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Westwood Pines
Wednesday, April 7, 2004

Dyer Mountain to offer morning skiing,
then golf

Susan Hawkins
Staff Writer

Jerry Duffy, resource manager for Dyer Manager Associates gave a review of the development plan for the resort to county supervisors who attended the Quad Board of Supervisors meeting on Tuesday, March 30. bmpharmacy.com

Armed with a three-dimensional model and a large baselands map outlining opportunities and constraints, Duffy gave the supervisors from Lassen, Modoc, Plumas and Sierra counties a very detailed overview of the proposed Dyer Mountain community.

The Dyer Mountain Project boundary spans roughly 700-acres of private property.

Lassen County Supervisor Jack Hanson said, "This is one of the key factors here, this land is on private property, and not state or federal land, right?

Duffy responded by saying "This is not federal or state land with the exception of one acre right at the top belonging to the state for lookouts."

Duffy said parts of the land have been utilized in the past for various activities including mining, timber harvesting, logging and grazing.

"Although there has been all sorts of land activity it remains a beautiful place," Duffy said.

Almost the entire development is planned for the north face of the mountain which means the ski season will begin earlier and last longer than other ski resort areas.

For the past four years Duffy has monitored the snowfall and said he feels skiing can begin as early as November and continue through April.

Five major lifts are planned with a children's area near the base. There are plans for eventually building a gondola from the village area to the top of the mountain.

The peak of Dyer Mountain is 7,490 feet and the base is 5,100 feet. The lifts are set up for 1,600-2,000 vertical feet. Duffy said the ski area will have the feel of Northstar.

Toward the reservoir there is more sun where two 18-hole golf courses will be built.

"We think it will be possible to ski in the morning and golf in the afternoon," Duffy said with a smile. "It will be an exciting area."

Housing will be built in neighborhood clusters with open spaces. There will be no housing built along the sides of the fairways as is often planned in order to recoup building costs. Fairways will be long and narrow taking advantage of the large trees already present. Appropriate thinning for the fairways will provide necessary fire breaks.

"We're not going to have golfing and houses mixed which is the typical way," Duffy said.

Part of the existing upper level forest will be held in Timber Preserve Zones and will be managed long-term for timber production as well as recreational skiing and mountain biking. The lower half will be held in a long-term management plan for harvesting, maintaining it for fire management and generating some revenue and nurturing of smaller trees into large-size trees.

"Most of the trees at the base are remnants of logging and so there are no trees over 100 years old," Duffy said. "Our biggest fear was doing something we would regret so we planned it all the way out to see how it would match the environment and the needs of the area."

Duffy addressed many issues relevant to the pristine beauty of the baseland area detailed on the environmental engineering map. He said DMA will not impose on any wetlands. An eagle's nest was found but it will be left untouched.

"People want to go to see wildlife and 60-70 percent of the project acreage is designated for open space with miles of trails," Duffy said.

He added the concept of working with open space is pretty unusual.

There are no lakeside homes planned for this development and all homes will sit back 200 feet from the reservoir edge. The homes are planned to be 2,500-3,000 square feet in size; each cluster will have 10-50 homes on 5,000-7,000 square foot lots.

The village square will have the look of a small town and will offer smaller homes 1,000 square feet in size.

The waste water system will meet Tertiary III requirements meaning treated water will be clean enough to drink.

An evaluation of nearby Westwood revealed 30-40% homes were vacant and 15-20% homes were going through a renovation. Some investors are planning to build apartments.

The Burlington Northern Railway is working on the rail system to put in an Amtrak-style train. A depot could be located at Dyer Mountain or Westwood, the latter utilizing the depot-style Lassen County Visitors Center. Other developers in the area are also looking at the Collins Pine rail line to be used commuters.

Duffy said the Chester Airport is updating its facilities and there exists the possibility of using buses to transport people to recreation sites thus minimizing taking up space with parking lots.

Duffy said this would be a new district that would be self-paying. Although Westwood schools would be utilized, keeping education off-site, there are plans for looking at the possibility of developing a hospitality/culinary school on-site.

Three fire stations and possibly three deputy sheriffs will be required to provide coverage.

The draft EIR should be ready by May/June for public review.

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News Releases

>>Environmental review officer extends comment period May 24, 2005	>>Water, traffic and fire protection top discussion of DEIR May 24, 2005
>>Planning Commission convenes in Westwood for public hearing on Dyer Mountain EIR May 10, 2005	>>Doing something new in the mountains May 24, 2005
>>Westwood PinePress Wednesday, March 10, 2004	>>San Francisco Chronicle Thursday, March 29, 2001
>>Westwood PinePress Wednesday, April 7, 2004	>>Paid Advertisement: Lassen County Times Wednesday, October 25, 2000