Hatcher plan too risky

We understand the Mat-Su Borough is desperate to develop the Valley as a year-round tourist destination, but it seems its eyes may be too big for its appetite when it comes to developing a ski area at Hatcher Pass.

Not a new idea, bringing more skiers to the Valley has a new life now that the Mat-Su Borough itself seems bent on developing the area to attract more winter visitors and dollars.

Now we learn the Borough is moving forward with a scaled-down plan that includes a pair of chair lifts, a lodge and snowmaking. Borough Manager John Duffy says this decision, still subject to an environmental impact statement, is bolstered by an assessment from a Juneau-area ski area manager that a Hatcher Pass development would likely pay for itself.

We sure hope so. With an initial cost estimate of about $18 million, it will take a lot of skiers spending some serious cash to make up that investment, plus cover operating expenses. We won’t count the dollars local residents would spend.

Although it’s a valid point that the Borough is better served with locals spending their money here rather than in other communities, the purpose and selling point has been to increase tourism and attract visitors to the area from outside the Borough.

Although pleased the Borough has consulted with Kirk Duncan, who manages Eaglecrest Ski Area, we wonder if Duncan is the best source to help base such a financial decision. The Borough estimates 700 to 1,500 skiers a day would hit the slopes at Hatcher Pass, but how accurate can we take this projection to be? This is the same administration that would have us believe the Borough will make money operating a Knik Arm ferry simply because it wants to.

While we’ve no doubt Duncan runs a whale of a ski area near Juneau and is a valuable resource for anyone wanting to start up their own lifts, basing such a large investment in time, money and Borough resources on his opinions about how tourists would react to a ski area here seems foolhardy.

We wholeheartedly support advocating the Mat-Su as a tourism destination and want to support a reasonable plan that would bring skiing to Hatcher Pass while still preserving the area’s natural splendor and beauty.

This proposition, however, we simply cannot support as it stands.