the public’s best interest for the Forest Service to obtain ESP property to provide the legally required trailhead facilities for the wilderness, not support a private commercial operation.
I suspect that ESP is watching the election closely. Citizens must know that candidates will support sensible growth, not spend our money on projects that will cost us monetarily and with lives in the long run. If the candidates won’t come forth with what they do and don’t support, they obviously are trying to gather votes from both sides.
Finally, seven years ago Mr. Coors said he wanted a snowboard park, then a family-friendly ski area, and now a ski training facility.
He said, “If we could have done this plan” from the start, they “would have pushed (this one) forward.” What was stopping him? The truth is that he changes his plans in any way he can just to get business started, without regard for the public or appropriate procedures.
Michael Coors bought land that was not zoned correctly with no viable access.
That is his problem, not ours or the Forest Service’s.
Marshall Ulrich
Alice celebrates its second annual pancake breakfast
Editor:
The second annual pancake breakfast in Alice was a spectacular event. More than 133 people attended. That kept the volunteer workforce of 20 busy all morning long, flipping pancakes and frying bacon. Attendees came from all over the sate and as far away as Denmark and Australia.
The weather was fantastic, and many guests chose to eat their pancakes, bacon and sausage on the picnic tables outside. The blueberry pancakes were a big hit this year. Thanks to Two Brothers Deli for donating syrup. Thanks, also, to the many volunteers and guests who donated food, time and funds to the Alice Historical Society. It was great to see such a successful community event.
The “new” Alice Historical Society recently celebrated its first anniversary. This past year has seen a real transformation in the schoolhouse upstairs as well as in the basement museum. The Alice Historical Society has received many donated items and has been fortunate to have heard from many people with historical ties to the Alice area.
Two outdoor benches were donated recently to the schoolhouse, and the school grounds look wonderful. We are looking forward to another great year and creating more memories of Alice.
June Jones-Paulding
Alice Historical Society
Bruce Brown deserves your vote
Editor:
EMERGE (East Mount Evans Resource and Growth Environment) hosted a candidates night on Sept. 19 at King-Murphy Elementary School. The event was well attended, as is normal for EMERGE meetings.
After all, we are friends and neighbors, and we care about our local government as well as our state. All the local candidates were given five minutes to talk about why they were the most qualified candidate for the position and about their ideas for the future.
All but one candidate were respectful of their opponent. That candidate was Scott Turner, who is the Republican candidate for district attorney. I have been to dozens of candidates nights in my 40 years in Clear Creek County, but I have never witnessed anything so negative.
The DA represents several other counties, and maybe that is how they treat each other in the other counties, but we deserve something better in Clear Creek County.
Bruce Brown is Turner’s opponent and well qualified to be our DA. He deserves your vote. Please check him out BruceBrownforda.com
Joy Poirot
Adam Ochs is good
for local control
Editor:
What is one of the best reasons to vote for Adam Ochs for House District 13?
It is local control. When you pay federal income tax, that money first goes to Washington. After a lot of government waste and paying federal bureaucrats, some of that money with obligations goes to Denver.
In Denver, more hands dip into the pot. Finally, the state generously offers that money back to our local cities and counties, only if we comply with their rules.
Why not just keep that money where it started and cut out the middle man? Or how about small rural communities like Clear Creek County where we have almost no say in Denver because we are grouped in with more populous counties, who have a different set of interests? We need people like Adam Ochs in office who will fight to put control into the most local areas possible.
Anthony Keating
Dumont