Will plans for private ski area fly this time?

The move to make Elk Meadows Utah's first private ski area has turned into a real battle between developers and residents not happy with the idea of being locked out.

Proposed is a $3.5 billion Mount Holly Club.

The concept is that the rich and famous will buy very expensive property and more expensive homes, which will come with an exclusive ski pass good for any of the three chair lifts, poma lift and the state's only T-bar, which are currently in place, and any future lifts and tows.

Residents are worried about losing access to the ski runs, which is a little puzzling since lifts haven't run since March of 2002.

This is not Utah's first attempt at introducing a private ski area.

Back in the early 1970s there was talk of making Solitude private. Most of the land the resort sits on is privately owned, which made it a likely candidate for a private resort.

This came after different managers came and went and left the resort in shambles and closed, which is pretty much the history of Elk Meadows. Solitude closed in the winter of 1974-75. Elk Meadows, formerly Mount Holley, formerly Elk Meadows/Mount Holley, opened in 1971 as a local ski hill. It closed at the end of the 2002 season,

When Solitude closed, owners, tired of what they called "poor boy" outfits trying to run the resort, offered to sell it to Salt Lake County. The asking price was $1.5 million for 526 acres of private land, lifts and lodges.

A few years before one of the "poor boy" groups presented an impressive master plan, complete with model, of new lifts and lodges and runs. Shortly after the resort closed that winter, they left in the dead of night, taking with them everything that wasn't welded down, including lift chairs, silverware and cafeteria tables and chairs.

Solitude was sold in 1968 and again in 1976 to Dick Houlihan and Hal Louchheim, who built new lifts and new runs and started it on its way to where it is today, a first-class resort.

The Elk Meadows/Mount Holley Club situation is a little different in that it sits on 1,400 acres and therefore has lots of land to sell. Solitude's land was limited to its ski runs.

Beaver residents are also worried about water. The previous owner claimed water and water quality are what stopped him from spending $150 million in improvements.