OGDEN — As Snowbasin reps move ahead with planned upgrades to the Huntsville-area ski resort, the long-term vision of developers is coming into clearer focus.

It’s big, as resort reps indicated when they unveiled plans last September for a 300-room Club Med hotel serving the ski facility.

Notably, around 2,400 housing units are envisioned, including 1,529 around Earl’s Lodge, the main gathering spot at the resort, plus a second hotel with 150 rooms. More units would be developed further afield, including as many as 297 on land Snowbasin owns closer to Huntsville.

“We anticipate a large variety of different lodging experiences, which would likely include hotels, townhomes and condominiums,” Snowbasin said in a statement in response to a series of Standard-Examiner questions on the plans. The 2,400 or so units are contemplated over the long haul on Snowbasin’s scattered land holdings in and around the resort.

That may be a lot, but such development wouldn’t occur overnight. The most immediate plans call for construction by 2024 of the 300-room Club Med hotel southeast of Earl’s Lodge on the grounds of the Old Day Lodge.

The other construction around Earl’s Lodge, “can only be estimated, but is anticipated to take decades,” Snowbasin said. “Timing will depend on market conditions and acceptance.”

Long-term plans also contemplate as many as 297 housing units on land around the State Route 39-Trappers Loop Highway intersection closer to Huntsville. Snowbasin owns 402 acres of land on the south side of S.R. 39 at the location, according to online county property records.

Another 502 units are envisioned in an area “with direct ski access” that sits about a mile southeast of Earl’s Lodge. A smaller development area sits east of Trappers Loop Highway east of Snowbasin.

Even if the plans take years to come to fruition, reps of the developer overseeing the work are laying the groundwork. On Tuesday, Weber County commissioners approved a request for tweaks to Snowbasin’s development agreement with the county, which sets out the long-term development vision.

It was first crafted in 2011, and Snowbasin on Tuesday sought and received change to the plans that would enable project developers to make tweaks to the development agreement in consultation with Weber County Planning Division staffers. Otherwise, changes would have potentially required the attention of commissioners, a more time-consuming process.

“I fully support this,” Weber County Commissioner Gage Froerer said when officials took up the amendment request. “I firmly believe Snowbasin’s motivation is what’s best for Weber County.”

Snowbasin, one of three ski resorts in Weber County along with Nordic Valley and Powder Mountain, is a “critical component” of the county, he said.

Also on Tuesday, commissioners approved a petition put forward by Snowbasin seeking formation of a special water district to service the resort as it expands, the Trapper’s Loop Water Improvement District. The district would be a new political entity that could levy taxes and charge fees to cover the cost of installing water infrastructure.

The water district “is being created to service development at Snowbasin resort, primarily to service lodging and other uses related to the resort expansion,” Snowbasin said.

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