NEW ASHFORD -- Local residents had harsh words for representatives from Silverleaf Resorts Inc. Monday night after learning the Dallas-based corporation is holding off for another year on plans to develop the former Brodie Mountain Ski Area into a condominium resort.
Michael J. Brown, senior director of planning and development for Silverleaf, told the Selectmen Monday night the company doesn't have any plans to further develop the approximately 40-acre site this year, but didn't comment as to why the project continues to be postponed.
"Last year we did some demolition and cleaned up the property. This year we're taking a wait-and-see approach," he said.
He said there may be some more demolition at the site this year, but also said …
... more [truncated due to possible copyright]NEW ASHFORD -- Local residents had harsh words for representatives from Silverleaf Resorts Inc. Monday night after learning the Dallas-based corporation is holding off for another year on plans to develop the former Brodie Mountain Ski Area into a condominium resort.
Michael J. Brown, senior director of planning and development for Silverleaf, told the Selectmen Monday night the company doesn't have any plans to further develop the approximately 40-acre site this year, but didn't comment as to why the project continues to be postponed.
"Last year we did some demolition and cleaned up the property. This year we're taking a wait-and-see approach," he said.
He said there may be some more demolition at the site this year, but also said in an interview after the meeting that he was unsure if additional demolition would take place this year.
"The company makes the decisions. I'm just here representing the company," he said.
Silverleaf plans to turn the defunct ski area into the Snowy Owl Resort featuring 324 time-share units over 27 buildings, an indoor pool, hiking trails, a recreation facility and an on-site sewer treatment plant.
Construction is estimated to cost roughly $50 million.
Since Silverleaf purchased 500 acres of the former Brodie Mount Ski Area in 2004 for $2.6 million, town residents have been waiting for construction to begin in hopes the resort will help rejuvenate local business.
Planning Board Chairwoman Dianne Glick expressed her impatience to Brown on the project continuing to be postponed, and her personal dissatisfaction with Silverleaf's stalling of the Berkshire Wind Project.
"I wasn't always for the windmills when they first started this, but it's a fact of life, and I just find Silverleaf stalling this a little too much," she said.
Selectwoman Flavia Mastellone supported Glick stating she was "not alone" in her disapproval.
An injunction was issued by the Massachusetts Land Court in October 2009 ordering work on the Berkshire Wind Project along the Brodie Mountain ridge line to cease until a pending lawsuit brought by Silverleaf against the owners of the project, Berkshire Wind Power Cooperative Corp., was resolved.
Silverleaf filed the lawsuit stating a permit issued by the town of Lanesborough allowing construction vehicles to cross a private road to access the wind turbine site had expired.
According to the injunction order, Silverleaf's lawyers contended that if the wind project was completed, "Silverleaf will be unable to use its property for its intended purpose -- a high-priced resort."
A decision on the lawsuit is still pending.
With the wind power project in the works for at least the past decade, Glick said Silverleaf knew about the wind turbines being placed on the Brodie Mountain ridge line, or should have known before they began pursing their development plans.
Art Johnson, chairman of the Board of Health, gave his opinion of Silverleaf's proposed resort project, stating that "a crappy job" was done on the septic system.
"All your septic systems up there are junk," he said.
Brown and project engineer James Scalise of SK Design Group Inc. met informally with Johnson outside Town Hall to further discuss his concern.
Following Brown's presentation to the Selectmen, he said there is currently no time frame for the construction of the resort.