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Feature - Squamish Crossroads

Crossroads in downtown Squamish.Mayor Lonsdale says business difficulties are a sign of the economic times, others want to see action from council

Downtown Squamish is dying, or at the very least, badly wounded.

Depending on who you talk to, the problem is either self-inflicted, the result of council inaction, or a much deeper plot to convert the area to industry.

Since December of last year, when the Pharmasave drug store moved out, a number of storefront operations in the downtown core have closed their doors. In the past six months, six operations have closed. Downtown merchants claim there are others teetering on the brink of insolvency.

Adding to the loss was cancellation of the Royal Hudson steam train, which brought several hundred visitors to the downtown core daily through the summer months. The collapse last week of the softwood lumber negotiations may further exacerbate the situation.

Several studies have been conducted into the downtown area, which has struggled for many years to attract the thousands of visitors a day passing by on the highway to Whistler. A study into the concept of downtown revitalization was conducted around 1980 by Dr. Laverne Kindree and Bill Manson. In 1992, a study of the Mamquam Blind Channel area, which borders downtown Squamish, envisioned Granville Island-style development for the core. And the Squamish 2000 plan was presented by consultants two years ago, raising expectations among merchants that some solutions to their plight were at hand. To date, council has not yet endorsed the plan.

One of the reasons for the lack of action, cited by several council members, is cost. One of the main costs in the plan is replacing the outdated downtown sewer treatment plant with a pump station to the Mamquam plant.

"I know it would be irresponsible to embark on that plan right now," said Mayor Corinne Lonsdale. "It would cost $13 million, and we can’t afford it. We can only afford it incrementally. We aren’t in a position to acquire the lands from B.C. Rail and Interfor, and one of the landowners is not really supportive of the plan. On the issue of track relocation, BCR is not in a financial position to be able to relocate the tracks at this time."

Lonsdale said the Squamish 2000 plan doesn’t have the effect on Cleveland Avenue that it does on the downtown south area, which she said is moving forward, with a development permit recently issued for a new building for Silverfoot Active Wear.

"I don’t see us being in the way of anyone wanting to develop down there," the mayor said. "Cattermole Slough will go as people come to us with development applications. What’s happening on Cleveland Avenue is a sign of the economic times, and that’s not just in Squamish, it’s provincial. People don’t have a lot of disposable income, and many of those businesses relied on disposable income. I truly believe that when the provincial economy turns around, Squamish will as well."

Lonsdale said council has asked staff to meet with downtown merchants to look at where and how a better entrance sign can be erected. She said they are chipping away at some of the recommendations in the Squamish 2000 plan as finances permit, with landscaping on the first three islands leading from the highway to the downtown area being part of the program. There is further funding in the budget this year to carry on with that program, Lonsdale said.

"The banner program is going to be more complete than last year, we have addressed the issue of planters, but the merchants have to do some things themselves," she said. "When you go into business you generally have a marketing strategy. We can do some generic ads, but have tracked some of them and find there is very little response. We will be bringing a policy to council about where and how to advertise. We freed up the parking regulations a year ago, but it doesn’t seem to have made a difference. When you do something like that and things don’t change, you know the problem is bigger than just downtown Squamish."

Lonsdale said a new downtown merchants’ group has been formed, and she hopes it can meet with council to discuss a range of issues, including signage, opening hours and marketing strategies.

"The antiques and gallery businesses are a huge attraction to visitors, so they should be able to market that," said Lonsdale. "And wherever we can downtown, we should encourage higher density because more people means more business."

"The downtown revitalization plan envisions council’s responsibility as just doing the nuts and bolts," added Councillor Wendy Magee. "Things such as sidewalks and parking, and some marketing. Legislation doesn’t allow us to force owners to paint their buildings or do improvements on private property. In concept we support Squamish 2000, but asking taxpayers to foot the whole bill is impossible."

Magee, who managed the Squamish Chamber of Commerce for many years and currently manages the Super 8 Hotel in the industrial park, said the downtown merchants have to show some initiative in trying to help their own cause.

"My biggest bitch is that they’re all closed at night," said Magee, who also said she won’t be seeking another term on council. "We have 2,500 people in an average month under our roof, but on Dec. 23 someone went downtown to buy something at 5 p.m. and the store was closed. It’s not that tourists don’t go down there. If they would bite the bullet and at least stay open until 8 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays, that would be huge. To me it seems simple – the challenge is to get the more conservative owners to do something for themselves, when they seem to want someone else to do it for them."

One downtown merchant, who did not want to be named, said it is all well and good to suggest stores open later, "but it is really disheartening to sit there behind the counter from 6 to 9 p.m. and have not one person walk into the store."

She said some of the merchants have approached council about their problems and have been told by Mayor Lonsdale to come up with solutions as well.

"We’re trying to become a much stronger force, and come up with solutions. We have suggested a decent sign on the highway, at least some downtown beautification, and we’re trying to get together with the Economic Development Select Committee to discuss some issues. It sounds like the majority of them would like to see industry, but major industry on the waterfront is just not going to do it. There is lots of land that doesn’t have to be just industry or just commercial. Squamish is a diamond in the rough, and we just have to pick up our socks and make something of it."

That is exactly what Ted Prior has in mind, and he says it doesn’t have to cost a lot of money. Prior, a downtown businessman, developer, chamber member and president of the Squamish Trails Society, said a looped network of trails around the downtown area, connecting with existing trails through the estuary and the community, can be a big attraction for downtown visitors. And he says the pending municipal election is an opportunity to make prospective councillors and incumbents commit their support for projects that could enhance the area.

Prior was recently successful in having a walkway/dyke completed from the south end of Third Avenue to the Squamish Yacht Club. He envisions the next phase from the Yacht Club up Mamquam Blind Channel to Marina Estates and beyond, completing a walking and cycling trail which connects to current trails under the highway bridge, past Rose Park and up to the Leisure Centre.

"Every street downtown is a dead end. If you take those dead ends, put in a couple of shrubs and flower beds, and signs for the loop trails saying this is a world-famous estuary and you can walk around the community and be back at your car in 20 minutes or half an hour, people will have to walk through the downtown area," Prior said. "Along the way, they have to go past the shops and are bound to spend at least a bit of money. People gobble up these trails."

He said the trail society’s mandate is linkage trails, and the community should be able to take advantage of the drive to host the 2010 Olympics by developing more trails for walking and cycling, meeting the needs of the Olympic mandate. "The Olympics are about transportation and taking cars off the roads, and it is about enhancing communities. This fits."

Prior would also like to see much more development on the west side of the blind channel, most of which is owned by B.C. Rail and Interfor, with the district owning a 30-foot strip of land between the waterfront lots and Loggers Lane, which is owned by B.C. Rail. He said council should swap its land for Loggers Lane, and build the dyke along the edge of Blind Channel, which would make those properties much more valuable for commercial and residential development. The town also owns road right-of-way lots on every street along Blind Channel, which could become extremely valuable for waterfront development.

"The flood management plan said the dike should be built immediately," said Prior. "If that was done, BCR and Interfor would have some very valuable property, council would be able to increase its tax base, and the roadheads turn into lots, which all creates huge gains in taxes and economic spinoffs.

"Council hasn’t endorsed the Squamish 2000 plan because of the cost," Prior said. "But the bigger question is what the economic benefits would be if they did go ahead. I don’t know that, perhaps it is something the economic development committee could look at."

Prior said he sees how hard the council members work, which is something he thinks the community doesn’t understand. But he said there are some issues on which council members don’t have the expertise or experience to make sound decisions, so community members should be willing to help, such as the new tourism group organized by Natalie Wall and Patricia Heintzman of 99 North Promotions and Addictive Productions. At a formative meeting two weeks ago, more than 100 residents and business owners turned out, along with council members and other interested parties. A task force is being set up to discuss ideas and develop a direction for the new group.

"When Patti and Natalie want to break off and organize a group like that, they know tourism better than anyone at this point, so they become volunteers and we can all work together, council, the chamber, merchants and citizens," said Prior. "The communities which survive tough times are the ones which have thousands of volunteers giving their time and expertise, and working together."

Prior suggests a mix of residential and commercial along the Blind Channel and Cattermole Slough, no taller than two storeys, similar to what he has already built and hopes to continue to build in downtown south.

Dave McRae, who owns a log sort across from Prior’s buildings on Cattermole Slough, is also hoping to develop mixed-use buildings on his property, though he said council is blocking his efforts.

"They are forcing me to do business on this property and not allowing me to redevelop," said McRae, who has owned the property since 1994 and has been working on it for 15 years. "For five years I have been writing letters to the District of Squamish and Ministry of Forests asking they lease me some land in the Cheekye Fan or municipal or provincial lands. They are not going to allow me to relocate without the district’s approval, and there are no lands zoned that I could relocate to."

Dave Fenn, owner of the Howe Sound Inn at the south end of the downtown area, agrees that mixed use for the area is the way to go.

"There has been little progress on the concept of downtown revitalization since that study in 1980," said Fenn. "The 1992 Mamquam Blind Channel Plan drew us up here with its vision of Granville Island-style development. It inspired a few people to locate here, but there have been a long-standing series of disappointments. I don’t understand why the Squamish 2000 plan hasn’t been adopted. It’s just a plan – it doesn’t create any liability to the district – it just shows a vision. I suspect there has been negative feedback from industry. Ron Sander (of Interfor) has been negative towards revitalization of Mamquam Blind Channel in letters to the editor, and I guess B.C. Rail feels stung by the CHIPS issue and still wants industrial access on the waterfront."

Last year, a proposal for a chip transfer and loading facility on Cattermole Slough that was supported by council was defeated by a community group, which mounted a legal challenge to the zoning. The challenge was led by Ian Sutherland, who was subsequently elected to council in a by-election. Several people said council inaction in the downtown area is retaliation for losing the chip facility.

"Is there a true intent on the part of council to revitalize the downtown core, and see a turnaround to commercial/residential from industrial?" asks Fenn. "My conclusion is no. They would rather have a depressed downtown area, which is good for industry. In some communities that would create a huge concern but I haven’t heard that here. We’re just doing the best we can to hang in there. I have never seen it so depressed down here. Look at the prime corners of the downtown core and they’re all vacant. That’s pretty significant.

"We’re not a Tumbler Ridge or a remote town totally dependent on one industry. There should be more diversification, and keep the downtown going. We’re 45 minutes from Vancouver, for goodness sakes. The fact that hasn’t happened is startling. We need vision, higher density, and more visitors stopping in. Among other things, we have to market the area. And at the end of the day we have to do a better job of land use planning."

Fenn said he feels one of the biggest mistakes council has made is to turn the former industrial park into a mixed area for business and industry.

"With more businesses in that area, five years down the road there’s going to be complaints from the commercial tenants or hotel guests about industry in the area. There is a mish-mash of commercial and industrial throughout Squamish, downtown, at the airport and the industrial park. It just doesn’t make sense.

"Ted Prior’s seawalk is the start of what could be a really good direction, and what Dave McRae is proposing is compatible with the area. We don’t want to lose industry, but it might have to move over," said Fenn.

One area where industry could relocate is Lot B, on Howe Sound near the entrance to Blind Channel, where many suspect a wood chip transfer facility will be built.

Sutherland agreed that diversity is critical for the survival of the downtown business core.

"There’s enough room for everyone to do what they want," he said. "It’s just a matter of having a good plan and sticking to it. The Squamish 2000 plan shows a mix of shops, live/work buildings, walkways and a farmers market. Most people in Squamish want what’s best for everyone, which is a mix of heavy industry, light industry, retail and residential. Downtown 2000 is two years old. What council has to do is do something. The people of Squamish want things to happen, and you can’t study everything for year after year after year. There is a faction of council that seems to want only industry down there, but I’m not one of them. This will definitely be an election issue."

He said Prior’s idea, which was actually proposed by B.C. Rail several years ago, for a land swap with the district property alongside Loggers Lane, would be a good start.

"That would give us more developable land, with access to the waterfront. It could be the first step and a catalyst to change the look and feel of downtown Squamish. We have to find a way to do more work/live development downtown. It’s no secret that’s what Ted (Prior) would like to do, and it’s no secret a lot of other people would like to see that happen. The Downtown 2000 plan cost a lot of money, and if we put the plan and a schedule in place, it is more doable. Some aspects, such as the sewage treatment, have to be done regardless. And there doesn’t seem to be a great rush of people breaking down our doors to develop industry down there. That area could be an incubator for high tech industries, who could take advantage of the natural assets. They would be drawn into the downtown area under the right circumstances.

"The next eight months should be extremely interesting," added Sutherland.



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