The Foster/Syme development group recently purchased the Royal Gorge cross-country ski resort along with a ton of other land around Serene Lakes (where our cabin is) including the bottom of the lake. When they revealed their plans which include 950 condominiums and single-family homes, a lot of people at the public meeting drank the Kool-Aid with a “Please, may I have some more.” They fell hook, line and sinker for the well-rehearsed schpeel which included promises of a fishing cabin, a nature-interpretive center and horse-back trails, all within four “camps.”

Not me. Mike and I paid a visit to Northstar’s real estate office to get a frame of reference as to the size of this project. From there it was off to Squaw Valley’s new village–recently completed in the parking lot in front of the resort. We quickly found Todd Foster’s statement of “…nothing on the scale of Squaw Valley’s new village. This will be much smaller than that.” to be a half-truth, or at least a terribly mis-spoken statement. Perhaps the developer is just not familiar with the scope of their project.

They admitted that the high-density area of “Ski Camp,” which is just a block from our cabin and the lake, would be about 650 units, mostly in 3 or 4-story buildings. A quick visit to the real estate office at The Village at Squaw Valley revealed that the massive project there includes 290 units in the new buildings alone. And most of them are 4-story with some 5-story. (Click the photo of the Village at Squaw Valley to see a larger version.)

lThe proposed 650 units of Ski Camp is also about twice the size of Northstar’s lower village which includes 190 units in the new buildings, 20 in the gondola building and about 100 in the original lower building. To get an idea of the massive scale of Foster/Syme’s proposed project, one need only compare it to Northstar’s proposed upper village which will be an additional 600 units plus a 200-room hotel. Note: These buildings are nearly all 4 and 5 story.
Northstar has a scale-model in the office that quickly reveals just how much land will be paved over for parking and roads. You quickly get an idea of how much traffic and pollution a project will contribute to an area.

If this is what development is all about, then count me out. Call me a nimby if you want. But it is clear to me that this type of development will only serve to destroy the character and nature of the summit as we’ve known it for more than 35 years.

My answer? Thanks, Foster/Syme. Here’s a video showing my gratitude.

Read more about Foster/Syme’s announcement in the Reno Gazette-Journal article.