BERLIN NH— The just released draft master plan for Jericho Mountain State Park proposes building 136 miles of OHRV trails and associated camping and recreation facilities at an estimated cost of $6.6 million. The park would be developed over five years with all of the trails constructed in the first two years.
Once the park is fully constructed, the master plan estimates it will generate annual gross revenue of $694,000. Using standard economic modeling, that would generate just over $1 million in secondary spending in the region.
The plan, developed by Horizons Engineering of Littleton, was unveiled yesterday to the Jericho Lake Advisory Committee in the morning and at a public hearing at city hall last night.
N.H. Trails Bureau head Chris Gamache said he thought Horizons had done “a very good job on the plan”. The bureau will accept public comments on the draft through Dec. 20. The final plan will be completed in January.
Horizons project manager Walter Elander said there is no facility in the country like what is being proposed at Jericho Lake.
“We broke some new ground in putting this development plan together,” he said. “This is clearly going to become a hub of ATV activity in the North Country,” Elander said.
While early projections estimated the park would offer as much as 250 to 300 miles of trail, Elander said the plan calls for 136 miles of trail, which he described as fairly intensive use of the 7,200 acre property. He said the goal is to put a minimum of 500 feet between trails.
“When you’re out in the woods on your machine, you’re out on your machine in the woods,” he said.
Most of the trails, or 70 percent, will be designated as blue or moderate in terms of the level of difficulty. Twenty percent will be easy or green and the remaining ten percent will be black or most difficult.
The 136 miles will primarily be ATV trails with 4.5 miles of trail for 4-wheel drive vehicles, a one mile Junior ATV trail, and five miles of mountain bike/ATV trail.
Using an average of 3.2 ATVs per mile, Elander said the comfortable carrying capacity of the trail system is 429 active ATV riders. He said the total capacity of the park is 536 riders including 107 non-active riders taking advantage of other amenities. There may be occasional peak days where the park exceeds its comfortable carrying capacity by as much as 25 percent.
Evaluating the site, Elander said it became clear that Jericho Lake would be the core of the entire facility and the primary revenue generator.
“We saw it as a real gem of a location...,” he said.
Centered at Jericho Lake would be a campground, a general store, public washrooms with showers, parking, an ATV wash station, administration building, beach facilities, pavilion and education areas. The campground would include 26 remote sites, 81 RV sites, and 93 tent/pop-up trailer sites.
John Warzocha of Horizons said the schedule for constructing the park calls for getting the trail system developed in the first two years.
In 2007, the plan proposes adding just over 55 miles of trail to the 15 miles already developed. The cost of that construction is estimated at $423,000.
The rest of the trail system would be completed in 2008 along with the remote campsites, half of the tent sites, the restroom building, and utility services to the core area. The budget for the second year’s work is $2.56 million.
In year three, the plan calls for extending the utilities to the camping areas, constructing the administration building, upgrading the beach area, and completing the remaining tent sites. The budget estimate for year three is $1.8 million.
In year four the RV campsites and restroom building would be completed along with four trail-side rest areas at a cost of $987,000. In the final year the general store building and ATV wash station would be built at a cost of $690,000.
Warzocha said Horizons was conservative in developing its cost estimates. It did not assume any volunteer labor in building the trail system and was cautious with revenue projections. The plan calculated a $5 daily user fee.
Still to be determined is how the state will fund the cost of constructing the facility. Warzocha said the plan assumes the cost will be bonded over 20 years. If the bond payments are included in the operating budget, the park will lose up to $500,000 annually for the foreseeable future. If those costs are not picked up, the park will make a slight profit by the fourth year of operation.
Gamache noted the Trails Bureau crew will do some of the trail work which will reduce construction costs. Berlin Mayor Robert Danderson said the state needs to look for sponsors, such as ATV manufacturers, to help offset some of the expense.
Warzocha said the draft plan calls for providing only basic services at the park. Gamache said the state is depending on outside investors to provide services, such as restaurants and hotels, that will not be available at the park. Berlin Economic Development Director Norm Charest said the city has heard from developers interested the Jericho Road area. Danderson said he also expects the park will stimulate second home development in the region which will add to the economic impact of the park.
One potential stumbling block is the need to change state statutes to allow development of the trail system. Current statute requires the trail plan to meet 29 specific criteria. Elander said the trail work slated for the first year meets all the criteria. But completing the system will require some changing of the criteria. Gamache said a work group consisting of state agency heads will be reviewing the statute and proposing changes to the legislature.
Horizons beat out two other firms to develop the master plan for the Jericho Mountain State Park at a bid of $68,950. In addition to Elander and Warzocha, the team also included Berlin native Don Bouchard. In developing the trail system, Elander cited the contribution of North Country ATV Club Trail Master Ted Burns of Stratford.
