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Athletes’ village buildings approved amid concerns

Councillor Eckhard Zeidler asks questions about budget, risk
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Breaking Ground Council approves a series of buildings for the 2010 athlete's village on Monday, as construction crews continued to prepare the work site.

Plans for the athletes’ village are moving swiftly through municipal approvals despite some unanswered questions about budgets and risk.

“For the considerable investment that we’re making in this legacy, my responsibility is just to understand all the moving parts,” Councillor Eckhard Zeidler said Tuesday of his pointed questions surrounding budgets at Monday’s council meeting.

“I need to be more comfortable with the level of information I have about all these deals and what the various agreements are with the different parties.”

Three different buildings were approved for development at the athletes’ village Monday night — a Whistler Housing Authority (WHA) rental building, a hostel building and the athletes’ centre lodge.

Each represents separate partners — the WHA, Hostelling International and the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Games (VANOC).

Two of those partners, the WHA and Hostelling International, were brought into the $131 million athletes’ village project to help alleviate risk to the municipality. VANOC had always committed to build the athletes’ centre accommodation.

Mayor Ken Melamed stressed this point in response to concerns from members at the council table.

The municipality, he said, is on the hook to build this project. It has promised to deliver enough housing for more than 2,000 athletes during the 2010 Games.

The partners are helping out in the multi-million-dollar project by putting up cash, taking on risk and building beds.

Monday’s meeting represents the approval of more than 200 units of housing, which will house hundreds of athletes during the Games.

The WHA building

This is a four-storey apartment building with a mixture of 55 studio and one-bedroom units roughly 400 to 500 square feet each.

It is expected the WHA will rent the units to VANOC employees in the lead up to the 2010 Winter Games. During Games-time the building will be used as temporary accommodation for the athletes. Post-2010 it will be rented to Whistler employees much like the WHA Beaver Flats building in Creekside.

Zeidler twice asked for clarification on the proposed budget of the building and exactly who would be on the hook for any budget increases.

WHA board chair Councillor Gord McKeever explained that the building is slated to cost $6 million — half is to come from existing cash reserves at the WHA, with $2 million more financed through mortgages. The WHA, he added, will be coming to council shortly with a request for $1 million from the municipal affordability reserve to make up the balance. That request still has to be approved by council.

Zeidler replied: “I don’t think there’s any question there’s a process gap going on here.”

Melamed took issue with Zeidler’s comments, reminding him that council endorsed the athletes’ village project in total.

“I think you’re representing this somewhat unfairly,” said the mayor.

The WHA is hoping to have the footings of the building in the ground this year and have it completed by the end of 2008.

The Whistler Hostel building

This 54-unit building has four storeys, like the neighbouring WHA rental building. It too will be located in the core of the athletes’ village with some commercial space on the ground floor.

Though it will be built by the Whistler 2020 Development Corporation (WDC), the municipal subsidiary charged with building the village, it is expected Hostelling International will buy the building in the future and offer short-term affordable accommodation to Whistler travellers. It is expected this building will replace the hostel on Alta Lake Road.

Again, councillors raised several questions about the deal and asked if the municipality was backstopping the project.

“It’s not clear to me what the deal is going to be here,” said Councillor Tim Wake, adding that council needs to have some sense of the scope of risk.

Zeidler also questioned the lack of information.

After the meeting Zeidler said he was a bit embarrassed about pressing for an answer on the hostel project budget and risk: “The answer to my question on financial risk on the hostel project was contained right there in our closed information package (as the contract is still in negotiation), but after working through the 900 page council package over the last several days and being at council for 14 hours on Monday I just missed it.”

The public explanation Monday night from staff, and from councillors on the WDC board, is that the project is in good, professional hands and the deal is still in negotiations.

Councillor Ralph Forsyth said the building is expected to cost $9 million — that’s one of the current working estimates. The WDC will build it and Hostelling International will assume ownership of the entire facility after the Games.

“This is a really positive step,” said Councillor Bob Lorriman, adding that council put taxpayers on the hook a long time ago when it committed to build the $131 million village.

By bringing in these partners it is trying to minimize its risk.

Councillor Nancy Wilhelm-Morden admitted she too was nervous about the project because of the lack of information, pointing out that some councillors are privy to more details because they sit on the board of the WDC.

“I think what we’ve got here is a bit of a communication gap,” she said.

Council proposed meeting with the board of the WDC as it approved the development permit for the hostel.

VANOC’s athletes’ centre lodge

Rounding off Monday’s list of approvals at the athletes’ village was the 98-room lodge at the athletes’ centre.

Like the two other buildings before it, the lodge is also located in the village core, close to the commons, and is designed to house athletes during the Games. After 2010 it will be affordable accommodation to athletes who have come to Whistler to train.

The lodge is just one of three parts to the athletes’ centre, which also includes a high performance gymnasium facility and townhouse accommodation for families of visiting athletes.

The lodge will house 200 athletes during the Games, and the townhouses will accommodate 150 athletes and coaches.

In an April 2007 Partnerships BC report, which was just recently released, the budget for the centre was estimated at $36.5 million, more than $20 million over the original $16 million budget.

The revised budget does not include a request from the International Olympic Committee for 800 more beds.

The report states:

“VANOC anticipates drawing an estimated $25 million from the management reserve to fund the original scope and current estimated costs including the additional 800 beds.”

Prior to drawing that $25 million VANOC’s management reserve, or contingency fund, currently sits at $53.5 million.