Mount Sunapee Resort has postponed construction of a new parking lot along its access road in Newbury until the spring, but if local environmental groups have their way, the project will remain stalled until further water testing paints a clearer picture of whether it poses a contamination risk to Lake Sunapee.
Vail Resorts has long planned to expand parking on the access road to Mount Sunapee, initially proposing it in the fall of 2000 and receiving conditional approval in the summer of 2022.
The project required the resort to obtain several permits, including for groundwater discharge, wetlands and alteration of terrain, all of which have been issued, said Emily Martin, Vail’s director of East Coast communication.
“Requirements were met and we have state approvals,” Martin said of the planned 275-space parking lot. “But, the resort made the decision to not begin construction,” because the work would not have been completed in time for ski and snowboard season.
Vail Resorts operates Mount Sunapee under a lease agreement with the state.
Vail’s New England holdings include Okemo, Stowe, Mount Snow, Wildcat and Attitash Resorts.
Mount Sunapee Resort has three on-mountain parking lots. On busy days where overflow parking is needed, the resort runs shuttles to the state park beach lot, about a mile from the base lodge.
During last year’s ski season, the beach parking lot was opened for a total of nine days. In the past 10 years, it has relied on the beach parking lot for about four days per year, according to the annual operating report it submits to the state.
“The plan will be to review the construction schedule with our partners in the spring of 2025,” Martin said.
As the permitting process for the parking lot moved forward this summer, local conservation groups voiced concerns about the loss of 5 1/2 acres of forested land for the parking lot, along with alarm about the condition of the resort’s aging wastewater facility.
Constructed in 1970, the wastewater system relies on evaporation from three unlined sewage “lagoons” and the practice of saturating adjacent fields with treated liquefied waste during the non-winter months. Those lagoons and spray fields are directly uphill of the proposed parking lot.
In September, the Newbury Conservation Commission issued a formal complaint to the Department of Environmental Services, said Katheryn Holmes, the group’s chairperson. The complaint states that on one sampling date last June, “E. coli levels were in violation of standards at Beck Brook and at the State Beach, and the beach was closed for several days.” Beck Brook drains into Lake Sunapee at the state beach.
The commission claims that, because the treatment facility discharges waste to surface water, it is required to obtain a pollutant discharge permit from the Environmental Protection Agency, which it does not have.
Mount Sunapee General Manager Susan Donnelly could not be reached for comment on Monday.
The Lake Sunapee Protective Association works collaboratively with Mount Sunapee Resort on issues related to water quality.
“They are aware of our concerns about the outdated wastewater treatment system,” executive director Elizabeth Harper said by email. Harper is also a member of the Mount Sunapee Advisory Committee, which advises the Department of Natural and Cultural Resources commissioner on issues related to Vail’s lease agreement with the state.
“The extent to which there are current issues of contamination is still under investigation,” she added.
The resort has until next June to submit an improvement plan and timeline to DES for replacing infrastructure that is “beyond its service life.” The plan calls for including parts of the wastewater treatment system, according to stipulations contained in a letter DNCR Commissioner Sarah Stewart issued Vail when she approved the resort’s annual operating plan in June.
Concerns about the environmental impact of the parking lot project also have been raised by the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests and the Friends of Mount Sunapee.
“There is growing interest and concern about this issue in our local community,” Harper said. “We are planning to meet again soon with all of the interested parties.”
