Whistler council will revisit a longstanding controversy at its June 9 meeting when it considers removing restrictions around asphalt procurement.
The move would allow asphalt for municipal works to be sourced from Cheakamus Crossing rather than Squamish.
Since 2011, council has directed staff to include a restriction on sourcing asphalt from facilities located within three kilometres of residential neighbourhoods.
As such, council has required perennial contract winner Alpine Paving to source asphalt for municipal works from its Squamish plant rather than its plant in Cheakamus.
"That decision was made in 2011 for some good reasons, but things have changed," said general manager of infrastructure services James Hallisey at the Feb. 18 committee of the whole meeting. "One of the big things that has changed is the Whistler Asphalt Plant was upgraded in 2012."
The original decision came after numerous complaints from residents over air quality in the neighbourhood—although the municipality's monitoring has shown that particulate levels never exceeded provincial guidelines during that time, except on days when wildfire smoke blanketed the community.
In 2012, a new $2-million filtration system was installed at the Whistler plant; the same system is not in place in Squamish. The Whistler plant can also use up to 30 per cent recycled materials in its asphalt, unlike the Squamish facility.
"It's still a much more efficient plant than the one operating in Squamish that has ended up supplying Whistler with asphalt for most of the last nine years," Hallisey noted.
Since 2011, trucking asphalt from Squamish has generated 270 tonnes of CO2, representing between two and five per cent of the municipality's annual corporate emissions, depending on the year, and cost an estimated $456,000 more than if it were sourced locally over that time, according to the RMOW.
Read more here: https://www.piquenewsmagazine.com/whistler/resort-municipality-of-whistler-may-reconsider-sourcing-asphalt-from-squamish/Content?oid=15064984
Council will also hear from chief administrative officer Virginia Cullen on health and safety planning around re-opening local facilities on June 9, as well as consider bylaws to allow restaurants to temporarily expand their patios to help with social distancing.
Find the full agenda online at https://www.whistler.ca/municipal-gov/council/meeting-agendas-and-minutes.
Pick up Thursday's Pique for more from council.
-with files from Brandon Barrett
