Industry News
Mount Bohemia, Michigan, one of the Upper Peninsula’s top ski destinations, is seeking public input on its future development plans after a rezoning request was denied by the the Keweenaw County Board of Commissioners last week. The request would have rezoned 80 acres of land from a Rural Residential District to a Resort Service District to match the rest of the 1,000 acres the resort operates operates on.
Mount Bohemia gave no reason for the requested change, which was a primary motivator for opposition from the public. Lonie Glieberman, President of Black Bear Inc., which owns Mount Bohemia, said during the Board of Commissioners meeting that there were no plans to develop the area, and that the request instead was for “contiguous zoning.” Though the county would still have to approve any specific development plans if the zoning change went through, members of the public that gave comment on the zoning change felt there was a lack of transparency. “You don’t do things just because,” Jim Curtis said in a planning commission meeting. “You do things because you have plans, because you have thoughts, at least down the road. If there are thoughts and plans for what’s going to happen with this property, let’s see it.”
Following the Board of Commissioners decision, Mount Bohemia posted on social media asking for input on what future development projects should focus on. At the time of publication, several comments requested more of a focus on skiing and less of a focus on the other aspects of the resort, like lodging and the Nordic Spa. Many comments echoed the sentiments of the public comments at the Planning Commission and Board of Commissioners meetings, that there is not necessarily opposition to more development at Mount Bohemia, but the public wants to be made aware of specific plans.
With no specific plans for the 80-acre portion of the resort announced, it is unclear if Mount Bohemia will try again for a rezoning, or if they will wait until a specific project is ready to be presented to the public. In the rest of the ski area, Mount Bohemia has been busy, completing replacements of the bottom lift terminal in 2023 and the top terminal in 2024, alongside terrain expansions and upgrades to the Nordic Spa. With colder temperatures in the forecast now, thoughts are shifting away from future development projects and towards what will hopefully be another successful ski season at Mount Bohemia.
