JOHNSBURG -- The Adirondack Park Agency on Friday approved FrontStreet Mountain Development LLC's application for the Ski Bowl Village at Gore Mountain, one of the largest projects approved by the environmental agency in recent years.
The project will include the reopening of the North Creek Ski Bowl, one of the first commercial ski parks in the country.
The $250 million development project involves more than 430 acres, a ski-in/ski-out venue for all commercial and residential developments and a proposed four-season sporting club community that will be developed in phases.
"We're excited. We've been working on this for many years. We've been in front of the park agency for about two years," said Mac Crikelair, FrontStreet project manager, during an interview Monday.
The Ski Bowl will become part of Gore Mountain Ski Center when the project is finished in an estimated seven to 10 years.
The FrontStreet project will use an Integrated Energy and Environmental Management plan.
"It was very important for us to make sure we bring forward a significant environment perspective in this developing project," Crikelair said.
Ed Milner, president of Gore Mountain Region/Town of Johnsburg Chamber of Commerce, said he was "delighted" by the approval.
"We think it's wonderful," Milner said. "We're disturbed it's taken this long, and we're also disturbed it's taking so long for other projects in the area to meet APA approval."
The project will also bring jobs and business to the area, he said.
Voicemail at the number listed for Johnsburg Town Supervisor Sterling Goodspeed said he would be on vacation until April 21.
Town Board member Ron Vanselow said he expected the approval, but he isn't fully supportive of the plan.
"I have some serious concerns about this project," Vanselow said. "As with anything, there was the potential to be a mixed bag. There's a lot of belief that it will have a positive impact on the tax base in the town.
"But there are a lot of other factors. We don't know where they're going to get the workforce, or where workforce housing will be."
The application was submitted to the APA in May 2006, with the town of Johnsburg as a co-applicant.
The APA issued a total of four permits for FrontStreet, Johnsburg and the Olympic Regional Development Authority -- which operates Gore -- covering all of the private and public activities and property exchanges in the Ski Bowl area.
Phone messages left for Keith McKeever, a spokesman for the APA, weren't returned Monday.
Friday's approval of the project came after almost two years of work by the APA and state and local agencies.
The developer is now working on completing the requirements of the APA, as well as other state and local agencies, to move forward, Crikelair said.
"I'd like to break ground sometime this year. The timing of it remains to be seen here, but we're anxious to get started as soon as possible," he said. "We have a few procedural items to take care of, and then we can get under way with the construction."
The FrontStreet project has been in the works since the private investment company acquired land at the Ski Bowl in March 2005.
Since then, the town of Johnsburg, ORDA, the Warren County Economic Development Corporation and FrontStreet have been working together to connect Gore Mountain Ski Center and the town park, which contains a portion of the Ski Bowl, Crikelair said.
According to Crikelair, when the land transfer to the town from FrontStreet is completed, Gore Mountain will become the sixth largest ski area in the Northeast.
Efforts to reach Emily Stanton, Gore Mountain's marketing manager, were unsuccessful Monday afternoon.