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Land lease last remaining hurdle for Audain museum

Development permit and bylaws now approved
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ART OF THE DEAL The Audain Art Museum passed another hurdle at council on Tuesday with approval of amended zoning bylaws and the development permit.

The Audain Art Museum is almost through all the municipal red tape required to get the $30 million building off the ground, with just the ground lease for the land left to finalize.

"We still have to agree on a ground lease but that is well in hand and the anticipation is that it will be coming to council shortly for approval," said Mayor Nancy Wilhelm-Morden on Tuesday, after council adopted the zoning bylaws and approved the development permit for the museum.

Those approvals clear the way for the recently expanded museum — an increase of more than 16,000 square feet for a total size of 55,000 sq.ft. It also removes any limitations on retail sales in the gift shop, allowing for the sale of art.

The lease is the last issue before work is set to begin on site.

The municipality will continue to own the property on Blackcomb Way, across from Millennium Place. It will be leased to the Audain Art Museum for $1 per year for 99 years.

"There (are) other stipulations with respect to operations and so on," said the mayor of the ground lease discussions.

When asked if there had been any disagreements over the lease she said:

"There's been discussions but the discussions have been very fruitful, very positive."

Bunbury lands rezoning back

A new proposal is back on the drawing board for the Bunbury lands on Whistler Mountain.

The owner, Alex Bunbury, has put forward a plan to municipal hall to legitimize the three homes on his land and create two more market lots.

The proposal also includes 2.7 hectares of park dedication.

To build the market lots, Bunbury has negotiated a deal with Whistler Blackcomb for 12 bed units from its inventory to be transferred to him in exchange for ski in/ski out access across the property.

That means that the two new market lots will not generate new bed units but will require council's approval to transfer them from the mountain.

Council gave its approval to move ahead with the new proposal. Staff will now repeal the earlier rezoning bylaws, which are at third reading and begin a new zoning amendment bylaw,which will trigger another public hearing.

Fire Chief retiring

After more than a decade in Whistler, Fire Chief Rob Whitton has announced he will be retiring in six months.

The chief, who joined Whistler Fire Rescue Service in 2002, was promoted to its head in 2007.

"I wish to thank him for keeping Whistler safe and for all of his hard work over the years," said Wilhelm-Morden during her mayor's report Tuesday night.

Chief Whitton is set to retire in January 2014.

Mayor visiting Whistler's sister city

It was three times a charm for Susumu Fujimaki, mayor of Karuizawa.

That's how many times it took him before the Mayor of Whistler agreed to come and visit its Sister City.

Wilhelm-Morden explained during her Mayor's Report that she told Mayor Fujimaki, who was visiting Whistler in Thanksgiving, that a trip to Karuizawa was not in council's travel budget.

He renewed the invitation at Christmas in a handwritten note and she again declined.

His last renewal came in the spring with an offer to pay for the mayor, her husband and a staff member's travel expenses.

Wilhelm-Morden will be traveling to Karuizawa in early August with her husband Ted Morden.

"I'm very much looking forward to the visit," she said.

Whistler and Karuizawa have a long history; they have been Sister Cities since 1999. This year marks the 90th anniversary of Karuizawa.

Village furniture provides more reason to stick around town

If the free village concerts and the interactive animation wasn't enough, there will soon be even more reason to linger in the village.

The municipality confirmed this week it will be rolling out several pieces of furniture to brighten up village squares in the coming weeks.

Each square will have its own look and feel with a mix of different outdoor furniture pieces.

"How do you get people to slow down and pause for a minute and see what's there?" asked Councillor John Grills, who sits on the Business Enhancement Committee.

The $40,000 project includes 12 picnic tables — a mixture of standard and accessible — with umbrellas in Mountain Square. This was inspired in part by Lululemon's seating outside the store during the Wanderlust Festival last year.

Another dozen picnic tables with umbrellas will be placed on the lawn and the Village Host booth area at Whistler Olympic Park.

The Town Plaza Gazebo will be getting several wood chaise lounge chairs.

The municipality is also awaiting permission from another plaza owner before adding a curved bench and more chaise lounge chairs.

At the same time, Whistler Blackcomb has installed picnic tables in the Upper Village and in Skier's Plaza, both areas that they manage.

There were several reasons behind the municipal project including:

• creating more places for people to sit and gather;

• allowing people to personalize their experience by moving some of the seats;

• supporting business enhancement initiatives by helping to distinguish neighbourhoods within the village.

The work flows out of the Whistler Village 3.0 project, designed to support the continued evolution and enhancement of the village through collaboration between the municipality and the village neighbourhoods and businesses

The Village 3.0 advances the concept of the village having distinct zones or precincts.

The municipality will be testing the expanded village furnishings project, monitoring how the program is used and what the operational demands are from the program.

Two mountain peaks, two names

Two Whistler pioneers could have their names elevated to mountain peaks, if longtime local Karl Ricker has his way.

He is gathering momentum to have two side-by-side peaks in Garibaldi Park named after Charlie Chandler and Alex Philip.

Councillor Jayson Faulkner announced the initiative at Tuesday's meeting. He passed along the proposal to municipal staff to see if there was a way the municipality could help move the project forward.

Charlie Chandler, Faulkner explained, was living in Whistler in 1900 and built the first trail, a trap line, up to Wedge Pass. He used to guide people up there,

"In many respects he was our first tourism operator," said Faulkner.

Alex Philip arrived in Whistler in 1911 and bought ten acres of land for the Rainbow Lodge on Alta Lake. Hhe operated a fishing lodge on the lake with his wife Myrtle, building the first community there along the rail line.

The proposed peaks are about 1.5 kilometres apart in Garibaldi Park.