Winter Park Unlocked
Overview of Winter Park Unlocked Project: Master Development Plans to Guide Future Growth
Winter Park Resort has been changing and growing for more than eight decades while remaining a place grounded in authenticity and community spirit. Now, and in partnership with the Winter Park Recreation Association (WPRA), the Town of Winter Park, Alterra Mountain Company, and the U.S. Forest Service (USFS), Winter Park Resort is starting to envision its next big adventure: unlocking what’s possible for a mountain resort of the future – a vision that honors local character and community, connects residents and visitors alike, respects and embraces the natural world around us and ultimately enhances the experience for everyone, both on and off the mountain.
A project like this one is complex and ever-evolving. The Resort is working with partners and designers to be nimble, thoughtful, and sustainable in approach – to make this already amazing place better, and to create a mountain resort and community like no other.
The master development plans will endeavor to:
- Enhance authentic Community Character, honoring who we are and have always been. Our plans are designed to create unique neighborhoods with their own distinct character and intersperse public spaces throughout where our community can gather, recreate, and connect with nature and each other.
- Provide Flexibility for the Future that encourages sustainable, responsible development, using innovative design that is adaptable, so we can focus our resources on what our guests, community, and environment need over time.
- Improve Connectivity through new on-mountain connections, reimagined transportation, mobility, and arrival and parking systems, better connecting the resort to downtown Winter Park and other communities, including Front Range residents and destination visitors, which all leads to more meaningful human connections with nature and with each other.
- Grow a thriving and Vibrant Year-Round Community that fosters diverse year-round opportunities for living, working, and recreating and is consistent with what the community envisioned in the Town’s Comprehensive Plan.
- Honor our Natural Environment, creating a resort that improves our link to our natural surroundings. We will continue to keep nature at the forefront of everything we do through sustainable building practices, improved connection to public trails and green spaces, and better integration of the Fraser River.
- Strengthen a sense of Inclusiveness through improved mobility in and around the resort, and through economic opportunities, housing, services, and employment for a diversity of ages, incomes, and households.
This is a multi-year, multi-phased project. Preliminary plans are considering a wide range of possible improvements and enhancements in the base area, on the mountain, and connecting with downtown Winter Park:
Base Area Master Development Plan –
The Base Area PDP rethinks how people arrive, stay, and recreate at Winter Park Resort, creating a more seamless experience. The Base Area Development Plan includes plans that:
- Develop neighborhoods within the resort with distinct identities to capture and enhance the character of Winter Park
- Improve and update pedestrian and guest mobility in and around the resort
- Update parking and arrival scenarios, making it easier to get here, park, get on the mountain, and access other activities
- Focuses on preserving and integrating the Fraser River to make it a focal point of our resort and improve access for our community and guests to enjoy
- Expand open space, parks, and trails within the base area, turning previously disturbed land back into green spaces and natural environments
- Create an enriched village that is deeply intertwined with nature and its natural surroundings
- Consider new lodging and dining options within the base village, encouraging people to stay and linger a little longet
Mountain Master Development Plan (USFS MDP) –
Winter Park Resort is well known for its diverse terrain across more than 3,095 acres. On-mountain plans are intended to enhance our current terrain, improve connectivity, and expand intermediate and advanced terrain to meet guest needs. The USFS MDP as submitted in 2022 includes plans that:
- Reimagine and redesign our learning area with new lifts and access points, and an on-mountain day lodge for new skiers and riders to have an indoors home-base
- Include additional snow-making upgrades to help ensure we can open more early-season terrain
- Improve and upgrade existing on-mountain restaurants and day lodges to better serve guests
- Expand terrain into Vasquez Main Mountain, including a new dining option at the top of the Wild Spur Express Lift
Connectivity –
A key piece of Winter Park Resort’s and the Town’s redevelopment plans is connectivity. The resort’s Base Area PDP and the USFS MDP both envision how to better connect Winter Park Resort to downtown Winter Park and to other communities along the Front Range and across Colorado’s northern mountains. Public and private transit plans include:
- The aerial transit system (Town Gondola) that connects the downtown up to the mountain and the Discovery Park area, and down to the resort base area
- Mountain passenger rail service in partnership with public and private agencies, including CDOT and municipalities from Denver and Arvada, to Steamboat and Craig
- A new ski-back trail that further connects the resort to the Town
- Enhanced access to public trails and open space
Current Status
The Town is reviewing the application for completeness and will start the public process once the application is determined to be complete.
Town Role
The Town plays two important roles in this effort:
Development Review – As with any other proposed development, Winter Park Resort must go through the Development Review Process of the Town. The process is designed to ensure that the development aligns with the comprehensive plan as well as zoning and land use regulations.
Public Infrastructure Investments – The Town is also considering making investments in public infrastructure to facilitate development in this area. These investments would be funded by a special taxing district called and Urban Renewal Authority. Learn more about URA’s.
