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Sovereign Lake trail system here.
Silver Star Provincial Park here.
This Nordic skiers’ paradise is now threatened by real estate development, and up to 30 kilometres of some of the best cross country ski trails on the mountain could be lost to condominium and vacation home construction. If the ski resort carries out its ambitious plans to construct over 26,000 bed units on the mountain, scenic trails such as Sidewinder, TJ’s Corkscrew, Bella Vista, Heartbeat, and Beetlejuice are just a few of the trails that will likely be lost forever to condominium and vacation home construction. These trails were originally developed within Silver Star Provincial Park under a park use permit, specifically for the 1991 World Cup – read more here. However, they were deleted from the park not long after the World Cup races, and within two years of their deletion, the resort had drawn up plans to have these lands rezoned for condominium construction.
The Regional District of North Okanagan followed suit by pre-zoning the World Cup Nordic trails for medium density residential development. Now, as the owner of the Master Development Agreement with the Province, Schumann Resorts has a monopoly on development of these lands and can purchase these former parklands for as little as $5,000 per acre! Schumann Resorts stands to make incredible profits from the development and fee-simple sale of these lands.
It is not too late to save these trails from destruction, but time is limited! Schumann resorts has the exclusive right to purchase these former parklands for next to nothing, and this could happen in the very near future if the Nordic skiing community fails to take a stand to protect them. Once these Crown lands become the property of the resort, it will be almost impossible to stop the massive real estate development planned for these Nordic trails. Up to 30 kilometres of trails could be lost forever.
If you have ever cross country skied at Silver Star or Sovereign Lake, you already know what an amazing trail system it is. It would be such a shame to see so much of this world-class trail system sacrificed to condominium development, all for the sake of short-term real estate profits. To stop the madness, it will likely take a concerted effort of the international Nordic skiing community to send a strong message to the resort, the Province, and the Regional District that this is unacceptable. There has been little or no public consultation on this matter, and perhaps most importantly, the nordic skiing community has not been consulted.
Whether you are a recreational skier, a world-class competitive skier, masters or junior racer, biathlete, sitskier, coach, or Nordic instructor, as part of the Nordic skiing community, you can play an important role in preserving these trails for future generations of Nordic skiers by forwarding this email to members of your ski club, race team, or anyone who enjoys cross country skiing. Please sign the petition and encourage your fellow skiers to do the same. You can also inform members of your ski club about the threats to the trail system by emailing the attached information sheet, or by printing it out and distributing it to your club members.
You can also navigate to the petition by visiting the petitions page at www.savesilverstarpark.org
Thank you in advance for your support in this effort to preserve the Sovereign Lake / Silver Star Nordic Trail System.
For more info visit www.savesilverstarpark.org
May 22nd, 2010 at 8:09 am
To all you green thinking people out there—and that should include every cross country skier in the world—I hope you have taken the time to read this article—look at all the videos—and then taken the time to sign the petition. Here is a chance for you to really have a supporting voice and do some good for the earth.
This is your typical big moneyed entrepreneur/developer—with the mantra—bigger and more is better. The only thing is that Silver Star resort is now over built, the alpine skiing population is shrinking, home owners on the mountain are selling to get out, the resort is way over capacity on beds and lifts to haul people. They are trying to build a golf course that has no future as the valley below is over saturated with golf courses.
Here is a typical way they continue to develop when the future is so bleak—they have built a new reservoir that supersede the dimensions the province had set regulations for, with the intentions of paying the fines—ha!—the province made them pay the fines and has not let them fill the reservoir.
The bottom line here is that they need NO MORE DEVELOPMENT—THERE ARE NO MORE PEOPLE TAKING UP ALPINE SKIING—-THAT MESSAGE IS LOUD AND CLEAR TO THE ALPINE SKIING INDUSTRY.
PLEASE VOTE
January 5th, 2011 at 12:43 am
Here’s the latest update on the Silver Star Nordic Trail situation:
Access to the nordic trails south of the village is gradually being made more difficult, due to the new Ridge subdivision and Silver Star’s groomer maintenance building blocking the Gold Mountain nordic trail. Access from the village is also more difficult due to the Silver Woods alpine ski runs crossing the Meadow and Bridal Path trails. The net result is that very few Sovereign Lake skiers use the village trails anymore. Schumann Resorts appears to be sytematically cutting off access to these wonderful nordic trails in order to implement their condo development plans on the Bella Vista, Meadow, Sidewinder, TJ’s Corkscrew, Heartbeat, World Cup, Mountain View, and Silver Streak nordic trails. Up to 30 kilometres of trails will likely be lost to condominium and second home development. Schumann Resorts are proposing a chairlift from Vance Creek up to the top of TJ’s Corkscrew, which will make almost all the proposed condominiums “ski-to-your-door” , thus maximizing real estate profits. The bottom of the chairlift will be well below the reliable snow line however, so the resort plans to make snow with effluent from the sewage lagoons!
It is not too late to save these trails! Silver Star Resort is almost at buildout, which has been set at 7099 bed units, according to the 1994 Master Plan, which is still current. The mountain presently has 6435 bed units. Their new Master Plan, which has not yet been approved, calls for 26,550 bed units, and the elimination of almost all the village nordic trails. They also want another 400 hectares deleted from Silver Star Provincial Park! So now is the time for nordic skiers from around the globe to stand up for the preservation of the nordic trails on Silver Star Mountain! Please spread the word to your fellow cross country skiers, club members, or race team.
This is also a call to any Olympic athletes that trained at Silver Star before the 2010 Vancouver Olympics…..we need your support! Please add your comments to the petition, as these will play a crucial role in convincing the B.C. Ministry of Tourism, The North Okanagan Regional District, and Schumann Resorts that they are making a terrible mistake in sacrificing the nordic trails in order to maximize real estate profits!
Please sign the petition to preserve the Silver Star / Sovereign Lake nordic trail system! Thanks for your support!
Sincerely,
Randy Schellenberg, Spokesman
Citizens’ Coalition to Save Silver Star Provincial Park
http://www.savesilverstarpark.org