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Pay parking debate to rage on at council table

Ted Milner said council taking blame for pricing structure it didn't create
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Councillor Ted Milner wants to set the record straight and ensure this council doesn't take the blame for a pay parking regime that some of them are against.

"The pay parking is ridiculous and I'm totally against it and I think some of my brothers are here as well, so we'll see how it works out," said Milner after Tuesday's council meeting.

So, he has set the stage for a public debate at the council table.

In a surprise notice of motion that was added to Tuesday's council agenda at the last minute, Milner said he would like to go back to the drawing board to "develop an appropriate and resort-friendly parking plan."

His notice of motion was quietly passed by council, which means it will be on next Thursday's agenda, May 26, the date of the next public council meeting.

In addition, Milner wants to rescind the delegation of the authority of the Parking Lot Operating Committee and put the ultimate decision directly in council's hands.

That committee, which is made up of two senior members of the Resort Municipality of Whistler (RMOW) and two senior members of Whistler Blackcomb, is responsible for decisions about the Day Lots' management, including parking rates, hours, budget and maintenance.

"What we did was delegate authority to a parking committee and the whole idea was that they would make decisions and it wouldn't impact us politically or otherwise, but we're wearing this," said Milner.

"It's way more impact than we thought there would be."

Last week the municipality announced the new pay parking structure for the day lots, which essentially scrapped any free parking and set an aggressive daily parking rate at $13.50.

"They went ahead and they set all these rates that we don't agree with," said Milner.

The news was met with outrage in the community and this week the Whistler Chamber of Commerce said it would not support the plan.

"... Whistler business owners and the local economy as a whole, like many others has been subject to severe external factors outside their control," said WCC President Fiona Famulak in a release.

"Those factors include a depressed global economy, a high currency exchange rate, high oil prices and the imposition of a new consumer sales tax. On the basis of these factors and the potential imposition of yet another economic burden on both customers and businesses, the WCC cannot offer its unqualified support of the concept of user-pay parking in Day Lots 1 to 5."

This week, however, Doug Forseth, senior vice-president of Whistler Blackcomb, said there was always a chance that pay parking was coming to the day lots - it's just taken more than ten years to get here.

While that may not ease the blow for residents and businesses simmering with barely concealed anger at the issue, it does put the municipality's parking plan into perspective.

This week Forseth, one of the key players in the provincial discussions in the late nineties, expanded further on what he called the "veiled threat" from the province.

The message of the day, he recalled, was: Either buy Day Lots 1-5 from the province at a $12 million price tag, or rent them for half a million dollars a year. If not, a pay parking company would be brought in to manage the lots, and limit the provincial liability, which was top of mind for the province.

"I don't know if they were serious or not," he said, of the province trying to strong-arm the company.

"It had been strongly communicated to us."

Whistler Blackcomb was frustrated by the approach. No other ski areas in B.C. had to rent or buy their day lots. And just because Whistler was in the heady days of the late nineties, Forseth said the province saw an opportunity. Whistler Blackcomb was prepared to fight.

"It was not a level playing field," he added.

"We were really at a standoff."

In 2002/03 officials made the decision that the company would step aside from ownership of the lots as long as it was understood that their primary use was for day skier parking.

Whistler Blackcomb always wanted to have a say in how the lots were run.

With that background in mind the Resort Municipality of Whistler (RMOW) began negotiating with the province on a host of outstanding issues, leading up to the 2010 Olympics.

In 2008, Day Lots 1 to 5 were transferred to the RMOW as part of the 2010 Land Legacy Agreement associated with the 2010 Games.

As part of that deal, Whistler was to build a multi-million dollar debris barrier on Fitzsimmons Creek to protect the village in the event of a flood.

Pay parking revenues over the next 20 years would cover the cost of the construction of that barrier as well as the paving and maintenance of the lots. Another half million a year is set aside for transit initiatives.

The hot-button issue, however, continues to gather momentum. More than 750 people have responded to a Facebook event "Hell No We Won't Pay!" encouraging residents to head to Lot 1 on Saturday June 4 for a town party, in a show of solidarity against pay parking.