Employee housing, single family homes – including five 5,000 square foot houses – a small restaurant, additional public green space and a new trail alongside Alta Lake are the main components of a proposed redevelopment of the Mount Whistler Lodge site.
Conceptual plans for the historic 15-acre site on Alta Lake, between Lakeside Park and the Alta Vista Pointe townhomes, will be presented at a public information meeting in the next few weeks.
Consultants for the Mason family, which has owned the land for years, presented the concept to council Monday. It includes 17 single family homes, ranging in size from 1,800 to 3,500 square feet; 11 multi-family dwellings ranging in size from 1,800 to 2,000 square feet each; up to 13 employee restricted units; a 7,000 square foot restaurant and two auxiliary caretaker suites; and the five 5,000 square foot houses.
The 165 bed units for the proposal come from a 1975 agreement creating a sewer right-of-way through the property and from commercial zoning which was on part of the property from the days when the Mount Whistler Lodge existed.
Two existing heritage cabins from the original lodge will be preserved.
The concept, which is still subject to more detailed design work, includes relocating the concession and rental facilities at Lakeside Park away from the centre of the park and creating a new access road to the park, which will divert traffic from Lakeside Drive.
Whistler council endorsed a continuing review of the design concept Monday, although Councillor Dave Kirk questioned the proposed location of the employee housing buildings, saying it made "absolutely no sense in my mind."
Councillor Ken Melamed objected to the 5,000 square foot houses saying, "The more I reflect on this issue the more opposed I am."
