Despite efforts at cooling tensions between landowners at The Canyons, Summit County, which enforces the resort's complex development agreement, has been unable to help jumpstart construction of the golf course.
"Everyone is suing everybody else," interim Summit County Manager Brian Bellamy said about the stalled project.
A patchwork of roughly 25 Snyderville Basin property owners came together in the late 1990s to form The Canyons Specially Planned Area, which required the golf course be constructed in 2002.
"There isn't one down there yet," Bellamy said in a telephone interview.
At a hearing Thursday he will ask stakeholders why. The meeting is scheduled June 18 at 9 a.m. at the Sheldon Richins Building, 6505 N. Landmark Drive.
Penalties could be discussed for anyone who hasn't fulfilled their development obligations for roads and the golf course at The Canyons, according to Bellamy.
"We want to find out why it isn't there and what it's going to take to get it done," Bellamy said about the course. "They all signed an agreement back in 1999 and we're just trying to gather information on where they are and what they're doing and what they need to do to move forward."
When The Canyons formed, Summit County approved millions of square-feet of commercial and residential development at the resort. Talisker Corp., which purchased The Canyons from the defunct American Skiing Company, could violate the development agreement if the golf course is not built.
Property owners agreed to build the course through a series of complex land transactions.
"I would imagine there are some who have done everything they said they were going to do, and there are others who have not quite gotten there," Bellamy said. "If not, we want to find out why not."
Bickering among the landowners has usually scuttled past announcements that resort officials were close to breaking ground on the golf course.
"Maybe not everybody has ponied up their land. Maybe not everybody has ponied up their money," Bellamy said. "I don't know who is in default, if anybody is."
Tim Vetter, who is The Canyons vice president for community affairs, said he plans to attend the hearing Thursday. The Canyons is entwined in litigation with Wolf Mountain Resorts, which leases ski terrain to the company.
Meanwhile, creating more summer amenities like golf at The Canyons could help the resort function lucratively all year, said Lee Hindin, who developed Dakota Mountain Lodge at The Canyons.
"I'm hopeful that it just takes getting the people together. I know all the people, they all have good intentions," Hindin said in a telephone interview.
Hindin did not comment about landowner disputes at The Canyons.
"I don't know that anybody is trying to hold this up," Hindin said. "A golf course at The Canyons makes so much sense to me."
Wolf Mountain Resorts attorney Victoria Fitlow insists her client, which is one of the major stakeholders at the resort, has fulfilled its obligations by already conveying land for the golf course.
"[Summit County] sued us for the land and we gave them the land and the suit was dismissed," Fitlow said. "I know Wolf Mountain has given up all the land we're supposed to give up."
A Talisker official was not immediately available for comment.
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