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Garibaldi Alpen getting down to the wire

Wolfgang Richter’s Garibaldi Alpen group has until April 30 to show the province it can follow through on its proposal for a four-season ski resort on the slopes of Brohm ridge. But the group is cutting it fine with only a few days to go. The B.

Wolfgang Richter’s Garibaldi Alpen group has until April 30 to show the province it can follow through on its proposal for a four-season ski resort on the slopes of Brohm ridge.

But the group is cutting it fine with only a few days to go.

The B.C. Assets and Lands Corporation not only wants to see a comprehensive plan by the end of the month but it wants it assessed prior to the April 30 cut-off date.

"I am hoping to have it all concluded by the end of the month," said BCAL’s Charles Littledale.

Garibaldi Alpen was granted exclusive rights to come up with a comprehensive plan for the Crown land within a four-year period but suffered a major setback when it lost a key investor over a year ago.

That four-year period expired Feb. 28 but Richer was granted a 60-day extension to his interim agreement with the province.

Littledale said he last met with Richter’s group April 12 but there were still outstanding issues. "There are still requirements they have to meet, requirements we outlined a few months ago."

As of Wednesday, April 18, no further meetings had been scheduled between Littledale and Richter’s group. Those meetings could still conceivably take place before month’s end, however.

"I am available any time," noted Littledale.

He said Garibaldi Alpen needs to present a project plan that outlines how and when the provincial Environmental Assessment process will be completed. As well, the group must show how it plans to complete the masterplan process under BCAL’s Commercial Alpine Ski Policy.

"That plan needs to identify key milestones and how they are going to achieve them and by when and how they are going to fund them," said Littledale. "The funding is going to be a big part of it. They need, of course, to secure investors and funding to government’s satisfaction."

Richter was not available at press time but when he was granted the 60-day extension, he said he was negotiating not just with financial lenders but with people in the real estate development business and ski area operators as he attempted to put a team together that could complete the approval process and then develop the resort at Brohm Ridge.

Should Garibaldi Alpen fail to meet the April 30 deadline, BCAL will be in a position to entertain other proposals for the area. Littledale has said BCAL would re-examine its options for the Brohm Ridge region.

"There is a broad level of interest up there and times have changed. We would have to look at the mountain in today’s context," Littledale said.

BCAL has already received several applications for commercial recreation tenures in the Brohm Ridge area, for activities ranging from heli-skiing, heli-biking and heli-fishing, to snowboarding camps and guided ATV, skiing, snowboarding and snowmobile tours.