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Cache County officials are in the early stages of considering a proposal to build a small ski area.
Developer John Chadwick has submitted a conditional-use application to the county planning commission, seeking to create Rainey Ranch in Cherry Creek Canyon northeast of Richmond.
Like most such proposals, Chadwick's plan was greeted with concerns and objections, voiced by conservation and citizen groups as well as Richmond City.
Their common concern is the potential impact of a ski resort on two Cherry Creek Canyon springs that provide drinking water for Richmond.
"No matter the intent of the entrepreneur," said a response letter from Richmond Mayor Michael Hall, "any time larger groups of people are placed in close proximity to a water source, an automatic contamination danger becomes evident."
Reactions from state and local government agencies are being assembled by Cache County planners after the proposal's formal submission last month at a Planning Commission meeting.
County planner Lesley Mascaro said action on the proposal was continued for up to six months to allow her agency to collect responses from agencies such as the U.S. Forest Service, whose lands are near the upper reaches of the proposed resort, and the state divisions of wildlife resources, water quality, air quality and geologic survey.
Chadwick's application said the envisioned resort would cover about 160 acres of privately owned land zoned for "forest recreation." It would serve up to 2,000 skiers daily and at night and would have a 10,000-square-foot lodge, snowmaking, a parking lot that holds up to 400 vehicles, four ski lifts, a tubing hill and a septic system to handle wastewater.
Although Chadwick told Cache officials in a Feb. 22 letter that he would like to open by Thanksgiving -- a date that would require approval this month -- his application alternately envisioned an opening within two years of receiving the conditional-use permit.
Richmond's initial concerns centered on two issues, possible contamination to the city's water supplies from septic system drainage and vehicle-polluted runoff from the ski resort base, and the impact on the city's road system.
Dan Miller, Richmond-based executive director of the Bear River Watershed Council, expressed concern that runs and a lift may intrude into the Mount Naomi Wilderness Area, where those kinds of use are prohibited.
The conservation group Save Our Canyons also weighed in against the proposal, contending it "is inconsistent with the lay of the land... [and] would degrade the environment and impact sensitive parcels."
A proposed resort outside of Richmond, in Cache County, would cover 160 acres in Cherry Creek Canyon, with four lifts serving an estimated 2,000 skiers per day and night.
