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Council Briefs: Municipality questions daytime highway closures

The municipality is asking the province if the planned daytime closures of Highway 99 between Function Junction and the village can be moved to night, Mayor Ken Melamed said this week.

The municipality is asking the province if the planned daytime closures of Highway 99 between Function Junction and the village can be moved to night, Mayor Ken Melamed said this week.

The full closures — which would take place in this spring — are currently planned between 1:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. as part of the Whistler highway upgrades. Other closure times are 11 p.m. to 2 a.m. and 3 a.m. to 5 a.m.

Melamed said the Ministry of Transportation scheduled the daytime closures for blasting work, which they did not want to be done at night because of noise. The municipality, however, is wondering if a different arrangement can be worked out.

“We continue to dialogue with them to see if they can work with the contractor and move to nighttime,” said Melamed.

He added that the province has said there will be no full highway closures in the winter.

Construction on the highway started this week, and the $9.8 million project is expected to wrap up in 2009.

The project will add a temporary third lane between Function Junction and Creekside during the 2010 Games, which will later be converted back into two lanes with wider highway shoulders. The grade on Nordic Hill will also be improved.

 

Spring Creek day care closures moves to provincial level

MLA Joan McIntyre will continue lobbying the provincial government about Whistler’s day care challenges, after meeting with council this week to discuss the problem.

The West Vancouver-Garibaldi MLA is familiar with Spring Creek day care’s announced closures, as well as other issues Whistler has faced over the past few years, said Mayor Ken Melamed.

“Ms. McIntyre is well versed on the file and has been speaking with her minister responsible, trying to find out what we can do,” said Melamed, stressing that childcare is a federal and provincial government responsibility, not a municipal one.

“We told Ms. McIntyre that the municipality is looking at its bylaws around home care provision, but that is really as far as we can go. The province is the one that regulates and sets training levels and provides the training courses.”

McIntyre has also told the municipality that she will be looking at speeding up the accreditation process for childcare workers who are not from B.C., although Melamed acknowledged this legislation will probably not come on board in time to save the Spring Creek program.

To further alert higher levels of government about local day care challenges, Melamed said the municipality is also speaking to newly elected MP John Weston.

These discussions follow an announcement last week that Spring Creek will shut down two of its day care programs because not enough staff have appropriate child care certification.

The Daises program for children aged three months to 18 months and the Blueberries program for children aged 18 months to 36 months will both be cancelled on Nov. 28.

 

Second gas station is a go

The Squamish and Lil’wat Nations’ plans for a gas station at Function Junction are moving full steam ahead, after no one spoke at Monday night’s public hearing.

The First Nations have proposed a 5,000 square metre gas station on their plot of land, sandwiched between Highway 99 and the railway south of Alpha Lake Road. They will also build a light industrial and commercial space, similar to what already exists on Millar Creek Road.

“It is a good proposal,” said Mayor Ken Melamed, after commenting that the quiet public hearing did not surprise him.

“To the proponents’ credit, they have listened and read our plan. There was not very much that was contentious about it.”

The timeline for the project has not been made public yet, but council has said they are anxious to get the second gas station in Whistler before the 2010 Olympics.

Following the public hearing, council unanimously approved third reading of zoning bylaws.

The First Nations received the land, along with eight other parcels, as part of the Olympic Legacy Agreement, signed in May 2007. Revenue from developing the legacy lands is expected to offset the costs of running the Squamish-Lil’wat Cultural Centre.

 

New financial plan in the works

A group of financial experts from across the province has gathered together to scrutinize and update Whistler’s long-term financial plan, which dates back to 1999.

The revision comes at a time when council and municipal staff are coming to grips with the current economic challenges Whistler is facing, like build out and a possible global recession, said Mayor Ken Melamed at Monday’s council meeting. The outdated financial plan was brought to council’s attention by senior municipal staff.

“We want to forecast longer term trends so we can be adaptable and flexible as we meet challenges,” said Melamed.

“We understand that there are immediate challenges that need to be taken into consideration as we move into a new longer term perspective and a new way of visioning.”

The steering committee is composed of 15 people, including Ken Dobell from VANOC, Jamie Bruce from Capital West Partners, Scott Riley from the Royal Bank of Canada and Tamara Vrooman from Vancity.   Fiona Famulak is representing the Whistler Chamber of Commerce on the committee.

Councillor Bob Lorriman, who was part of the first task force meeting on Oct. 9, said Whistler’s long term financial outlook appears to be positive, as long as the municipality proceeds carefully.

“The key message we got (from the first meeting) is Whistler is in a very strong place to start from, but we have challenges looking forward because we have reached built out,” reported Lorriman, adding that the 51-page 1999 plan anticipated Whistler would reach build out.

Whistler is one of the few jurisdictions in Canada that has a 10-year financial plan that examines things like tourism and demographic trends, as well as financial strategies. According to Melamed, the Government Finance Officers Association adopted Whistler’s financial plan as a best practice in their 2008 guide.

 

RBC illuminated sign OKed

Council approved an application by Olympic sponsor Royal Bank of Canada to display an illuminated 2010 Games sign on the outside of its building, after some discussion Monday.

The sign is bigger than the temporary signs bylaw allows, and Councillor Tim Wake was concerned that allowing the RBC sign would set a precedent for the Games. However, Councillor Gord McKeever reassured that the sign is subdued-looking and appropriate for the Games.

Mike Kirkegaard, manager of resort planning, said the municipality expects to receive more requests for temporary Olympic signs as February 2010 gets nearer.

"This one we see as a little different than some other corporate sponsors in the Games who may not already have a physical presence in the municipality," said Kirkegaard.

"For that scenario, we will be looking at the Games office and VANOC to establish a protocol. We see this as being a bit of a warming up."

The only other Olympic sponsor with a permanent storefront in Whistler is McDonald's.

 

Municipality applies for Westside sewer grant, again

For the 10 th year in a row, the municipality will apply for a grant from the Building Canada Fund to construct a sewer collection system for residents on Alta Lake Road, also known as Westside.

"The money has been set aside in our budget for 2011, if we are successful with this grant application," said Mayor Ken Melamed.

"Of course, we'll keep applying. Hopefully we'll be successful in time."

According to Brian Barnett, soil and lake water tests show that 60 per cent of the 39 septic systems on Alta Lake Road are discharging untreated water onto private property, nearby ditches and Alta Lake.

The project, estimated to cost $3.8 million, is a "post 2010" priority, said Melamed.

 

Garbage fines cleaned up

Leave garbage or pet food outside, and you could receive a $500 fine.

The municipality is upgrading its garbage bylaw, and the new version — which received second reading on Monday — includes fines for people who leave wildlife attractants outdoors.

If adopted, the bylaw would allow the municipality to give tickets ranging from $200 to $500 every day a person does not comply, explained Heather Beresford, environment stewardship manager for the municipality.

And if the problem persists, the municipality could take the case to provincial court, where a judge could doll out fines from $2,000 to $10,000, or up to three months imprisonment.

Wildlife attractants include food products, domestic garbage, pet food, seed, restaurant grease, and game meat.

 

Environment land plan gets green light

Council gave the Protected Areas Network (PAN) plan second reading Monday night, six years after the land use plan was first assembled.

The plan identifies Whistler’s sensitive ecosystems and connectivity corridors, assigning each type of land a level of designation. The most stringently protected lands are wetlands, which no human structures can be built on, according to the document.

Mayor Ken Melamed commended PAN for its proactive approach to development.

“Historically each time a landowner comes up for rezoning, we are in react mode,” said Melamed. “Now we can get to a proactive state and actually take an upstream approach rather than a defensive approach.”

The PAN document received first reading in 2005 and has been developed with input from a public steering committee, two public open houses, a peer review, and a professor from Simon Fraser University, among others.