Florida’s first snow park to reopen after shutdown for safety violations

One day after being shut down for health and safety violations, Florida’s first snow park has been given the go ahead to reopen Friday afternoon.

Snowcat Ridge Alpine Snow Park located in Dade City first reported the shutdown on its Facebook page on Dec. 10 after a Pasco county inspector discovered fire, building, electrical and plumbing violations.

Officials with Snowcat Ridge said in a Facebook post, “After a thorough inspection by Pasco County this afternoon, we’ve addressed the issues reported by Pasco County officials. We’ve temporarily removed the use of our shipping containers in the Alpine Village and the rest of the park has been cleared to open on Friday, December 11th at 3:00 p.m.”

Inspectors issued violations to the snow park concerning its use of temporarily modified shipping containers in the Alpine Village, the company said.

After Snowcat Ridge announced its closure, the Pasco County government released a statement saying it became aware of operation with unsafe structures, without required permits, inspections, or a certificate of occupancy. “Although several permits have been pulled for the project since July, only one permit has been closed to date. The park has not requested any inspections for the other outstanding permits” government officials explained.

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The Pasco County’s inspection office released photos that showed exposed electrical boxes, unpermitted plumbing and structural issues with the attraction’s front entrance, which features stacked shipping containers.

“After reading the report, we understand the list of concerns, with the majority of the points pertaining to the temporarily modified shipping containers in our Alpine Village,” Snowcat Ridge officials said on Facebook. “Our team worked all day yesterday and through the night to come to a resolution on these issues with Pasco County. We believe we’ve handled everything on the report and have requested an inspection today with Pasco County in hopes of receiving approval to re-open the park.”

The attraction has been inundated with emails and messages from customers and has asked for patience as they take the time to reply to everyone.

“The safety of our staff and guests are our top priority and with these modifications complete, we are looking forward to welcoming guests back to Snowcat Ridge,” a company official said on Facebook.