Breckenridge Approves Master Plan for Ski Resort

BRECKENRIDGE-The Town of Breckenridge has approved a revised master plan for the Breckenridge Ski Resort, which has been four years in the making. The new plan, expected to cost as much as $400 million, will guide development over the next 20 years.

The plan calls for the proposed development of 501 single-family equivalents on Peaks 7 and 8 including approximately 15,000 sf feet of retail, rental and restaurant space; and almost 60,000 sf of a new skier services facilities that will house skier dining, ski and snowboard school offices, ski storage and childcare. Vail Resorts is parent of the Breckenridge Ski Resort.

“We believe this master plan represents a solid framework for a cooperative partnership to achieve the goals of the Breckenridge Ski Resort and the community,” says Breckenridge Mayor Sam Mamula. “The Breckenridge Ski Resort continues to prove to be a leader and a good corporate member of the community with their commitments to parking, density reductions, preservation of open space and the environment in the critically sensitive habitat of Cucumber Gulch, and support of childcare and skier service improvements.”

The ski resort committed to dedicate more than 50 acres of open space in the Cucumber Gulch area, and a voluntary reduction of density on in-town land to follow the guidelines established in the Joint Upper Blue Master Plan. The ski resort also committed to giving over one acre of land to the town for the inter-modal transportation center, limiting commercial density to 15,000 sf feet, permanently providing 2,500 parking spaces, and donating $200,000 to improve childcare in the community.

“To continue to be one of the most visited ski and ride destinations in North America and provide the level of guest experience for which Breckenridge has become known worldwide, it’s critical that the town and ski resort share a common vision,” says Roger McCarthy, COO for the Breckenridge Ski Resort.

. “With our amended master plan, we have struck this common vision with the Town of Breckenridge to move forward with a plan that meets the growing needs of the resort and local business community while simultaneously protecting the environment,” he adds.

Experts on wildlife, wetlands, land planning, hydrogeology, architecture and traffic were part of the process to finalize the amended plan. The master plan was last amended in 1986 when the resort was owned by Aspen Skiing Co.The Breckenridge Ski Resort is reducing density by eliminating as many as 110 single-family home equivalents, or 25% of its planned Peaks 7 and 8 developments, as recommended by the Joint Upper Blue Master Plan.

Also, both the town and the ski resort will protect the Preventative Management Area in Cucumber Gulch through a joint conservation effort that includes monitoring water quality and the contribution by the resort of more than 50 acres of wetlands and related ski area property.

The town and the resort also believe preserving the historic character of Breckenridge is critical. The resort intends to transfer up to 240 single-family home equivalents off of the Sawmill, Watson and Parkway Center parking lots, located near the center of town. The transferred densities will be used to support the Peaks 7 and 8 development plan as well as development on other ski area properties.

And in a major initiative to alleviate vehicular congestion in town, the resort and the Town formed a partnership for the construction of an approximately $16 million gondola designed to run from the Watson and Sawmill parking lots to the planned development at the base of Peak 7 and then will turn and head across to the Peak 8 base area.

Vail Resorts and the developer of Shock Hill are finalizing easement agreements that will allow the gondola to have a loading area in the Shock Hill development.