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Future proposed developments at Spirit Mountain. Barr Engineering.

After years of observing city politics, I have noticed that the city has two different strategies when addressing financially difficult situations. In some cases, the city economizes and cuts back; in others, the city devotes endless resources to the problem in hopes of solving it. The Spirit Mountain Recreation Area is in the second category.
By 2014, years of poor weather and an inability to control costs had put the ski hill in a precarious financial position that was impossible to ignore. Former executive director Renee Mattson resigned a few weeks before the problems became public. In the following two years, new executive director Brandy Ream instituted cost-saving measures and introduced new marketing and pricing strategies, which has improved Spirit Mountain’s bottom line, but the ski area still requires a substantial operational subsidy from the city—$300,000 last year and $250,000 this year. This is in addition to the $645,700 the city pays each year for capital improvements at the ski hill and the $1.2 million line of credit the city extends to Spirit Mountain, which has been maxed out for years.
The weather-dependent operation simply cannot seem to catch a break, weather-wise; as if half a dozen poor winters in a row weren’t bad enough, this past Memorial Day weekend, which Spirit Mountain had hoped would give the summer a strong start at the Adventure Park, was ruined by nonstop rain.
Oddly, though, since 2009, through bad times and worse, Spirit Mountain has expanded. Before her departure, Renee Mattson developed the Spirit Mountain Master Plan, which was supposed to make the ski hill more “self-sustaining.” Mattson oversaw construction of an alpine coaster, a zip line, a mini golf course and the Grand Avenue Chalet—all of which the city paid for. During Brandy Ream’s tenure, the city and state teamed up to build Spirit Mountain a $6 million water line for snowmaking. In 2014, the city gave Spirit Mountain $80,000 to build a new mountain bike trail.
The expansion continues today. On May 24, 2016, the city planning department released an Environmental Assessment Worksheet (EAW) analyzing more developments planned for Spirit Mountain within the next year and a half.
For the latest round of development, it’s all about trails. Foremost among the projects is a new Nordic skiing loop at the base of Spirit Mountain and a new trail connecting that loop with the Nordic trails that already exist at the top of the hill. The new loop will consist of 3.2 kilometers of lighted Nordic trail with snowmaking capabilities; the connector trail will be about 1.9 kilometers, without snowmaking or lights. The cost to build these trails is estimated to be $1.5 million, of which the city is paying $1 million; the Duluth Cross-Country Ski Club (DXC) has committed to fundraising the remaining $500,000 and making the Spirit Mountain trails DXC’s center of operations.
As with most Spirit Mountain developments, the ski hill is paying nothing for the Nordic project. They will be responsible for grooming the trails and maintaining the two miles of new snowmaking pipe, 80 lights and 44 snowmaking units that will be installed. In response to noise concerns from neighbors on nearby Bessemer Street, new, quieter groomers will be used. Spirit Mountain will also be responsible for those.
Next, the EAW discusses mountain bike trails. Ten new miles of mountain bike trails are planned within Spirit Mountain’s borders—cross-country mountain bike trails, downhill mountain bike trails, and a special, all-weather mountain bike trail, the first of its kind in the city. These trails will connect to the Duluth Traverse, the city-wide network of mountain bike trails that has been growing like the roots of an invasive species for several years now, snaking and pushing its way into virtually every patch of formerly trail-less green space in the city.
The report states that the all-weather trail “could also be multi-use and suitable for a variety of other human-powered uses such as trail-running, hiking, dog walking, bird watching, cross country skiing and/or snowshoeing.” This claim is made for most mountain bike trails, despite the fact that they are clearly designed for mountain bikes. They go up and down over manmade features, zig-zagging back and forth and zooming around hard-packed banked corners in ways that would give bird watchers nightmares.
Next on the list is the Superior Hiking Trail, which passes through Spirit Mountain and Duluth on its way up the North Shore. Two spurs will be constructed, one connecting the SHT to Spirit Mountain’s campground at the top of the hill and another connecting the Grand Avenue Chalet to the Western Waterfront Trail at the bottom.
The fourth trail-related improvement in the EAW is a “rail-to-trail” initiative, which will convert a mile of abandoned DWP railroad grade into an ADA-accessible trail connecting the Grand Avenue Chalet with Gogebic Street.
Fifteen new bridges and 16 new culverts of varying sizes are planned for stream crossings on the new trails. One problem wet area on the upper Nordic loop will have the trail routed around it.
Also, a new 18-hole disc golf course is planned, “interspersed amongst the slopes and surrounding forest areas of the existing alpine downhill runs.”
The purpose of the EAW is to determine whether a more intensive Environmental Impact Statement will be needed before the projects can move forward. The report makes it sound like one will not. Trails don’t affect a lot of land area. The map of Spirit Mountain showing all the improvements resembles a plate of spaghetti that somebody threw at the wall, but the 17 miles of new trails are only expected to affect about 30 acres of land in total—not a huge proportion of Spirit Mountain’s 1,800-acre area.
The EAW also looks ahead to the next wave of development: “The Spirit Mountain Recreation Area Master Plan identifies future development projects such as expanded campground facilities, tubing hill, upper chalet parking enhancements, and future multi-use recreation development northeast of the lower chalet. The dates and funding sources for these potential future projects are unknown at this time.”
The EAW may be viewed at duluthmn.gov/community-planning/eaw. Public comments will be accepted until July 13.

Dipping deep into the half-and-half

The water line went over budget. In 2014, the city council pledged $2.1 million for the project. Later the amount mysteriously grew to $2.3 million. When the job finally wrapped up last fall, according to numbers recently released by the city, the project actually cost $2.532 million. The money comes from the half-and-half tourism tax fund, which is turning out to be quite a friend to Spirit Mountain.
The half-and-half tax refers to half-percent taxes collected on restaurant meals, bar tabs and hotel rooms in the city. When the half-and-half tax was established by the state in 2014, the enabling legislation stated that the city could use the tax to raise $18 million for natural resource and recreation projects in the western part of the city. Since that time, many projects have been undertaken, but none has gobbled up more of the pie than Spirit Mountain. In addition to the $2.532 million for the water line and the $1 million promised for the Nordic Center, other Spirit Mountain-related allocations include $155,000 to build the all-weather mountain bike trail and $745,000 to improve the mountain’s access to the St. Louis River.
So far, at least $4.432 million has been earmarked for Spirit Mountain from the half-and-half fund, which accounts for 25 percent of the entire fund. And, of course, there’s no guarantee that the earmarked projects will come in on budget—witness the water line’s 20 percent inflation. Spirit Mountain’s slice of the pie could easily grow.
Spirit Mountain is a big outdoor destination for Duluth, but is this amount of investment justified? Is it fair to give Spirit Mountain so much of the half-and-half tax when other eligible projects are waiting?
Smart or foolish, justified or not, the investment at Spirit Mountain will continue, and they will get as much of the half-and-half tax as they need.

Jumping pillow

One popular innovation introduced by Brandy Ream is a $39 wristband that visitors can use for a day of unlimited access to rides and attractions—alpine coaster, zipline, mini-golf and scenic chairlift rides. To build wristband sales, Spirit Mountain has been looking for ways to add value to the Adventure Park. The solution they came up with was a jumping pillow—“a trampoline meets a bouncing house,” is how Ream described it to the Spirit Mountain board on June 16, 2016.
They’re giant, colorful “pillows,” flush with the ground, that people jump on. Jellystone Parks and KOAs have them. So does Wisconsin Dells. A 38 x 30 foot jumping pillow (the smallest offered, and probably about the size that Spirit Mountain’s limited amount of level ground will allow them to build) costs $12,000, delivery and installation included. It is warranted to last five years.
After discussing liability issues, the board directed Ream to make the purchase. It is hoped the jumping pillow will be in place at the Adventure Park by the Fourth of July.