Powder Ridge Owners Hope to Expand Pond for Snowmaking

Powder Ridge Mountain Park and Resort has taken an important step towards returning skiing to Middlefield.

On Dec. 19, the ski resort filed an application with the town's inland wetlands and watercourses agency to dredge a pond on the property previously used for snowmaking.

"We believe it's a maintenance project, an expansion project," Matt Sanford, a professional wetland scientist with Milone & MacBroom of Cheshire hired by the ski resort, told the commission.

"Actually, it would improve the wetland waterbody that's there now by deepening it, by expanding it, by providing additional fishery habitat in that area and by not diminishing that particular wetland habitat," he added.

If approved, the application would allow the ski resort to dredge the pond of years worth of built up sediment.

Sanford said the deepest areas of the pond would be increased from nine feet to 11 feet. The dredging would allow the ski resort to double the pond's holding capacity, from four million gallons to eight million gallons, he said.

In 2002, then Powder Ridge owner Kenneth Leavitt was fined $1,050 by the commission after he installed 3,000 feet of pipe to draw water from Lake Beseck after the pond all but dried up.

Current owner Sean Hayes has said he does not intend to draw water from the state owned lake and that improvements to the pond would allow the ski resort to recapture most of the runoff from the mountain.

In addition, the ski resort has asked the commission to waive a permit application fee. Sanford said the permit would cost about $20,000.

The commission's attorney will review the application, which will be discussed at its next meeting.

Powder Ridge is scheduled to open for skiing next winter.