Thursday night, Royal Gorge introduced their development plans to a standing room only crowd at Ice lakes Lodge.  There were probably 150 people present.  The presentation consisted of an hour and fifteen minute PowerPoint followed by the audience talking among themselves and with the Royal Gorge team.

This interim SLPOA newsletter update summarizes the development plan.  Many people are probably very interested in the proposal so I thought a summary immediately after the presentation is warranted.  Next week we will send out another update with a “sense of the board” summary following our SLPOA Board meeting on Saturday.  By the time you have read this, there should be a copy of their concept map on the SLPOA website.

If you want to see the presentation and participate, there are still more presentations: Saturdays 3/10 and 3/17 10 AM – Noon at Ice Lakes Lodge.  We will be asking you for your advice, suggestions, and ideas,

Summary of plans – the Vision     Royal Gorge Concept Plan

Kirk Syme started the presentation with an introduction covering:

• background of the developers
• the land purchase
• gathering of input over two years
• exploring and cataloging the property
• the existing zoning which allows 1200 residential units
• the existing general plan which allows 2900 residential units
• maps that showed Royal Gorge lands and compilation of topography, wetlands, etc.

After Kirk outlined what was allowed he said that is a bad idea and not at all what they have planned.  That was a 1950’s style development.  He said that in developing the plan the development team had relied heavily on community input, the context of the Summit (national forest, views, history, culture, and ski areas) and their guiding principles.  The Summit is a unique area they want to respect.

Guiding Principles of the Royal Gorge Plan
As Kirk launched into the principles that guided the development of their plan, he advertised a book that was required reading for all members of their team: Last Child in the Woods – Saving Or Children from Nature Deficit by Richard Louv.  The theme of that book is that society needs experience in nature and that was the main guiding principle.

Principles:

• no gated community
• no golf course
• preserve open space
• conservation of land in perpetuity
      and preserve all land outside the building “bubbles.”
• no Van Norden development
• green building
• maintain Royal Gorge cross country system
• make the ski area viable
• provide educational opportunities
• the Royal Gorge development should be a gateway for the outdoors and activities
• The Royal Gorge development should be a source for education.
• create economic opportunity (jobs)

Mr. Syme then talked about what conservation means:

• respect the land’s natural carrying capacity
• protect sensitive areas
• carefully place development
• create a community that belongs
      gateway to the wilderness
      outdoor adventure
      respect the Summit
• foster a sense of community – foster human interaction
• build green
• support what’s there [on the Summit]
      Royal Gorge
      Sugar Bowl
• a place for learning and adventure

Once the philosophy was out of the way, the team went on to describe the development.  There are four parts to the plan which is call a Camp Concept.  Development will be in four main areas delineated below.  The camp concept calls for clustered neighborhoods centered on recreation or outdoor adventure.  Each camp will have a community gathering hub at the camp center.  Each camp will be organized around particular recreational experiences.  The highest densities will be at the Ski and Lake camps noted below.

Note: there should be a copy of the concept map on the SLPOA website.

Lake Camp – new lakes northwest of Serene Lakes down from the current Summit Station.   This will include two new lakes.  The source of water for the lakes was not mentioned.

• a lake house/clubhouse
• preserve with cross country ski trails
• trailside homes

Wilderness Camp – down towards Pt. Mariah

• unpaved road access
• use existing trails
• new wilderness lodge like the old Wilderness Lodge on Kidd Lake
• camp style cabins with primitive services
• horse barn
• fishing cabin
• this concept is still under development

Summit Camp – on Lake Van Norden along the old road to Sugar Bowl.

• nature preserve
• history and nature interpretation
      Summit Station will move here
• this will be the access to the lake trails
• there will be a small community park with playground there.

Exactly what facilities will be there besides the above was not specified.  The new Summit Station will serve as the entry to cross country skiing but will also serve as an educational facility manned by volunteers from local organizations.

Ski Camp – east of Serene Lakes and south of the forest service meadow.
This will be the highest density area.  Depending on whom you talk to it may include 65% of all residential units and an unspecified number of hotel rooms.  Any other facilities like restaurants, shops, etc. was not mentioned although some Royal Gorge team members said it would be a “village.”  There will be a number of downhill ski runs coming down from the ridge.  There will be two ski lifts.  Then stretching across the ridge almost to Crows Nest there will be a detachable quad for access to Sugar Bowl.  Kirk Syme said they would not allow Ski Camp to be a public access to Sugar Bowl however, so there will be limited parking and a shuttle will travel around three of the parts of their development along with our Serene Lakes to reduce traffic.

Ski Camp will also include:

• base camp for outdoor activities
• nature adventure and exploration center
• ski lodge with wellness retreat

In general there will be concentrated development leaving a lot of land open and a variety of housing types: single family, time share, condominiums, duplex cabins, townhomes, and workforce housing,   Depending on whom you talk to 65-80 percent of the development will be in concentrated areas.  The total number of residential units will be about 950.  This does not include hotel “beds.”  That number is still to be decided upon along with the other pieces that would go with that kind of development: shops, restaurants, and other facilities.  Ski Camp has some similarities to the Olympic Village concept Royal Gorge was aiming at many years ago.

Miscellaneous

• The dam at Van Norden was taken down badly.  The concrete spillway will be removed and the dam area will be restored to its natural state (whether the present lake level will be maintained was not addressed).
• Royal Gorge will establish a land trust to be endowed by real estate transfer fees.  This endowed trust will preserve the open space and fund the educational activities.
• Building heights will be below tree lines.
• All plans will be done at once and not piecemeal.
• Fire protection plans will be implemented on both Royal Gorge lands and in conjunction with the forest service on forest service lands.
• Light pollution will be avoided
• The sewer plant will be expanded
• high speed internet is coming
• an overpass will be built over the RR tracks.

What was not addressed that people talked about afterwards:

• second egress from Serene Lakes
• hotel development and the facilities going with it
• where the water will come from
• traffic on Soda Springs Rd.
• Ski Camp population’s access to Serene Lakes
      (the only access would appear down Sierra – the boat ramp)
• the maps only showed green areas where housing would be.  Where exactly the roads will be is not addressed.
• scale of the village
• architectural types
• details details details. Here I would launch into my thoughts but that will wait until the SLPOA Board has met on Saturday.

Some Thoughts

Serene Lakes is going to change just as California is changing.  We have a responsibility to see that the changes are reasonable.  We have a responsibility to those who come after us.

Living up to that responsibility is a big task.  We must use our energies to make sure the development is as beneficial to the area as possible.  That energy is not just going to be expended in communicating with the developers, but in building the community (working with other groups as we started with the Fall Summit Summit), and in monitoring the actual development implementation.

Lessons from Northstar

Last Sunday Tam Lieberman, who lives at the end of Lake Dr., invited some Serene Lakes residents to her house to meet Dave Brown, a long time resident of Northstar.  He is so much a long time resident of the area he remembers traveling to Ice Lakes on Soda Springs Rd. before it was paved.

He has credibility because he is familiar with Northstar from before the 1971 plan was developed, he sold real estate there for decades, and has been involved in various local organizations including their homeowners’ association.  A lot of what he said has particular relevance for Serene Lakes and the coming development.   So his perspective was good and so was his advice.  I had thought I’d categorize what he said into topics but as I started typing I decided that maybe just a list of his thoughts would serve as good advice for readers here, and give us some ideas.

What is [bracketed] are not his thoughts.

Perceptions:

• People in Northstar were naïve.  They trusted the developers.
      [which is not to say our cannot be trusted, but vigilance is key.
      Ronald Reagan said, “Trust but Verify.”]
• Developers are well financed, have professional help and especially good legal representation.
• There may be future sales to other non-Foster/Syme entities that are only interested in money and will not feel bound by previous agreements – especially years later.  In Northstar the original plans dated 1971.  The recent development in Northstar is not the same as originally planned.  Dormant capacity from developers’ plans decades ago are now becoming relevant.
• The size of the Northstar village turned out to be larger than promised and changed many times over the years.
• East-West Developers could be the ultimate developers of Serene Lakes after Foster/Syme get all the approvals.  East-West likes building near ski resorts but does not like developing ski resorts.
• The impact of traffic is an important consideration.
      Especially follow through on traffic plans and promises
      Ingress/egress
• People bought in Northstar awhile ago expecting one thing and will now get another with the development.
• In Northstar there was not as much follow through on promises regarding operations aspects as there should have been.  Promises were not kept.

Advice:

• Deal with the County staff and representatives – they will listen
• Updating the Martis Valley Plan was important to developing Northstar
      [We should have a Summit Plan]
• Develop a united community
      [Developers, in general have an incentive to divide; we have to work together.]
• look out for:

  traffic,
  lighting
  noise
  construction
  time line of development [how many years will construction go on?],
  enforcement of rules/agreements [like traffic mitigation]
  employee housing
  Where will construction materials be stored [in view lines?]
  When will construction material be delivered? [5 AM?]

One important idea that he passed on was that for Northstar a key component was an M.O.U. (memorandum of understanding) between homeowners and the developers.  The M.O.U. covered all aspects of the development.  Once it had been negotiated it was the vehicle for communications so that all the problems could be worked out.  Of course developers would like MOU’s so that they can circumvent protest.  The community should like an MOU as well, so that there is dialogue.

Survey

A survey of our community is in the works, as previously promised.  Once it got close to the unveiling on the development proposals we thought asking about some of those components would be good.