A steering committee was to meet in Squamish April 4 to hear formal presentations from Grand Adex Resorts Inc. and Garibaldi Alpen to develop Brohm Ridge as a ski area. Al Columbo, of the Ministry of Lands, said this week a final decision on whether either company would be asked to enter into an interim development agreement with the province should be made some time in May. The two companies submitted detailed proposals for development of Brohm Ridge by the March 31 deadline. The steering committee, made up of representatives from the Squamish-Lillooet Regional District, the District of Squamish, the B.C. Investment Office and the Ministry of Lands, heard the formal presentations Thursday and now must decide whether to put either proposal to a formal technical review. Columbo said a decision on whether a technical review is needed should be made by mid-month. If the technical review is required that would likely take between four and six weeks. Wolfgang Richter’s Garibaldi Alpen has spent years attempting to reach some agreement with the province to develop Brohm Ridge as a ski area. The province's ski area policy process began in February 1995 when Garibaldi Alpen filed an expression of interest. B.C. Lands then issued a public call for expressions of interest in the area. Three proposals were received. After preliminary reviewed by the steering committee last fall a proposal by the Black Tusk Snowmobile Club was rejected. Garibaldi Alpen and Grand Adex were invited to submit more detailed proposals by last Sunday’s deadline. Grand Adex has ties to Concord Pacific, the company developing the former Expo 86 site in Vancouver. While there is interest in developing Brohm Ridge some in the industry feel the site is not viable as a ski area. Al Raine, the province’s ski area co-ordinator in the 1970s, says the province has at least two studies it has commissioned which say Brohm Ridge is not viable.
