BY LAWRENCE A. DANTO
Megan Chillemi again misstates some crucial points about the Northstar Forest Flyer in her letter published in the July edition of Moonshine Ink.
First, the North Tahoe Regional Advisory Council (NTRAC), of which I am a member, did not “deny” a permit for the Forest Flyer at our May 9 meeting. NTRAC is an advisory council and, as such, has no authority to allow or deny permits. Ms. Chillemi continues to mislead North Tahoe residents on this count. By a split vote, the project was allowed to go forth without comment to the Planning Commission where a permit was, after thorough review, granted. I was unable to attend the May NTRAC meeting. Had I attended there would have been a majority in favor of allowing the flyer to proceed to the Planning Commission with a positive recommendation.
Second, the Forest Flyer project has been extensively studied over several years by both Booth Creek and now Vail. As a director on the Northstar Property Owners Association Board, I can relate that there has been a thorough study, review, and debate by our association and residents as well. There are no more “local” residents than we. Vail has been very responsive to our community’s concerns and, as a good neighbor, actually moved the flyer from our village to mid-mountain, where it will have virtually no impact on Northstar residents whatsoever. The overall environmental impact (visual, noise, loss of trees, etc.) will be no more than the healthy glading of the forest to widen a run for new tree skiing, and the ride itself is probably safer than anything else we might do in North Tahoe — including walking across the snow in tennis shoes, hiking across shale in sandals, or taking a ride down the tubing run on Donner Pass Road across from the Village Nursery. Alterations in traffic and parking, if any, will not be noticeable to our local community, or to anyone else. The flyer is not comparable to an amusement park roller coaster; it’s main appeal will be in introducing novices to mountain fun and, here in the Northstar community, we are very much in favor of this concept, as well as the positive impact the flyer and other environmentally safe and sound activities might have on the North Tahoe economy.
The Northstar residential community is as environmentally concerned as any residents in the Tahoe Basin or North Tahoe Community, if not more. We are, by a large majority, in favor of the Forest Flyer.
