2009-12-08 - Information mailing #2-2009 - December 2009

Ladies and Gentlemen, Dear members,

We held our last Ordinary General Meeting on December 30th 2008, 12 months ago, and as I wish to keep you informed of what has taken place over the last year in Flaine, and of the views of the Association.

Please note first that the next Ordinary General Meeting will be held on February 22nd 2010.

The documents of the association are now posted on the web site, and some, sent by email to those members who have provided their address.

See the web site link at the end of this document. The use of postal mail will become more and more an exception.

At the beginning of this winter season which I hope will satisfy all of us, I would like to dedicate this bulletin to the development of the resort, in summer and winter.
Here are a few thoughts about: Real Estate, the Heritage, the maintenance of the resort, the development sidecars, the ski domain, the financial capability of the Syndicat Intercommunal de Flaine (SIF)..., and the activities of the Association Flainoise.

 Real Estate

The Flaine resort started development in 2003 with the start of the construction of the wastewater treatment plant.

The purpose of this development is to bring the Syndicat Intercommunal de Flaine (SIF) additional resources to finance current and investment expenses of the Syndicat. But also for the CDA to profit from construction authorities on its land.

This program, formalized by the by-law decree UTN-2003, would increase the number of beds from 9,000 to 14,000.

This program is now underway, despite delays due to the economical crisis.
The first part of Intrawest program was completed in 2008, problems remain for the other parts, that include the shopping center, particularly since the acquisition by Pierre et Vacances.

The Refuge du Golf should be complete late 2009.

The construction of the “Résidence de la Piscine” « Le Centaure » should start in spring 2010, and then the number of new beds will be 2 000 in 2011.

http://www.mgm-constructeur.com/pro...;flaine le-centaure.html

The project « Terminal Neige » has been the subject of a lively debate in 2009, the various positions have been expressed, and during the Extraordinary General Meeting in august 2009, a wide majority of the members voted in favour of the project. We hope this project will succeed because it is a good architectural design and will benefit the resort.

Real Estate projects should improve the quality level of properties in Flaine, particularly in Forum. We expect from them additional resources for the Syndicate, and a development of offers to visitors.

 The Heritage

Flaine may be proud of its huge heritage.

First the resort site, located in a natural bowl in the middle of the Grand-Massif, shows a wide variety of landscapes of landscapes, with an abundant wildlife and flora, an exceptional geology.

The Flaine resort has been a precursor of “integrated resorts”, we had the benefit, but since 1992 Flaine is no more an integrated resort, because economical factors are no more under one owner (formerly the SEPAD).

The difficulties arise because every one is more focused on their own interests.

Its construction had been supervised by a well known architect, Marcel Breuer, that brought a design style using concrete and decorative motifs.

Two of the buildings, Le Flaine and Betelgeuse, are classified in the Heritage inventory.

The intent of the creators to bring art works, a culture center, an auditorium...

We owe that to the Boissonnas family.

The valorization of the site is not enough; for a long time we seemed ashamed of it when we would be proud and take care of this heritage.

 Maintenance of the resort

Flaine has a great architectural potential that has to be maintained and valued. So, a number of us are offended by the lack of maintenance of Flaine Forum buildings, including those that are classified: tidyness of the fronts, storage of trash containers creating an aesthetic and/or sanitary issue.
The shopping center of Flaine Forum is not attractive. A renovation project has been considered for one year, is now submitted for a decision of the co-owners in décembre 2009 or January 2010, let’s hope they won’t be too frightened.

link: Projet de rénovation de la Galerie Marchande de Flaine Forum

There is also a deficiency in the upkeep of the resort. The roof of the church has been damaged for years, the untidyness of the lifts (including concrete) and replacement of damaged access doors, and the streets (that should be improved after any on-going building construction work). link : Letter to SIF, lack of maintenance of the resort.

The repair of the church roof (several holes) is again postponed, to give time to get some government agencies subsidies. The replacement of the glass access door at the bottom of lift n°1 is also postponed , a possible use of the exit door proposed by the SIF has been refused by the representatives.
The pool is another example of a lack of maintenance, we can only wish the new pool building « Le Centaure » will be ready for the winter season 2011-2012.
The front sides of the Forum buildings have to be cleaned, and likely protected by a coating: Aldebaran, Aujon, Betelgeuse, Le Flaine... the last two being classified. We won’t even mention the temporary outside stairs of “Le Flaine” that replaced the terrace, which is a scars on the building.
The lack of tidiness is also a fault of the co-ownerships, the trash containers in the covered way of Flaine Forum create a true hygiene issue, the alignment of trash containers before the classified building “Le Flaine” is shocking.
We are alerted to the coexistence of road vehicles with pedestrians in Flaine. Flaine has been constructed « without cars », which is not the case today. We have been very interested by the experiment of the SIF in February 2009 of a pedestrian way on a part of Flaine Forêt road. We hope that the conclusions of this experiment will lead to a wide deployment.

 The development sidecars

The SIF anticipated properly the investments required for drinkable water supply (new Pierre Carrée plant), and restricted the access road to new buildings to a few hundred meters. Other projects are in study phase.
There are however some difficulties: 
- the lifts raise several concerns: the aspect, the operation, and the capacity. Following a lot of malfunctions this summer (last winter as well), SIF and DSF revised the maintenance organization and we can expect an improvement on this side. But for a capacity increase, we will have to wait a very long time...

The transit to/from Scandinavian Chalets and Refuge du Golf (sold « au pied des pistes », pure lies!), close to “col de Pierre Carrée” is everything but convenient. The new Gerats chair lift and planned “télésiège de la Forêt” provide a proper access to the lower part of “Hameau des Chalets Scandinaves” as well as Intrawest Monsoleil, but ski transit with the upper part of the Hameau and “Refuge du golf” is a crucial issue. The possible solutions are a pedestrian / way on the other side of the road, allowing it to join the ski slope, and possibly a “télécorde” making the return easier. The community won’t fund the whole expense.
The Association Flainoise had obtained from the property developer of “Refuge du Golf” a written commitment that the link would be done without additional shuttles. Meanwhile, the project passed under the control of banks, we have to insist on the link « skis aux pieds » for these buildings.

The construction of « Terrasses de Vérêt » and of a new building close to the chair lift « Les Grands Vans » reduces the room for pedestrians and skiers. We will soon see, that it may be necessary to consider an underground road.

The accomodation of employees and seasonals of the resort, is critical with improvement in sight. The “Grande Ourse”, a true slum, would be renovated during next summer, and a new building is planned behind UCPA (project UCPA / DSF / Terminal Neige for their employees), but this project is blocked by an administrative objection of a Front de Neige resident.
Note also that the UCPA building (close to Eridan) has been renovated last summer.

 The ski domain

Régis Lardennois and myself met at the end of August Frédéric Marion, Director of DSF, which provided us some information about the ski domain development in 2009. Note particularly:

• new chair lift Chariande Express in Samoëns, improving the access to Tête des Saix, and also the link (or return) to Flaine,
• the planting of 1 200 trees in the sectors : Tête des Verts, Gérats,
• the evolution of the ski start area at Flaine Forêt, with the removal of Balachat artificial snow plant (the snow is now coming from the main plant), the move of CATEX used to secure the domain, and the widening of the meeting place for ski schools,
• the completion of renovation of Aup de Véran lift.
• the beginning of the widening of the lower part of « Tourmaline » slope.

link : http://associationflainoise.free.fr...

This won’t replace the « Aujon » chair lift that has been cancelled. We hope DSF will soon begin an update plan of the area « Perdrix », « Diamant Noir » that is no more at level.

  The financial capability of the community

The “Syndicat Intercommunal de Flaine” is in a critical financial situation, having been strangled on this plan by a low return of local taxes by cities Araches, Magland and the département. This situation has lasted 10 years after the withdrawal of Boissonnas family in 1989.
There remains a dispute on the lack of financial return to SIF when Araches sells a building land, the SIF having to fund a part of collective equipment (example : Refuge du Golf), but also the taxes on the revenue of ski lift concessions that are still levied by the department with a low local return.

One of the goals of the resort development goals was to reinforce its financial capability, but the projects are late, but the first return should come in 2010. It will take a long time to recover from this lean period.
The delay of projects that will provide the SIF some financial margin make matters worse.
link : Les finances du Syndicat Intercommunal de Flaine

This financial aspect is of course one reason of the lack of resort upkeep, badly felt by residents and deplorable for the resort image. We think this aspect has to be improved, and allocated a higher priority.

 Action de l’Association Flainoise

The Extraordinary General Meeting held in August has shown the mobilization capability of the Association Flainoise, and we are determined to stand up and be counted as well in other area.
Some isssues are mentionned above, we intend to address them with those responsible for the resort.

We plan to develop cultural actions, that constitutes a part of the statutes objectives of the association. The first action is a contribution to the exhibition on Flaine Architect Marcel Breuer in February 2010.

We started actions to improve the information of association members, a result is shown on the web site on which you can see a lot of information in 2009. This effort is maintained (see the new web site design).

Our Association needs also active members that takes part to a thinking on Flaine development. We are open to other proposals / suggestions, and hope you will be on our side in 2010.

This year, we propose the creation of a Members Directory. It will be submitted to the General Meeting, and it is up to you to check on your membership form if you accept or not to appear, and with what information.

I wish you a merry winter season in our exceptional site.

With my associative feelings.

Pierre TOCQUEVILLE
P R E S I D E N T
07/12/09,

web site: http://associationflainoise.free.fr

Translated with the support of Rita Hanford