The Mount Sunapee Advisory Committee will hold an informational meeting and public hearing Tuesday, July 14 from 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. in Sunapee Lodge at the base of the southern New Hampshire ski resort.
New Hampshire's Mount Sunapee has submitted a new Master Development Plan to the state's Department of Resources and Economic Development, again requesting a 175-acre expansion of the ski area. |
Tim and Diane Mueller, operators of nearby Okemo Mountain Resort in Ludlow, Vt., lease 968 acres within the Mount Sunapee State Park from the State of New Hampshire to operate the ski area. Revenues from the lease support the state’s other ski area, Cannon Mountain, in Franconia Notch. Since signing the Lease and Operating Agreement in 1998, the Muellers have invested more than fifteen million dollars into Mount Sunapee.
The ski area's previous MDP also called for the expansion to the ski area and connect it with a 230-acre rivate parcel upon which the Muellers want to construct residences. After N.H. Governor John Lynch rejected these efforts, the Muellers filed a lawsuit in an attempt to force the annexation. The Merrimack County Superior Court dismissed the lawsuit earlier this year.
The new lodge proposed in the MDP, prepared by ski area design firm SE Group, would lie in Mount Sunapee's West Bowl. The plan calls for upgrades to the ski area's Cataract, Sun Bowl, North Peak and Spruce Peak chairlifts.
