State ski areas get $4M in infrastructure funds

PHOTOGRAPHER: Stephen Williams

The ski areas run by the Olympic Regional Development Authority will benefit from $4 million in infrastructure funding announced Wednesday by Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo.

Gore Mountain in North Creek, Whiteface Mountain in Wilmington and Belleayre in the Catskills may all see new spending to “perform lift maintenance, building maintenance, and repair critical infrastructure,” according to Cuomo’s announcement.

Further details are still pending. ORDA is taking over management of Belleayre from the state Department of Environmental Conservation as part of this year’s budget.

“ORDA will be reviewing all of its facilities and venues to evaluate all of the needs after this winter as it relates to maintenance, repair and improvements,” said ORDA spokesman Jon Lundin. “That will take a little while before we can come up with a plan as to how to best utilize the funds that will become available.”

The funding was included in announcements about the New York Works program in the 2012 state budget, which Cuomo touts as “designed to reinvent state economic development with innovative new strategy that will put New Yorkers back to work rebuilding the state’s infrastructure.”

“Years of neglect has led to a decline in the appearance, convenience and safety of our parks,” state Sen. Betty Little, R-Queenbury, said in the announcement. “This much needed investment is especially important in the North Country where our parks are a major draw for tourists, and I commend Governor Cuomo for recognizing that.”

The New York Works Fund is providing $89 million to rehabilitate state parks across the state, which Cuomo said represents the single largest infusion in history of capital dollars for New York’s parks.