Homeowners association wants Revelstoke Mountain Resort to build more infrastructure
Resort officials say pace of development tied to market
A group of people who own properties at Revelstoke Mountain Resort are fed up with the pace on development on the ski hill.
Peter Brown is part of the Revelstoke Mountain Homeowners Association, which only formed this month. The association issued a lengthy criticism of the resort through a Vancouver public relations agency.
"Investment is minimal for the scale of the resort and there have been few new amenities and upgrades in the last 10 years," said Peter Brown in the release. He is vice-president of the association and a full-time resident.
He, along with his wife, bought condominiums on what he says was a promise the resort would become one of the biggest all-season resorts in North America.
7 Reasons Revelstoke Was Voted Canada's Best Ski Resort 2016 <a href="https://twitter.com/SnowRehab">@SnowRehab</a> <a href="https://t.co/jJ5X17e4lJ">https://t.co/jJ5X17e4lJ</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Revelstoked?src=hash">#Revelstoked</a> <a href="https://t.co/RMdMZ9yGSE">pic.twitter.com/RMdMZ9yGSE</a>
—@revelstokemtnWhen it opened in 2007, the master plan called for up to 21 ski lifts, a golf course and an ice rink in the resort village.
Currently there are six lifts: two gondolas, two high-speed quad chairs and two magic carpets, but no golf course or rink.
The resort also has 25 vacant lots and 120 condo units that remain unsold.
'It has just not evolved'
"We're naturally disappointed," Brown told CBC News.
"You know for what we paid up there -— we didn't pay that kind of money for nice cutlery or nice wine glasses, we paid for infrastructure. It just has not evolved."
Officials with the resort say the pace of development is dictated by the fortunes of the market and that the global recession in 2008 impacted the resort.
"To have sustained development you really do need to follow the market," said Peter Nielsen, vice president of operations.
"One of the key parts that really affects our ability to do [development] and fund development is vacation real estate and the vacation real estate market has not recovered entirely."
Resort committed
Nielsen says the resort is committed to building out its master plan, but won't say when the golf course will be built or when all of the lifts will be up.
The three main chair lifts will be expanded this summer.
In the meantime, the Revelstoke Mountain Homeowners Association wants to have more say in how development at the resort should proceed.
Homeowners say they want specific development timelines, five-year plans outlining what investment and expansion will occur, along with a monitoring and enforcement regime.
Nielsen says the management group at the resort wants concerned residents and guests to speak with them directly, but is looking for "any and all suggestions on how homeowners can assist us to sell real estate."
He says the resort also released a letter listing infrastructure that has been put in place at the resort since 2008.
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with files from Brady Strachan.