With Whistler’s new Official Community Plan (OCP) and its updated Community Vision adopted last year, Mayor and council voted to rescind three outdated council policies on May 18.
The high-level council policies were originally adopted as part of the Whistler 2002 and Whistler 2020 community visioning projects (adopted in 2000 and 2004, respectively), and speak to Whistler’s aspirations of sustainability while maintaining a competitive place in the international destination resort market.
In voting to rescind them, council noted the new OCP supersedes the previous policies.
“The [OCP] that was adopted last year is really the document that overtakes the vision of 2020; we want a thriving community, and we want nature protected first. That’s the important thing for community balance,” said Councillor Cathy Jewett.
While many hours of community work went into Whistler 2020, and it was perhaps “more approachable” than the current OCP, “we have done a lot of work on our OCP, and the ideas that were in [Whistler 2020] have been updated and are more current in the latest version of our OCP,” Jewett added.
Revisiting the policies prior to voting on the motion also gave Coun. Arthur De Jong time to reflect on Whistler’s “legacy of excellence in environmental and social sustainability planning,” he said.
“It’s a great legacy, and it’s been a very effective compass for our community towards those goals. I believe it was actually instrumental in achieving the Winter Olympic bid,” De Jong said.
“And we’re continuing that legacy. It’s deeply embedded in our town hall and our staff.”
While building Whistler 2020 was a true community effort, Coun. John Grills noted the countless hours that went into updating Whistler’s OCP over the last decade.
“There was a tremendous amount of community input and participation in the 2013, then 2018, 2019 OCP, so I think it was a great move to fold this document into that one OCP,” Grills said.
“So I think I’m really happy how it’s turned out.”
Mayor Jack Crompton offered similar thoughts.
“I want to add my voice to those of you who are feeling like this is a little twinge of pain. I am involved in local government now because of Whistler 2020,” Crompton said.
“I am grateful that we have learned all we have through this process and the people who gave so much time and energy to it … it’s where I met so many of the people who were working to make Whistler a better place, which is a pretty awesome task, and it’s been a lot of fun.
“There is lots left to do.”
Though the policies were rescinded, Whistler 2020 will still be available as historic reference material at whistler.ca/whistler2020.
