TCH News

Issue date: 10/22/07 Section: Entertainment

While a new hot spot for tourists who love winter sports might have a positive
economic impact in Sussex County, the major developments involved could have just as
many negative effects in the area. New Jersey's premier ski resort, Mountain Creek, will soon transform into a new tourist destination for vacationers all over the country.

With all new trails, parks, and attractions, Mountain Creek has big plans for our humble corner of northwestern New Jersey. Intrawest, owner and operator of the resort, hopes to develop it into a village type setting, much like the popular Vermont resorts Stratton and Killington.

The completion of the Appalachian Hotel at the base of the mountain isn't the only major change to have taken place in recent years. Mountain Creek has finished
transforming both South and Bear peaks into a terrain park filled with various jumps and
rails; it claims to be the largest on the east coast. All of this excitement will cost a pretty penny, though. A full season pass this year is a whopping $600, which hardly seems reasonable for a resort that closed four weeks last January due to weather conditions.

A toll on customer's wallets isn't the only thing these changes will bring about
for Sussex County residents. It's common knowledge that Mountain Creek is as crowded
as our county fair most weekends, but it's not lift lines that are slowing people down.
With all of the changes and new development, traffic in the area has gotten out of hand,
especially during ski season.

It's to be expected that such attractions will bring large numbers of people,
but it seems as though Mountain Creek is growing a little too quickly for the Vernon
area. Our small county roads and stoplights don't lend themselves very well to heavy
traffic. Once the "village" is completed and all of the shops and restaurants are open, one can assume this problem will only increase.

As Sussex County continues to grow with Mountain Creek, residents can expect it to become much more of a tourist area, which will certainly change the semi-rural lifestyle most love about it. New development is popping up all over, from the
possible mall at Ross's corner to the Hooters Restaurant in Franklin. Whether that's good or bad isn't really the most important question because these new changes seem inevitable, but rather how Sussex County deals with them.

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