SB217 Dies in the Legislature

What was left of SB217, the Cannon Mountain lease bill, has died in the Legislature after the Senate disagreed with an unrelated amendment the House tacked on the bill last month.

The final version of the bill called for the creation of a hiking corridor over Mittersill and on to the summit of Cannon. The lease, master plan and veterans memorial aspects of the bill were stripped from the measure last month while it was in the House.

Thank you for your support, email, letters and phone calls to state lawmakers. We're told that it made a difference!

While leasing is dead for this year, we're willing to bet that the issue will come up again. Recent calls to privatize Cannon have come from the Senate. With a full third of the Senate membership not running for re-election, it's anyone's guess what that will mean for Cannon and Franconia Notch State Park. Gov. John Lynch, who has always opposed leasing Cannon, also is not seeking re-election.

House Committee Strips Lease Language from Cannon Mountain Lease Bill

The House State-Federal Relations and Veterans Affairs Committee today stripped SB217, the Cannon Mountain lease bill, of its lease, Franconia Notch State Park/Cannon master plan and veterans memorial sections, leaving only the original hiking corridor language intact.

It also attached unrelated legislation to the bill. The measure will face the full House on May 15.

To see the amended bill, click here.

This potentially means the end of lease talk for this legislative session. But it also might mean that the issue will be brought up again next year.

'Whistleblowers' Find Long-Established Glade at Mittersill

If you emailed Sen. Jeb Bradley about his Cannon lease bill, you probably got a reply last week that concluded, "whistleblowers have recently brought to my attention significant tree cutting for glade skiing high on the mountain. I brought this presumably unauthorized cutting to the attention of the Division of Parks, which is currently investigating."

The senator was concerned because the area in question is above 2,500 feet on former Forest Service land that's habitat for the Bicknell's thrush, a small songbird.

It turns out that the senator discovered the glade known as Bunny Slope Direct or Pony Slope Direct, which has been around for about two decades.

Did N.H. Lease Mount Sunapee for Below Fair Market Value?

A 1996 federal report found that the U.S. Forest Service wasn't getting fair market value for special use permits it grants to ski areas that lease federal land. The General Accounting Office report said that the Forest Service was getting less than 3 percent of revenue from the holders of special use permits -- such as ski area leases -- while states received between 5 and 15 percent of revenue generated for similar uses of state-owned land. 

The lease for Mount Sunapee, which came less than 18 months after the federal report was issued, includes a small annual base rent payment to the state, plus 3 percent of gross revenues. 

With other states receiving between 5 and 15 percent of revenues for leasing their property, this suggests that New Hampshire is not getting fair market value for the Mount Sunapee lease. And if that's the case, it shortchanges the state park system and Cannon Mountain while providing a sweetheart deal for the leaseholder, CNL Lifestyle Properties, which is now North America's largest owner of ski areas.

The Mount Sunapee lease payments help fund capital improvements at Cannon Mountain. The rationale for leasing Mount Sunapee was to eliminate the need for state-funded capital improvements at both mountains, while retaining the state-run Cannon as an integral part of Franconia Notch State Park. (For background on this topic, click here.)

Although this arrangement is far from perfect -- and one can question the wisdom of using one state park as an ATM for another -- it has addressed Cannon's capital needs. But SB217 puts this in jeopardy by threatening to lease Cannon and diverting Mount Sunapee lease payments for purposes not spelled out in the legislation.

House Committee Takes Critical Look at Cannon Mountain Lease Bill

The House State-Federal Relations and Veterans Affairs Committee took a very critical look at SB217, the Cannon Mountain lease bill, during its hearing yesterday. Members will vote on the bill on May 10.

House Veterans Committee to Review Cannon Mountain Lease Bill on May 3

The House State-Federal Relations and Veterans Affairs Committee will hold a public hearing on SB217, the Cannon Mountain lease bill, at 9:30 a.m. on May 3 in Room 203 of the Legislative Office Building in Concord.

If you'd like to let the committee know your feelings about the veterans aspects of the bill, you can attend or email them at HouseState-FederalRelationsandVeteransAffairs@leg.state.nh.us

The bill calls for the creation of a privately funded veterans memorial to the south of the Aerial Tramway building and relocation of the Kinsman Ridge Trail trailhead.

When it was created in 1928, Franconia Notch State Park was dedicated as a war memorial.

House Committee Passes Cannon Mountain Lease Bill

The House Resources, Recreation and Development Committee this week passed SB217, the Cannon Mountain lease bill. The full House is expected to take up the bill on April 25.

The committee passed the bill as is, meaning that it still calls on the agency that manages state parks to develop a master plan for Cannon Mountain and Franconia Notch State Park. The Department of Resources and Economic Development worked with the Senate to include the master plan provision in the bill.

At the Resources, Recreation and Development Committee hearing earlier this month, the bill's prime sponsor, Sen. Jeb Bradley, said he wanted the master plan provision removed from the bill, citing its cost.