This story by Aaron Calvin was first published by the News & Citizen on June 22.
The town of Cambridge’s recent sale of high-elevation land to Smugglers’ Notch Resort has received renewed community scrutiny following the revelation that the resort plans to use the parcel as leverage in negotiations with the state over construction of a potential connector lift with Stowe Mountain Resort.
Plans for a gondola-style lift between Smugglers’ Notch’s Sterling Mountain and Stowe’s Spruce Peak had been kept under wraps for six years until made public by the News & Citizen, and are still in the early stages of development.
Critical to the plan is 72 acres of land purchased by Smugglers’ Notch from the town of Cambridge earlier this month for $50,000. The parcel, located on the east side of Mt. Mansfield in an area known as Thunder Basin, contains no right-of-way access and is at too high an elevation to have development value, but is a popular area for backcountry recreationists.
The tract would comprise the entirety of the Smugglers’ portion of the 164 acres of total land both resorts plan to offer up for conservation in an exchange with the state in the Act 250 permitting process that would allow them to build the lift across state-owned land.
Following the revelation of the connector lift plans, some skiers and recreationists expressed enthusiasm that cooperation between the two resorts could mean a better deal or better access. But others, particularly locals in Cambridge, have voiced some concern that the quiet town — and the village of Jeffersonville in particular — might suffer from a greater connection with Stowe, despite Smugglers’ Notch owner Bill Stritzler’s promise that there are no immediate plans to sell to Vail Resorts, Stowe’s corporate owner.
But he has also said Smuggs is keeping all options open to ensure its future in a ski resort landscape increasingly marked by consolidation.
“My fear is that Smuggs will go into this well-intentioned, but it will be the beginning of the end, and it will only be time before it is swallowed up by Vail,” Sara Lourie, a member of the Cambridge Conservation Commission, wrote in a town forum on June 10. “Stowe would reap the benefits, and Cambridge would bear the costs.”
The conservation commission has not weighed in officially on the land deal and was not consulted in the sale.
As Cambridge residents concerned about what the news from the town’s largest employer could mean took to social media and online forums, attention turned to the Smugglers’ acquisition of town-owned land, a transaction that seemed perfunctory until the public became aware of the land’s true purpose.
Jeffersonville resident and outdoor recreationist Sam Davies laid out the cultural transformation he believed could come to the town in a post titled “Don’t Let Cambridge Become Stowe 2.0,” and called on fellow residents to ask the selectboard to put the closing on hold — the deal was scheduled to go through on June 15 — until the public could weigh in.
In response to residents’ concerns, selectboard chair Jeff Coslett issued a statement saying the deal was already done.
Although the resort didn’t share its confidential plans for the land, the town did know Smugglers’ Notch Resort would use it as part of an Act 250 land swap. The selectboard considered its role to be “limited to the legality of the transaction and entering into a purchase and sale agreement with a willing and able purchaser,” and that the closing date had already been moved up to June 7 before the News & Citizen’s June 1 article regarding the connector lift was published.
Davies was dismayed to learn the window had closed, though he expressed sympathy with the selectboard’s position as the lift plans were revealed just as the sale closed.
“After the revelation that Smuggs intends to use the 72-acre parcel as Act 250 mitigation for the lift construction project, I wish the Cambridge Selectboard had paused to allow Cambridge citizens to weigh in,” Davies said. “If this lift project is approved, it will pave the way for a much cozier relationship between Smuggs and Vail Resorts and could ultimately lead to the outright acquisition of Smuggs. I think a lot of people aren’t aware of what happens when Vail buys a ski area or how the impacts are felt well beyond the slopes.”
While recognizing public concerns with the connector lift project, Coslett argued the sale of land was not the right venue to express them.
“It is clear that a segment of the public wants to have the opportunity for input regarding a proposed gondola connecting the tops of Sterling and Spruce Peak. The sale of the 70-acre tract is not the right forum for this discussion, given the selectboard’s obligations regarding the sale of this tract of land. The appropriate forum for these discussions would be with Smugglers’ Notch management and through the permitting process with the state,” he said.
Selectboard member Peter Ingvoldstad, who worked at Smugglers’ Notch Resort for decades until his retirement in 2008, said many skiers at the resort have long wished for easier access to both Smugglers’ and Stowe.
Ingvoldstad said he also had questions regarding the connector lift like but was skeptical that it would have a community-altering impact on Cambridge.
“Smugglers’ has been there since 1956, and the Mountain Road and the community here is a very nice community,” he said. “We do have some wealthy people who live in the hills around here, too, but they haven’t changed the feel that I’m aware of, of how our community comes together. I think we’ve got a great community.”
Stritzler even hopped into the online forum fray to address concerns.
“I appreciate the thoughtful and respectful input a number of Cambridge residents have shared,” he wrote on June 13. “I want you to know I have the same concerns expressed and will only proceed if I am convinced we have properly mitigated them. Of course, as I have said in other forums, until we have Act 250 approval it makes little sense to spend the time and money to develop detailed implementation plans. As of this date we do not have an ACT 250 application prepared. However, I continue to welcome community input, both concerned and in favor, and promise to receive both thoughtfully, respectfully, and in good humor.”
Land sold
The Thunder Basin tract has been owned by the town of Cambridge since 1986 when it was acquired in a tax sale and sat dormant for decades until the selectboard made a concerted effort to sell off real estate assets last year.
In May 2022, former selectboard member George Putnam made it a priority for the board to sell off the Thunder Basin tract along with a 2-acre parcel on Smugglers View Road. Larry Wyckoff, another former selectboard member who also stepped off the board in March, noted at the time that Smugglers’ Notch Resort was interested in acquiring the land.
The town sold the Smugglers View parcel last November by accepting sealed bids on the property after determining it had no value for residential development.
At the same meeting they approved the sale of those parcels, Wyckoff reiterated that Smugglers’ was “extremely interested” in acquiring the Thunder Basin property for Act 250 mitigation purposes, though the full extent of its proposed use was not disclosed to the board. The resort offered to have the property appraised but Wyckoff said he didn’t think it was necessary and recommended the board proceed with the sale.
Before the town signed off on the sale, Putnam directed town administrator Jonathan DeLaBruere to ask the Department of Forests, Parks and Recreation if it had any interest in the land, as it adjoins Mt. Mansfield State Forest.
In January, DeLaBruere told the selectboard that the department declined and told him they would “work with Smugglers’ Notch if Smugglers’ Notch puts in an offer for the property.”
When asked why the department was uninterested in purchasing the property, which sold for just under $700 an acre, an Agency of Natural Resources spokesperson said that agency secretary Julie Moore requested a full assessment on the land, which she said is standard procedure.
When the department completed its initial review and notified the town of the state’s next steps, it found that the town of Cambridge was already in discussions to sell the land to Smugglers’ Notch Resort, and this “concluded” the department’s involvement with the parcel.
Cambridge residents had 30 days to contest the sale of the land to Smugglers’ Notch Resort and none did, according to Coslett, though the true purpose of how the resort planned to use the land was only known to the public for six days before the sale closed.
State law does not allow towns to make a profit on land acquired in tax sales. Approximately half of the $50,000 earned from the sale was kept by the town to cover delinquent real estate taxes and other fees while the other half was sent to the Vermont Secretary of State’s office and will be available for recovery by the land’s prior owners if they come forward.
Part of the appeal of this tract of land from the resort’s perspective is its high elevation and its potential to provide an appropriate environment for Bicknell’s thrush habitat, a vulnerable and protected bird species whose nesting grounds near Sterling Pond could be disturbed by construction of the lift.
Land swapped
The proposed 2,600-foot-long gondola-style connector lift between the two peaks at Smugglers’ Notch and Stowe Mountain resorts would be built through land conserved the last time the Stowe resort proposed a major development.
In the mid-1990s, Mt. Mansfield Company, which was then owned by the AIG finance and insurance group, offered nearly 1,200 acres of land in exchange for the 25-acre site of Smugglers Notch Campground, which the resort was required to move before being allowed to build what would become The Lodge at Spruce Peak.
According to a Stowe Reporter article published in February 2000 after the deal was approved, the land swapped with the state allowed it to “permanently protect a section of the Long Trail, place a significant portion of the Sterling Pond shoreline into public ownership and provide habitat protection for Peregrine falcons.”
Now, the two resorts are seeking permission for a project that could disturb roughly an acre of that conserved land and are offering 164 acres in tandem for further conservation. The project could also require shifting part of the Long Trail.
Stowe Mountain is offering more than Smugglers’ Notch in terms of acreage, proposing the state conserve an 18-acre section of the Toll Road, a 40-acre piece of land adjacent to its Spruce Peak trails and a triangular 34-acre piece adjacent to Sterling Pond, the only piece around the pond the resort held onto after The Lodge land swap.
Disclosure: Aaron Calvin’s partner works for Smugglers’ Notch Resort.
