IS DSAA/SIERRA BUSINESS COUNCIL PUSHING ROYAL GORGE DEVELOPMENT?

Remember the survey Donner Summit Area Association had carried out by a professional survey firm last fall? The responses came back very anti-development www.donnersummitareaassociation.org/DSAA-2007-Summit-Survey-Report.pdf; in fact, Dr. Amelia Caine, the survey consultant said it was rare to see such cohesion as evidenced on the summit in regards to being opposed to development-- people were very satisfied with the way things are www.savethesummit.com/db3/00232/savethesummit.com/_download/solidaritysummit.html! 

From what I'm hearing of the Charette/Prosperity Summit hosted a few weeks ago by DSAA over at Sugar Bowl, it's starting to look like they, with the help of Sierra Business Council, who had a major guiding hand in the charette, are trying to bury the results of that survey. Maybe it's an inconvenient truth, much as global warming is to mountain developers and ski resorts like Sugar Bowl? 

Here's what alarms me. In their materials handed out that day, this gem was included: 

The small Soda Springs community is familiar with proposals for construction of a 950-unit Conservation Community to the south, at Royal Gorge. While plans for the new development are in embryonic stages, the thought of a major development practically "across the street" raises concerns in many. The first reaction to the concept of so many new homes in the area is a logical concern about current residents' lifestyle and the threat of being overrun by people who regard Soda Springs their playground, rather than their cherished community. 

However, there might be another side of the coin, another perspective. Looking at the investments and new energies that the new economic benefits of the proposed development-located somewhere "behind" the 1,000 residential lots of Serene Lakes-the 665 residents of Soda Springs might accept the added traffic flow and welcome the rebuilt wastewater treatment plant, the improved commercial services, the more steady flow of visitors and the promise of sustained construction jobs that might benefit them. 

Nearby growth may not be all that bad. especially if it happens within sufficient distance from the Soda Springs Neighborhood!

Er, are they talking about Royal Gorge LLC's proposed development-and having the chutzpah to call it the oxymoronic "conservation community?" I'm certainly not humming "It's a beautiful day in my neighborhood." In my mind, this almost reads like, "let's stick it to Serene Lakes and Palisades-- we won't notice what Royal Gorge LLC does to their communities over the hill." 

First off, if DSAA is a community group trying to bring together/represent views of folks on the summit (and hopefully the views of the majority, not of the minority pro-development and pro-business interests), then why are they putting this line out? Are they trying to play Soda Springs against Serene Lakes? Since linking more closely with Sierra Business Council are they going to behave more and more like a chamber of commerce? 

This sounds like thinly veiled PR for development all over Donner Summit, wrapped up in the guise of "prosperity". 

Maybe we all need to pay close attention to groups on the Summit posturing as if they're listening to us, and then turning around and pushing development. It would, perhaps, behoove us to remember the fable of the wolf in sheep's clothing.....