This article by Aaron Calvin was first published in the Stowe Reporter on Nov. 22.
Stowe Mountain Resort and its parent company, Vail Resorts, are seeking approval from the Stowe Development Review Board for the expansion of its paid parking lots.
In a proposal presented at the Nov. 7 development review board meeting, resort officials, with approval from the Agency of Natural Resources, unveiled plans to expand their parking area adjacent to the Midway base lodge and gondola at Stowe Mountain Resort by 86 spaces.
This would mean a jump from 287 to 373 spaces, all of which would be included in the resort’s policy of requiring its non-carpooling skiers and riders to pay for parking on weekends and holidays. The resort began the program last season with a goal of reducing traffic.
The parking plan continues into the current season with agency approval after the resort provided data convincing the state of its positive role in reducing traffic.
At a meeting with the agency in May, Vail representatives provided traffic data collected by the corporation that indicated a substantial number of resort visitors were arriving by shuttle bus and other positive traffic trends.
The parking expansion proposal doesn’t explicitly address it, but the plan seems to be an alternative route for Vail Resorts to expand parking at Stowe after a 286-vehicle parking lot was denied by the board last year.
When asked by the board how the corporation arrived at the number 86 for expanding the mountain’s main lot, director of resort operations Matthew Lillis said the resort was looking to maximize parking onsite without having to create entirely new parking lots, which he said would help with existing parking demand and won’t create additional traffic to the mountain.
Data was included with the proposal to support this argument.
The board asked other questions about lighting and how the parking would affect the mountain’s comfortable carrying capacity, questions Lillis and his consultants weren’t prepared to answer, prompting the board to plan to return to the matter at its Dec. 5 meeting.
