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New lease proposed for Tawatinaw

A new lease is in the works between the owner of the Pine Valley Ski Resort in Tawatinaw and Westlock County.
Snow billows around the Pine Valley Ski Resort in Tawatinaw Dec. 10 as snow-making equipment and graters prepare the hill for the 2017 ski sea-son.
Snow billows around the Pine Valley Ski Resort in Tawatinaw Dec. 10 as snow-making equipment and graters prepare the hill for the 2017 ski sea-son.

A new lease is in the works between the owner of the Pine Valley Ski Resort in Tawatinaw and Westlock County.

Westlock County’s chief administrative officer Leo Ludwig said the county submitted a lease with proposed changes to DK Consulting at the end of November. DK and the county agreed on a three-year $2.2 million lease/purchase agreement in December 2015.

DK Consulting’s Dom Kriangkum said he is still negotiating the lease, but hoped it will be completed soon so that the hill will be open for business by Christmas.

Neither the county nor Kriangkum would provide details of the proposed changes, instead choosing to hold their comments until the draft lease is finalized.

“I have to go through all the terms and all the conditions,” Kriangkum said. “I think everything, in principle, is (in the lease) … but I can’t really say anything yet until we get everything all finalized.”

Back in June, council passed a motion 6-1 to suspend the lease/purchase agreement because of site deficiencies. However on Sept. 15, council approved $30,000 worth of repairs, while another $58,000 for the parking lot, backfill around the chalet, and sloping earth would be part of 2017 budget discussions.

“In the original lease, the county had in there that the county had an obligation to complete it,” Ludwig said, referring to drainage and other site issues.

“It wasn’t completed this year (but) it will be completed in 2017.”

Ludwig did not provide budget figures for the ski hill, but did say the current lease is still in place and council would have a special budget meeting this week or early next week to get the provisional budget done by Jan. 1. A final budget would be approved in April, once the county receives school requisitions and linear assessments.

Although, the ski hill and chalet are not presently open, Pine Valley manager Geri Savage said the hall and dorms — which are privately owned by DK Consulting and not part of the lease agreement — are open. The goal is to open the hill by the end of December, she noted

“We’re trying to make snow because the temperatures are cold enough, but we’ve been having some issues with some equipment out here — the snowmaking equipment,” she said.

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