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Canoe Mountain Resort proposal shelved |
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Written by SCOTT STANFIELD
Citizen staff
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Thursday, 24 July 2008 |
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FRASER-FORT GEORGE REGIONAL DISTRICT
The Alberta company had plans for a gondola, golf facilities and 360 residential units, among other things, but decided the original proposal was not feasible due to an uncertain tourism market and increased costs for infrastructure and amenities.
"The project as approved is simply unable to generate the financial return necessary to attract large investors," said John Cosgrove, vice-president of Canoe Mountain Resort Inc. "I can tell you from our other operations, Canmore is severely down, Banff is severely down, Jasper is severely down. Things like gas prices and airfares are very significantly influencing where tourism is going."
Cosgrove said efforts to negotiate a smaller development with a residential subdivision but without the gondola were not supported by the province, the Fraser-Fort George Regional District or the village of Valemount.
"We were of the view that some development is better than no development."
In 2003, Sunrise International was the lone respondent to a request for proposal leading to the approval of a development agreement for Canoe Mountain Resort. The company broke ground on the project in 2005 and has since invested upwards of $3.6 million on studies, environmental work and clearing. It cannot, however, justify further investment at this time.
"I think this is just temporary," said Valemount mayor Jeannette Townsend, who suggests Sunrise "needs to come up with some better ideas."
She's right. According to Cosgrove, the company is "already looking at options in terms of the sort of things that we think work.
"We need to revisit the way the development agreement will hold for the timing of the project," he said.
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Last Updated ( Thursday, 24 July 2008 )
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