New Silver Star Master Plan Calls for 26,550 Beds on Silver Star Mountain
The cat is finally out of the bag with Silver Star Mountain Resort's top-secret new Master Plan, and it looks like the plan is to quadruple the size of the resort from its present size of 6400 bed units to a whopping 26,550 bed units! The resort is also asking for another big chunk of Silver Star Provincial Park to be deleted and added to its Controlled Recreation Area. Surprisingly, there are no plans to upgrade the woefully inadequate sewage treatment plant, except to log more fairways of the proposed golf course for the purposes of effluent disposal.
Almost all of the World Cup Trails, including Bridal Path, Bella Vista, Silver Streak, Meadow Trail, Roller Blade, Night Loop, Heartbeat, Beetlejuice, World Cup Shortcut, Sidewinder, and TJ's Corkscrew will either be lost to condo and hotel development or will be severely altered, serving only as access trails for vacation properties. Almost 1000 homes are also planned for the golf course area!
For a summary of the resort's future plans, click the icon below:
Ski Resort Wants Another 400 Hectares of Silver Star Provincial Park
Silver Star Mountain Resort's new Master Plan calls for the deletion of another 400 hectares of Silver Star Provincial Park (140 hectares in the West Site and 260 hectares in the East Site), to be added to its Controlled Recreation Area. It is also asking for another 660 hectares currently outside the park to be added as well.
The map above shows areas in green that the ski resort wants deleted from Silver Star Provincial Park. The resort is also asking for more land outside the park (shown in dotted purple line on east side of park boundary).
World Cup Nordic Trails Sacrificed to Condo Development
Violating its own Commercial Alpine Ski Policy, which stipulates that land associated with recreational infrastructure must not be sold for fee-simple real estate development, the Ministry of Tourism is encouraging subdivisions constructed on both alpine and nordic ski trails at Silver Star Mountain. Ironically, the ski resort is marketed as a nordic skier's paradise, yet almost all the nordic trails south and east of Silver Star village are about to be bulldozed and developed into condominiums and hotels. What remains of the trail system will basically only serve as access trails to the condos.
The conceptual drawing above shows developments planned for Silver Star Village. Almost all the cross country ski trails south of the village will be lost to development. These lands were deleted from Silver Star Provincial Park specifically for the resort to construct the 1991 World Cup nordic trails, and no mention was made at the time that these lands would be developed into vacation homes. Less that 2 years after these lands were deleted from the park in December 1992 however, the resort had drawn up plans for developing the World Cup trails for fee-simple property sales.
Massive Housing Development Planned for Silver Star Golf Course
When Silver Star Mountain Resort first proposed its golf course in the late 1990's, no mention was made of establishing housing developments around the course. In fact,the original plans only showed a road to the golf course and a small clubhouse. So is the resort actually serious about building almost 1000 vacation homes down at the golf course?
The resort's original 1997 Golf Course Application lapsed without any golf course construction started. However, under new ownership, the resort again applied to the Ministry of Tourism in 2006 to build the course, but this time it turned out that the resort's only intention was to clearcut the fairways to serve as a sewage effluent disposal area. For a quick tour of the golf course, click here.
It remains to be seen if Schumann Resorts is actually serious when it claims it wants to build a golf course. Big White Mountain Resort (also owned by Schumann Resorts) has claimed to be planning a golf course for many years, but as yet has only managed to log 3 fairways (logged in 2000) and the driving range area. The fairways are used as beginner ski runs and the driving range area is actually a Tube Park. The fairways were never seeded and have never seen any play.
This conceptual drawing of Silver Star's proposed golf course depicts almost a thousand vacation homes around the links. Compare this drawing to the original plans submitted by the resort in their 1997 Golf Course application and 2006 application.
To see how the conceptual drawing compares to what is actually there now, view the video below. If you watch closely as the aerial photo and drawing fade in and out, you'll see that the resort plans to basically clearcut the enitre area and pave over several wetlands, which contradicts promises made in 1997 to minimize environmental impacts. Silver Star Mountain Resort claimed in their 1997 golf course application that they had been accepted into Audubon International's Signature Program, which would ensure aherence to the most stringent environmental guidelines. In reality however, Audubon International denies that the resort ever registered with their program.
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