BETTER THAN HEARSAY - Measuring Up the Master Plan

WINDHAM - On one hand, it is difficult to imagine any business in town being subjected to the same level of intense scrutiny surrounding the Windham Mountain Club and its Master Plan.

On the other hand, it is the financial engine and international beacon of Windham, a community that would be unrecognizable without it.

A crowd of 150 people or so attended a planning board public hearing on the development and recreation proposal, last Thursday night, a project that will run into the mega-millions of dollars over the next decade.

It includes the construction of 46 townhouses and 20 single-family houses located below the base lodge on what is now skier parking lots.

The financial hope is the housing units will be occupied by families willing to pay $175,000 to become members of the Windham Mountain Club.

Ski slope president Chip Seamans gave an updated overview of the Plan at the public hearing, held at the Centre Church in downtown Windham.

He said it is an expansion of an in-house Evergreen Club that already has certain amenities and privileges, such as locker rooms, also noting the number of skiers will be limited, a point of trepidation for the town.

That number is 4,000, including an estimated 1,500 members on any given peak day, leaving room for the traditional day trippers and weekenders while keeping lift lines shortened.

The industry capacity standard for a slope the size of Windham is 5,000, however, potentially resulting in more worrisome dissection of the Plan.

A ton of controversy emerged when the Master Plan was initially unveiled, last summer, leading to a series of informal talks between engineers and attorneys for the ski slope and the planning board.

Those conversations were focused on the mandated State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQR) regulations that can be met easily or not.

The law is the law so the planning board cannot arbitrarily stall the process but the law is also open to interpretation, especially in terms of the hoops the mountain would need to jump through to get approvals.

Many business owners were stressing out that the move toward expensive exclusivity would ultimately shift skier dollars toward the mountain and away from downtown shops and restaurants and area hotels.

It was thought Seamans would face a hail storm of perturbed residents and merchants at the public hearing, given the innumerable rumors floating around about the demise of the Windham business district.

Whether that will actually happen or not is mere speculation, but Seamans quickly and effectively worked to dispel any bad vibes in the room.

“I’m here tonight to clarify what we’re doing and where we’re going. We’ve always intended to remain open to the public, selling lift tickets on a daily basis. We don’t anticipate restricting those numbers,” Seamans said.

“There was a lot of confusion about what we are doing. We created a lot of those problems ourselves. We could have done a better job in presenting the [Master Plan] rollout last summer.

“The new ownership (arriving last year) is investing in long term growth and stability on the mountain. An important part of that investment is our partnership with the community,” Seamans said.

“We believe this project will help bring people here not just in the winter but year-round. This will be a premier public/private mountain community.”

There were roughly 30 or 40 people who offered comments on the ski slope plan which will be undergoing a series of public hearings and continuing SEQR study over the ensuing months, prior to any ground-breaking.

The majority of the comments and questions surrounded elements that will be covered by the SEQR process, such as the effect of all that added housing on the town’s water table and wastewater system.

Sentiments were expressed about the ski slope’s ultimate intent, within the next two to three years, to remodel their golf course, the now-public Windham Country Club, and turn it private.

“I am a golfer but my feelings go beyond that,” one resident said. “This is an existing resource that is going to be taken away.

“What breaks my heart is there is a fairly easy solution. Why can’t the course be changed to semi-private, offer semi-memberships.”

“The golf course was designed for this community,” another resident said. “I don’t want to see it gone. There is something special about the Windham Country Club.”

Several comments were linked not to what the town could do for the ski slope, but what the ski slope could do for the town, such as improving sidewalks connecting the mountain with the town.

Concerns were voiced about challenges the existing volunteer fire departments already do and might increasingly encounter, keeping up with the demands of modern firefighting related to equipment, manpower, etc.

Onetime town of Ashland fire chief Randy Tuttle, dropping a not-too-subtle hint said, “many weekends in the winter months there are no ambulances left on the mountaintop because of injured skiers,” causing local crews to attend to them, putting a strain on the system.

“It’s great that somebody wants to come in spend 80 to 100 million dollars here,” business owner Drew Shuster said.

“When that kind of investment is made, they usually do things for the town and townspeople to go along with that. What exactly are they [the new ownership] doing for the local people?” Shuster said.

Stretching the envelope on what information the mountain needs to share, a resident commented, “there is one thing no one has talked about. 

“The financials. What happens if these guys go under? What will be left for the town to do? The only thing is I see is you guys taking, taking, taking,” purchasing several properties over the past few years.

“We have had a business here for thirty years,” local merchant Natasha Shuster said. “If one entity comes in and builds to their wishes, I can’t charge thirty dollars for a hamburger. 

And pondering the inevitable changes of such a massive project, Natasha Shuster said, “I want to preserve Windham’s history. That’s what this [planning] board needs to think about.”