Critical Points to Share When Speaking or Writing About the Expansion Plan
You can help Preserve and Protect Mount Sunapee – #SaveSunapee
Talking Points 2016 March #SaveSunapee (pdf 68kb)
- The plan goes against a 100-year effort to create a large, unbroken block of conserved lands around Mount Sunapee.
- The expansion would fragment the 30,000-acre Pillsbury-Sunapee Highlands, important wildlife habitat and one of the largest unbroken forests south of the White Mountains.
- The plan violates the public trust. Our public lands should not be used to leverage financial gain for private corporations. This sets a very bad precedent for the use of other public lands in N.H.
- The plan goes against public sentiment. Opponents outnumbered proponents by 3:1 at last May’s public hearing, and submitted over 2,000 signatures and written comments.
- The state’s largest conservation organizations have raised concerns about the expansion.
- The plan is NOT balanced. It monopolizes the state park for expensive alpine skiing, while pushing out traditional, low cost uses such as hiking, picnicking, hunting, etc.
- The plan violates NH state environmental law. The NH Native Plant Protection Act, RSA 217-A, prohibits any development impacts to the exemplary natural community. Fragmenting this forest with ski infrastructure will degrade it and jeopardize its future existence.
- It is a bad idea to link our region’s economic future to a ski industry that is likely in decline due to the effects of climate change. We need a resilient, forward thinking economy. We need full-time, year round employment that pays a living wage; NOT seasonal, part time low wage employment that is dependent on increasingly fickle winter weather.
- Some of the impact studies used to support this plan are over 10 years old. Thorough, up to date studies are needed BEFORE approving a plan of this magnitude.
- The plan does NOT protect Goshen and surrounding towns from resort sprawl. All it will take is a zoning variance to allow private real estate and commercial development on the land owned by the resort owners.
- The plan enables resort development on the abutting private land, and dumps the responsibility for managing that development onto the volunteer zoning and planning boards of the surrounding small towns. The corporate developers will run over these small town boards like a steamroller.
- The increased costs of necessary fire and safety upgrades, road maintenance, and other municipal services will override any increase in tax revenue for surrounding towns. At the same time these small towns will face increased traffic, crime, and pollution; resulting in a loss of their rural character and identity.
- No one knows who the future owner of the ski lease will be. The current owners, CNL Lifestyle Properties, a Florida based real estate investment trust, said publicly that they are actively trying to sell off their mountain properties, which includes the Sunapee lease.
- The “gifts” of land proposed with this plan are a joke. The 208 acre lot is ALREADY PROTECTED by a conservation easement paid for with taxpayer dollars years ago. The 52 acre parcel is remote, and under no threat from development.
Please call or email Governor Hassan and all Executive Council members NOW to share your concerns.
For contact information, go to www.FriendsofMountSunapee.org or www.Facebook.com/FriendsofMountSunapee (#SaveSunapee)
Please speak with your friends and neighbors and ask them to join this effort to protect Mount Sunapee.