The Mount Washington Commission is scheduled to vote on the master plan for the mountain’s summit during a meeting Friday.
The planning document sets a course for the mountain’s future, and attempts to balance tourism and environmental protection. A new plan is supposed to be completed every 10 years, but the last iteration was completed in 1970.
This follows two public meetings on the master plan where members of the public provided comments on the draft. Many of those comments raised concerns over the Cog Railway’s proposal to construct upscale accommodations near the summit of Mount Washington.
Some commission members argued that the project was beyond the commission’s purview and that the public hearings were not the appropriate forum for that feedback. Another major point of contention was the timing of an environmental study. Commission Chair Jeb Bradley said the master plan would allow the panel to request funding for the study from the Legislature; members of the public argued a study should be completed before the master plan is approved.
The draft the commission will vote on Friday specifies that a third party would be responsible for completing a summit assessment, which would look at damage to alpine flora and options for restoring it.
The latest draft reflects some changes to the commission’s membership. The meeting will be held at Pope Memorial Library in Conway starting at 10 a.m.