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The decision on whether to allow motorized all-terrain vehicle tours on the emergency access road in the Eaglecrest Ski Area has been postponed until the ski area's board of directors updates a 25-year-old master plan for the area, Eaglecrest General Manager Kirk Duncan said Tuesday.

At a meeting last week, 20 people commented on Haines business owner Adam Patterson's proposal for ATV tours on the road; most were against it. Dozens more submitted written comments to the board.

"When you get that much public comment from your constituency you have to take pause," Duncan said.

The proposed tours would take place during summer months and would easily generate an additional $35,000 for Eaglecrest, Duncan estimated.

Many people cited concerns about noise, pollution, erosion, a potential lack of trail management, hikers' safety, grant money the area has received to go "green," the fact that snow machines were denied access to the area after public comment in 2007, the precedent ATV tours could set and the area's general atmosphere.

That public comment demonstrated the need to update the long-term master plan at Eaglecrest to include commercial use, possible real estate development, trail improvements, summer use and other topics, Duncan said.

While the board does have a strategic plan that covers the short term, the long-term master plan was written in 1984 and has not been updated since.

Juneau resident and outdoorsman Delbert "Del" Carnes, who commented at last Thursday's meeting, said he thinks the master plan is a good idea.

"If there's any more development at Eaglecrest, commercial or noncommercial, we should have some type of plan," he said. "Even now, with people hiking up the road, we should have defined trails so there's not just trails going everywhere."

Carnes said he thinks Juneau residents' feelings on ATVs, however, will remain the same.

After locals panned motorized use in the area, Patterson had said he would definitely consider electric ATVs. Patterson couldn't be reached for comment Tuesday.

Duncan said there is a "mixed message" about motorized use in the area. "We clearly stated we didn't want snow machine usage, but when that decision was made there was no road and no possible motorized access," he said. "It's a confusing issue."

With the road now in place, Duncan also said trails at the top of the mountain will need to be "beefed up" to handle an increase in hikers.

Duncan said with the area now supplied with electricity, real estate in the area is a possibility.

Planning, which will include public comment and input, will take place over the next year and will lay out what Eaglecrest will look like in 2030. The board will request an undetermined amount of money from the Assembly for the planning process.

Duncan said he had not spoken to Patterson, but did notify him of the decision.

"He has said he has other options," he said. "I honestly don't know where he'll go forward from here."

In an unrelated change, the Eaglecrest board meeting originally scheduled for Thursday has been postponed until Nov. 11 at 5:30 p.m. in City Hall room 224.

• Contact reporter Mary Catharine Martin at 523-2276 or maryc.martin@juneauempire.com.