BURKE VERMONT
Burke 2000, owner of the Burke Mountain Ski Area, announced Friday a multimillion dollar capital improvement plan for the upcoming ski season.

The plan calls for the installation of a new high-speed detachable quad chair lift, expansion and upgrades to its snow making system, improvements to the Sherburne Base Lodge and trail work.

A Leitner-Poma chair lift will replace the Sherburne Chair, a fixed grip double chair that now services the lower mountain. The new lift will be a little shorter, according to Dick Andross, president of ski area operations, and will be a four-minute ride to the top. The detachable quad travels 1,000 feet per minute, Andross said, but is barely moving when skiers are loading and unloading. The new unloading area is not as steep.

"It's a better situation for any skier," Andross said.

Engineering and design work will begin immediately and construction will start in July, continue through the fall and be completed for an early December opening, according to a press release from the ski area.

Improvements to the snow making system will be made on both the upper and lower mountain. The new system calls for the replacement and addition of pipes, an upgrade in water pumping capacity and the installation of energy-efficient guns.

"These energy-efficient guns use less air, which is the expensive part of snow making, and make more snow," Andross said.

A new connector trail will be cut, linking the drop-off area of the new high-speed quad with the base of the existing Willoughby Chair, which carries skiers to the top of the mountain.

Improvements to the Sherburne Base Lodge are mainly logistic and cosmetic, Andross said. The kitchen will be remodeled to make it more efficient, he added.

"Our goal at Burke is to offer a premier skiing product for our customers," Andross said. "The improvements we're announcing today are part of our ongoing commitment to that goal."

New development at Burke began last year, with the addition of four new units at the Powderhorn condominium complex, the first additions in almost 15 years. Another four units are being built this summer. Work on new condominiums at the Bear Path complex will begin in the fall of 2005 or spring 2006, the release states. Bear Path condominiums first started going up in the late 1980s.

NORTHEAST KINGDOM VERMONT
As more and more out-of-state buyers snatch up real estate, local buyers are feeling the crunch of high prices and the pressure is on towns to reassess properties.

Property is selling for amounts way above the value assessed by the town, in some cases, three times as much. A New Hampshire buyer paid $88,000 for a camp and one acre in Burke which was valued at $13,700. Condominiums on Burke Mountain are selling like hot cakes for very high prices. A Burkeside condominium, assessed by the town at $55,000, sold for $220,000 to an out-of-state buyer earlier this year. Another unit assessed at $45,500 sold for $175,000 to a Massachusetts buyer.

"Things are going nuts," East Burke real estate agent Andrea Kupetz said recently. Kupetz said she sold a one-acre trailside lot in December for $32,000. Now, similar lots are going for $90,000, she said.

Kupetz attributes this renewed interest in Burke property to anticipation of what might happen at the Burke Mountain ski area after fives years of stability and to Kingdom Trails, an organization based in East Burke which offers 110 miles of trails for hiking and biking. "Kingdom Trails brings a lot of people here," Kutpetz said. "More than people realize."

They come, look around and want a piece of the Kingdom.

Tim Tierney, executive director of Kingdom Trails, said about 12,000 visits were recorded last year. At least half of these visits were people from out of state or the country. "People are coming in all the time and asking if I know of any property for sale," Tierney said.

Sales are not limited to Burke. Other towns are experiencing the same phenomenal property deals. Buyers from Virginia paid $575,000 for a house and 55 acres on Sugar Maple Road in Lyndon. The town had the property assessed at $191,200. According to the transfer papers, the new owners plan to use the house as a second home. "They thought it was a steal," Assistant Town Clerk Linda Lee said.

Lyndonville real estate agent Patty Emery said these types of sales have been happening for the past four years. Low interest rates are just one reason, she said. "Old money is being released to baby boomers who want to invest in real estate rather then the stock market," Emery said. She, too, said Burke Mountain and Kingdom Trails have attracted these people to this area. "We don't have enough to sell," Emery said.

For those who do decide to sell, it is hard to move up, she added, because everything is so expensive. The prospect of wind turbines on ridge lines does not seem to bother people looking to buy. "When I tell them there could be wind towers nearby, people don't seem to care," Emery said.

Emery disagreed that local, young couples are being priced out of the market. There are lending programs that can help first-home buyers, which offer low interest rates and low or no down payments, she said. "Payments are less than you think because of the low interest," she said, "and you can still buy a house for under $200,000."

Emery said she has been listening to economists over the past year who predicted that this boom was going to bust by now. But so far, that has not happened. "The party's not over yet," she said.

New Developments

When Professional Real Estate Services of Fall River, Mass., announced plans to build the first four of eight townhouses at the Powderhorn Village on Burke Mountain last fall, developer Jack Dator offered a preconstruction deal: a two-bedroom unit for $219,900 and a three-bedroom unit for $269,900. All four units were sold before they were completed.

These prices might seem high to locals, but compared to other areas they are a steal, Dator said at the time.

Construction of the second group of four townhouses is scheduled to begin in May, Dator said. These units will be more expensive, with a three-bedroom unit selling for $319,900. While none of these has sold yet, Dator said there is a lot of interest.

Town Reappraisals In The Works

Struggling to come into compliance with Act 68, the state's education funding law, towns are reappraising properties to bring them into line with selling prices. The state uses a formula called common level of appraisal to determine how much a town will be taxed for education. The CLA compares what property is selling for and what the town has the property assessed at. If the state determines that market values are higher than town values, the amount of education taxes due goes up.

Lyndon has just completed its town-wide reassessment and property owners will be notified soon. Burke will begin looking at properties in June, while many other towns are still in the process.