Here’s a recap of yesterday’s House Resources, Recreation and Development Committee hearing on SB217, the Cannon Mountain lease bill. The bill calls for the state Department of Resources and Economic Development (DRED) to develop a master plan for Franconia Notch State Park and Cannon Mountain, including determining whether leasing Cannon to the private sector is in the public interest. It also would create a hiking trail up Mittersill and over to the summit of Cannon and develop a veterans memorial near the base of the Aerial Tramway.
Sen. Jeb Bradley, the bill’s prime sponsor, was not pleased that DRED estimated the master plan would cost $325,000. He claimed the agency could do an “internal” master plan within the confines of its existing budget. Bradley asked the committee to amend the bill by removing the master plan section and to move forward with just the hiking trail and veterans aspects of the bill. He also criticized the way Cannon is run and said it was clear that the leasing component of the bill was dead for this year.
Bradley’s amendment request seemed to surprise both the committee and DRED officials, who had worked with the Senate to craft a compromise bill that was acceptable to both sides.
At the end of the hearing, the committee called Cannon Mountain General Manager John DeVivo to testify again and asked him whether he would mind if the committee recommended that the full House kill the bill. DeVivo told the committee that just when DRED thought it had made progress to address the Senate’s concerns, Bradley’s amendment request “pulled the rug out from under us.” Nonetheless, DeVivo expressed support for the master plan that was in the bill submitted to the House committee. DeVivo noted that no planning consultant group would create a master plan that carves Cannon, the primary component of FNSP, out of the park.
DRED Commissioner George Bald went over the history of the Mount Sunapee lease, which was intended to provide funding for capital improvements at Cannon.
Susan Arnold, who chairs the State Park System Advisory Council, spoke in support of the master plan, as did Will Abbott of the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests. They both pointed out that in fiscal 2011 Cannon and Franconia Notch State Park provided nearly $10 million of the $18 million total revenue of New Hampshire Parks and Recreation. And both called the $325,000 cost of the master plan a bargain and worthwhile investment in protecting the jewel of the state park system.
State Rep. Kathy Taylor, of Franconia, gave a presentation on the culture of Cannon Mountain, which was put together by Cannon skier Ellen Edersheim.
Steve Weber, New Hampshire Fish & Game Wildlife Division Chief, talked about the need to protect wildlife and endangered bird species along the proposed Mittersill hiking corridor.
