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Squamish council supports gondola, but not on Chief

Developers still confident a proposal can work
gondolacrowd

The proposed Squamish gondola may no longer be going up the Stawamus Chief.

Paul Mathews and Peter Alder went to Squamish Tuesday to present to Squamish council and the public, for the first time, their proposal for a sight-seeing gondola to the top of the granite monolith.

Almost 200 people – climbers, hikers, moms, dads, First Nations members, retirees and children – packed the auditorium at the Brennan Park Sports Centre to listen to what Alder and Mathews were proposing. Many people in attendance wore clothes bought at a Mountain Equipment Co-op, hardly anyone was overweight and a number of them were taking notes. The majority of them also wore red buttons that read "Friends of the Chief".

Media from Vancouver also attended the meeting.

While the gondola proposal has been public knowledge for a couple of months now, under the provincial development process this was the first opportunity for the proponents to make their pitch publicly.

Opponents of the gondola proposal, meanwhile, have organized under the Friends of the Chief banner.

Tuesday’s meeting was not a formal rezoning application, but Squamish council did pass a motion: to support the concept of the gondola, but not on the Stawamus Chief.

An alternative sight for the top terminus of the gondola, somewhere between Shannon Falls and the Chief, is now being considered.

The motion, put forward by Councillor Sonja Lebans, was passed unanimously and greeted with rousing applause.

Despite the result, Alder said he was still positive about starting a "new chapter" in the project.

"At the end of it we were not surprised by the decision, though disappointed, now we just have to re-access the situation," said Alder.

The first step for the developers is to deduce how the Ministry of Water, Land and Air Protection perceives Squamish council’s motion and to gather some more technical data on the alternative site, which is likely to run "parallel to Shannon Falls".

"Now we have to re-look at where we’re standing with the alternative site because we have not gone over that very thoroughly," said Alder.

"We need to look at the technical side to see if it makes sense and then the other thing is to get a decision from government in regards to the process now."

Alder said the government might allow them to proceed with an amended plan or they might require them to start over again.

"We don’t know if we have to start from grade one because we have to go back to get them to make a decision and after that we can see if it still makes economic sense."

Jonathan Lussier, 28, attended the meeting and was glad there would be no gondola on the Chief but he admitted he was "excited" about the prospect of a gondola.

Lussier, like many people in Squamish, said he could see the opportunity for a bike park and/or a base for cross-country skiing.

"I’m actually personally very excited about the different route idea up to the summit because it might open mountain bike trails and cross-country skiing," said Lussier.

"We all love mountain biking in Squamish but we have nothing like Whistler (bike park) so if we can get something like that it would be great."

"Friends of the Chief" organizer Megan Olesky felt the developers made a sincere proposal but she was still glad the council had elected to steer them away from the Chief.

"There was a public report last year that said the Chief and climbing brings $20 million a year to Squamish so I don’t know if they made a case to me that it makes better economic sense to put a gondola up there," said Olesky.

"I think that tourists are looking for quality and authenticity… but if they could put it somewhere else and still have a restaurant and still have the highway base station that they want, it may well make good sense."

One of the most important factors in the next stage of this proposal for the developers will be determining exactly where the new top-station would be located because it might be on Crown land and that land could be under tenure.

The developers already own the land where the base of the gondola would be located.

"It would be a different process (with the alternative plan) because with the top of it we might have to apply to purchase Crown land or a long term lease," said Alder.

"But we also might have people like snowmobilers to deal with who have tenure for certain activities."

While many people who attended the meeting left satisfied with the decision, most recognized that it was probably just the start of a long process.

"This is very much a first step because Squamish council’s views on it are really only a part of the process at this point, it’s also very important what the First Nations think… and there also seems to be a little bit of confusion over the geography of it," said Anders Ourom, a climber who has been coming to Squamish for 32 years.

"But I would hope that the ministry and provincial government have got a pretty clear message that a gondola may be OK somewhere but definitely not on the Chief."