Balsams Renovation Plan In Jeopardy

DIXVILLE NOTCH, N.H. -- The new owners of the Balsams Grand Resort said Thursday that the resort's renovation project is on hold because of a planning board decision.

Co-owner Dan Hebert said the Colebrook Planning Board approved three of four subdivision plans but wants an environmental impact statement, an engineering and cost analysis, and a bond related to the fourth one.

Balsams View, the owners of the resort, said the project can't go forward without the subdivision approval. It said key elements of the project will be delayed by at least a month and worried that, given the North Country's short construction season, the project could be permanently disrupted.

"At this late hour, the board's delay has forced us to put the entire project on hold, with the exception of the auction, which is to take place on May 12," Hebert said.

The subdivision plan relates to a 28-acre parcel that had been used as a landfill and may have been used by the Tillotson rubber plant to dispose of manufacturing waste.

Hebert said Balsams View plans to retain ownership and responsibility for the land under a separate company but needs to subdivide it from the resort's main property.

The resort would reopen by summer of 2013 under the renovation plan.

Other news on the development: Union Leader