West Dummerston, VT – The Connecticut owner of Maple Valley ski area said that he needs more time to devise a business plan for the dormant ski and snowboard resort in southeastern Vermont.

In June, the Dummerston Development Review Board (DRB) sent Nicolas Mercede of MVS Associates, LLC of Stamford, Conn. back to the drawing board to craft a more definitive site plan to reopen the resort that clarifies the list of activities planned for the site and addresses concerns expressed by some of Maple Valley’s neighbors regarding issues including noise from snowmaking equipment and light pollution.

The board’s decision was tabled until their next meeting, scheduled for July 26. At that meeting, however, Mercede told board members that he needed more time to address their needs and expressed confidence that such a plan could be completed in time for their meeting in September.

In addition to resuming skiing and snowboarding day and night at Maple Valley, Mercede’s application calls for a summer mountain biking, fall foliage viewing, concerts, a retail store and a ski/bike repair shop.

Maple Valley first opened in 1963 beside Vermont Route 30, six miles northwest of Brattleboro, and operated through 2001 as one of Vermont’s smaller ski areas and one of its few to offer night skiing. It featured two double chairlifts and a t-bar reaching an elevation of 1,312 feet on Sugar Mountain with a vertical drop of around 1,000 feet. MVS Associates acquired the ski area at an auction for back taxes in 1997.

Mercede’s plan calls for no changes to the mountain’s existing ski trail layout, but he acknowledges that after 10 years of dormancy the base buildings and the lifts will both require repair and renovation. He estimates that the process will take eight to 12 months before the ski area could once again welcome visitors.