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Time’s up, questions remain

“We’re asking the community to trust us a little bit, that we’re trying to come away with the best options for ourselves long-term and maybe (leave) the legacy for one of the other communities because that’s what partners do.

“We’re asking the community to trust us a little bit, that we’re trying to come away with the best options for ourselves long-term and maybe (leave) the legacy for one of the other communities because that’s what partners do.”

- Former Mayor Hugh O’Reilly

For nearly 18 years a stand of trees in what is now Village North has been designated for a cultural or recreational facility. The land, known as Lot 1, was acquired by the municipality as part of the deal that returned the conference centre and the Whistler Golf Course to Whistler and gave the provincial government the right to sell off the remaining parcels in Village North to developers.

It was thought a rink or pool would be built on Lot 1, but Whistler couldn’t afford to build there in the early ’90s, so both were eventually developed at Meadow Park.

In the mid-90s, with most of the parcels in Village North either developed or under construction, the municipality acquired Lot 9 for nearly $1 million. The purchase was supposed to help facilitate development of a community facility on Lot 1, but the whole project was always a little out of the municipality’s price range.

The bid for the 2010 Olympics was an opportunity to finally build an ice rink on Lots 1 and 9, with $20 million in funding from Olympic organizers. When the Olympic and Paralympic Games were awarded in 2003, there was plenty of time to work out the design details for the arena — a facility that would allow all the Paralympic events to be held in Whistler.

But by the summer of 2005, with no design in place, arena costs were already starting to balloon. Word leaked out that municipal staff were holding closed-door negotiations to move the 5,000-seat Paralympic arena to Squamish and still get $8 million from VANOC to construct a practice ice rink at Meadow Park.

Strangely enough, when people found out they were being misled, they got upset. With visitor numbers down for at least the third year in a row, many — particularly in the business community — said Whistler needed to reinvest in the village and create something “with sizzle” that would draw people to town. One councillor suggested Whistler needed “some shock and awe tactics to revive our economy.”

Municipal staff recommended giving up the arena, but following two open houses in the fall of 2005 (an election year) councillors voted unanimously to pursue an arena. Projected costs ranged from $27 million to more than $61 million, although Whistler still didn’t know where it was going to get money beyond VANOC’s $20 million.

Early in 2006 an arena task force was struck. But by the summer of 2006, three years after the Games had been awarded, Whistler was saying the arena was “more than we can comfortably afford.” And by the fall of 2006 the arena — now down to 2,700 seats — was dead. VANOC, which was coaxed into writing a letter to council requesting the Paralympic sledge hockey and curling be moved to Vancouver, offered Whistler $4.2 million for “a celebration plaza” on Lots 1 and 9.

Last fall the task force unveiled a design for the celebration plaza, which included a $20 million iconic roof and outdoor skating structure. Earlier this month the total cost for the entire Lot 1/9 package, built over several years and including buildings left behind by other nations or corporate sponsors, was pegged at about $60 million.

And now, with chainsaws and bulldozers about to enter Lot 1/9, protests and petitions have been organized to save the trees. This is a fight that was always going to happen. And given the convoluted, at times misleading, process that got us to this stage, there is some legitimacy to the save-the-trees people’s claim that there hasn’t been meaningful public discussion about the celebration plaza concept. The plaza idea seems to have come from VANOC — with some funding — as compensation for giving up the arena. Where were the medals going to be presented when an arena was still planned for Lot 1/9?

The bigger question is: What does Whistler want and what can it realistically expect? We have gone a long way down a path — at times following others, at times following money or apparent opportunities — with not enough thought on where we really want to end up. We are probably too far down that path to stop now, but we should at least know where we are.

• A celebration plaza with permanent facilities brings outside funding that a temporary facility would apparently forfeit. But the outside funding is less than what would have been available for an arena, and the final price for the plaza could be as much as the cost for the arena.

• Several countries and corporations have expressed interest in leaving buildings behind after the Olympics, but to date no one has committed to doing that.

• The medals presentations and nightly celebrations during the Olympics may be the only thing that brings visitors into Whistler Village during the Olympics.

• The outdoor rink/stage in the celebration plaza could be the home for summer theatre, something most people seem to think would be a good idea. But is it going to work for theatre? Is summer theatre viable?

While we pride ourselves on the planning that has been integral to Whistler’s success, in this case we’ve frittered away years while a well-established deadline grew closer. There are still many questions that should be answered before a final decision is made, but they won’t be.