By Jodi Hausen,Staff Writer

SANDY RIVER PLANTATION – Saddleback Ski Area received approval this week for a $7.5 million plan to add townhouses, trails and snowmaking.

The Land Use Regulation Commission members were unanimous in their decision Wednesday.

“Everyone seems to be on board” with the resort’s plans, Marcia Spencer Famous, a senior planner for the commission, said Thursday.

Famous said there were no contentious issues, but commissioners had a few questions about fire protection and the effect snowmaking would have on Rangeley’s water district, but their concerns were allayed.

The ski area, which is partly in Dallas Plantation, is southeast of Rangeley.

Workers started clearing trees Thursday for the new condominiums, according to John Cannizzaro, planning and development manager for Saddleback.

“There’s no rest for the weary,” Cannizzaro said Thursday. He attended the commission’s meeting the previous day in Eagle Lake in Aroostook County.

Contractors will be constructing 30 three-bedroom condos next to Rock Pond Condominiums, called Rock Pond II, and 24 one- and two-bedroom units that will be called South Branch. The apartments will be built in phases with six units constructed in each complex this year. Cannizzaro expects they will be ready for the opening of ski season Dec. 17.

They will be all ski-in, ski-out, he said.

The estimated cost for Rock Pond II will be more than $5 million, and for South Branch it will be more than $2.5 million. The ski resort is hoping for some preconstruction condo sales.

Commissioners also approved plans for two new ski trails, relocating one trail and extending the snowmaking system.

The new snowmaking system will allow the resort to create artificial snow on more than 80 percent of the trails, Cannizzaro said.

All the projects slated for last year, including a 38,000-square-foot, three-story lodge, have been completed, he added. Other additions last year were a chair lift, seven trails, more snowmaking and other infrastructure.

He said final plans for a new hotel will be submitted to the commission for its August meeting. The steel and cement three-story building will accommodate studios, one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments that will be sold as time shares. Cannizzaro said the investment for the hotel is an estimated $15 million. They hope to break ground on it in the fall.