The future of the Charlotte Pass ski village remains uncertain with management refusing to accept a temporary lease extension from the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service before a new agreement in 2017, prompting management to cry foul play and launch an online petition.
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In late June, NPWS offered the owner of Charlotte Pass a 28-month extension to the existing agreement which was established in 1974 and is due to expire on June 30 next year.
A NPWS spokeswoman said an "open and transparent" expression of interest process for a new lease arrangement effective from October 2017 would be launched should Charlotte Pass agree to the extension.
“There is nothing in the situation with Charlotte Pass Village Pty Ltd that would support directly negotiating with only one commercial party for a new long-term lease,” she said.
But Charlotte Pass general manager Lachlan MacLean said "the current extension offer includes a requirement to hand over assets at the end of the extension period to NPWS”.
“Expecting [the owner] to hand over his assets is totally ludicrous – there’s no precedent for it and that’s why we’ve said it’s unfair,” he said. “There has certainly been a line drawn in the sand and no one is budging."
Mr MacLean said the owner of Charlotte Pass had been in talks with NPWS for more than seven years to renew the existing lease and in turn be able to renew the sub-leases for the lodges.
“We’re at a watershed stage in the business right now, as there is a requirement to spend more money to maintain service levels, and if the owner has to cut back on that we won’t be able to keep up those standards," he said.
The frustration with negotiations led Charlotte Pass to publish a change.org petition late last week, which called on supporters to lobby NSW Minister for Environment Robert Stokes to instruct the national parks authority to renew the lease with Charlotte Pass.
In the petition, management said it was "not being treated in the same way as other leases which were recently renewed by the National Parks and Wildlife Service for the Perisher Ski Resort and all other leases in the Perisher range area".
Charlotte Pass – which has 12 full-time staff during the off season and 100 during the ski season – is the head lease-holder with the NPWS and a number of commercial lodges hold sub-leases under the existing agreement.
Mr MacLean said it would be “a disaster for the industry” if Charlotte Pass was left without an operator in June 2015 and “a very poor outcome for the government”.
He said there was no precedent for an open tender process at Charlotte Pass during its 40 years of operation and the actions of the NPWS had left management confused.
"The company has done everything it has been asked to do and given the government every confidence in its operations, so we just cannot understand why this is happening," he said.
The NPWS spokeswoman said "reviewing the current commercial head lease for the Charlotte Pass Village Pty Ltd company without undertaking an open and transparent process would be inconsistent with NSW government procurement and probity principles”.
"It's a shame that this resort should be affected because of bureaucrats who have probably never used this fantastic resort, which is ideal for the elderly, people new to skiing and young families," one commenter said.
"It would be a great loss for Australia's already small ski and snow industry, especially considering Charlotte Pass's unique, ambient, village-like atmosphere," another said.
