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My wife Joan and I are dead set against the current Foster/Syme plan (Royal Gorge LLC.). It is unreasonable and unsuited for the area. The planners have no concept of what nature and "green" are all about, despite their sleek marketing. We could have elected to settle in Northstar, Squaw Valley, or Sugar Bowl, had we desired city-like or fake village lifestyles; Squaw Valley parking lot condos are quite cheap! No, we prefer the current rural settings of Soda Springs: the road around the lakes is our community center; we do not need Starbucks, and malls! We love being snowed-in in our cabin.
What a deceptive marketing strategy! Pretend to have consulted the community, play wanna-be `east west Partners` (the highly respected developer of Vail and Beaver Creek) with none of the acumen and pretend-conservationists with none of the credentials. But what can one expect from the executives of two companies (Woodstock Development and Foster Enterprises) whose combined experience covers industrial park, mall, and tract-housing developments?
Given the facts that a- Foster-Syme have refused to talk with our SLOPA board since the offer was made by our president in August 07, and b- they use deceptive marketing tactics, I will work hard to defeat the current plan. Yes, change may come to Serene Lakes, but not on Royal Gorge LLC.'s terms.
I looked in details at their conceptual plan. I cross country skied (XCed) all over their property a couple of weeks ago, traveling with a GPS device and a detailed topographic map to understand what is being proposed and where. I am not anti-business, and believe that everyone is entitled to make a fortune. After all this is why I came to the USA as a graduate student to work in Silicon Valley (but I did not make a fortune!).
Since 1972, my wife, Joan, and I have cross country skied all over the place in the area, not on tracks but through forests. I have made many time the XC trip from Sugar Bowl to Squaw Valley, following the ridge through Anderson Peak and Timber Knob, as well as the one from Boreal Ridge to Truckee through Paradise Valley and Carpenter Valley, and many other trips (including several unsuccessful attempts to cross the Sierra from June Lake to Yosemite). We love the area. We don't care much any more about downhill skiing, but our two (grown-up) boys do.
We build as nice of a cabin we could afford on Lake Drive a couple of years ago. Our assumption has been that the area would stay zoned as single family homes. We, the Serene Lake community, have at least $420,000,000 at stake here (600 homes at $700,000 per home, average). So here come Foster-Syme with a plan to transform the area into their vision, claiming to have listen to the community, putting down a puny $50,000,000 (borrowing $17 millions from a midwest Bank!). The land they purchased is currently zoned mostly "single family residential" (in particular the area where the hotel and the so-called "village" will be located), but any way, they want to rezone it for dense condominiums, with hotel, shops, ... Apply a resort 101 formula, sell the entitlement, and let others hold the bag!
I can attest that there is not a square foot of land in the Ski Camp quadrant that they are not planning to develop. What is left is un-buildable as too steep. A very large number of trees will have to be cut (my first calculation is 40,000, but I might be way-off and will get to the right number by measuring tree density in the relevant areas).
With regard to the planned ski lifts, I am sure that when I want to go downhill skiing, it will be faster for me to drive my car to Sugar Bowl, rather than walk to the "village" (I am fairly close), and take two lifts including an "horizontal" one to reach the Sugar Bowl lodge (I might be able to take only one lift if I am willing to push hard on my poles, assuming that Foster is allowed to plough a run above the ecologically sensitive South side of Lake Norden). For other residents located further from the village, Royal Gorge LLC. has promised a bus service (while they are still around), but, taking into account wait time and bus routes designed to pick up everybody, I am sure it will still be faster to drive to Sugar Bowl.
The planned four to five downhill runs are clearly designed to provide ski-in ski-out access to their high, medium, and low density housing units. These runs will be an eye sore in the summer, as they will be visible from most of the two lakes. (Visit Sugar Bowl or North Star in the summer to see what a downhill run looks like!). These runs will be fairly short and easy (blue runs), and will have to be groomed every evening to ensure that beginner downhill skiers can reached back their home. Welcome to the noise and the wonderful junk yard that such equipment creates (again take a look at Sugar Bowl!).
I also came to the conclusion that a village is totally un-practical at Serene Lakes. We all are in love with European villages with small streets and cute buildings. Well, here in America, the building and planning codes would not allow to reproduce the coziness of these villages. An an example, roads have to be large enough for two fire trucks to go through, I believe in presence of parked cars. This is why US suburbia looks the way it does. Furthermore, Serene Lakes get lots of snow. It is unclear to me how a high density village can be created without exposing pedestrians to snow and ice falling from balconies, ridges, and roofs. Where would the snow fallen on the ground be disposed of? I guess Roayal Gorge LLC. will not be around when the snow buries their village!
Another element against high density: hard granite is very close to the ground, so underground parking garage, as in North Star, will not be possible. The only solution would be to use the ground floor of every building for parking, but that would mean no shops! Therefor there will be plenty of asphalt around the village.
Foster also brags about all the jobs that will be created for the adjacent communities. As in most downhill ski resorts, shops close in the off-season (about eight months a year) as there is not enough business to stay open. The lifts employ temporary people, typically foreign students taking a year off before going to college.
Finally, I am sadden by the fact that Royal Gorge LLC. does no seem to understand that there is as large a market for their planned homes, should they propose a development compatible with the existing Serene Lakes culture. Take a trip to Norway! But that would require imagination and risk taking! Which clearly Foster-Syme does not have.
In some way, I feel sorry for Royal Gorge LLC. and their investors. Now that they have alienated this highly diverse and resourceful Serene Lakes community, they will discover the brain power and talent that is going to be unleashed against them. The star lawyers specialized on the preservation of the environment are not and will not be working for them!
Bernard, May 1 2007