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Arena figures questioned

Whistler business group put forward alternative plans for Lots 1 and 9

Would a Paralympic arena in Whistler Village really cost $58 million? Some Whistler business people are so skeptical they’ve gone looking for alternatives, and found Vernon’s multiplex.

Opened in 2001, the 3,006-seat Greater Vernon Multiplex is home to the Vernon Vipers junior hockey team. Built over 14 months, the completed facility can be converted from a NHL-sized ice surface to the wider international hockey surface. It has also been designed to hold up to 5,650 people for a concert, has seven dressing rooms, a boardroom and a "Grand Room" for meetings, banquets and parties.

The completed building cost $15 million.

"If you add 20 per cent to that for inflation, another 15 per cent for labour, concrete and engineering the roof for the snow load in Whistler – that’s a 35 per cent increase over 2000," said Don Wensley, who researched the Vernon facility. "It’s still right around $20 million, and that makes their $58 million figure impossible to believe."

The $58 million facility was the largest and most expensive option for the Paralympic facility presented to Whistler council in a staff report last week. The $58 million facility was a 5,000-seat arena with underground parking for 135 cars on Lots 1 and 9 in the village.

Other options presented last week were less expensive, but the staff recommendation is that Whistler council forego the Paralympic facility altogether and seek an $8 million contribution by VANOC toward a practice rink next to the existing rink at Meadow Park.

If Whistler does not build the Paralympic arena Squamish would like to. The District of Squamish released results of a poll this week that found 67 per cent of residents surveyed support building the arena in that community. The release also stated the total cost of the facility in Squamish would be approximately $18 million, with VANOC contributing between $9 million and $11 million and the balance being funded by Squamish and an operating partner.

If Whistler decides it does want the Paralympic sledgehockey facility it will receive $20 million from VANOC.

The issue will be the subject of an open house this Saturday, Aug. 27, between 2 and 7 p.m. at the Spruce Grove field house.

But Wensley and Norbert Roche are among those who don’t accept the municipality’s figures. Wensley, who has been involved in real estate and development in Whistler for more than two decades, said: "Our goal is to have this situation revisited and investigated in a fair manor before a decision is made.

"This can be done for less than half the cost they are telling us – unless the specifications are insane."

Wensley concedes that if underground parking is included in a village arena it would add to the cost. He estimated that 300 parking stalls could cost $15,000 each, for a total of $4.5 million.

But he adds the Tyndall Stone Lodge, which sits between the village arena site and Main Street, was built with the understanding that access to underground parking in Lot 9 would be through the Tyndall Stone parking structure. Wensley was part of the Tyndall Stone development and says underground parking access to the edge of Lot 9 was put in place when the Tyndall Stone Lodge was built.

"What we’re trying to say is $58 million looks very irresponsible in lieu of the Vernon experience," Wensley concluded.

Roche, who believes the arena is an essential element in bringing vibrancy back to the village, went so far as to have preliminary drawings done for the arena and other facilities on Lots 1 and 9. He submitted his drawings and the concepts to municipal hall last week for review.

To start with, Roche says Whistler doesn’t need a 5,000-seat arena; 2,000 permanent seats would probably be enough and another 3,000 could be temporary seats during the Paralympics.

He sees the arena as more like a municipal park, a public space where pedestrians could wander in and watch people skate, when ticketed events aren’t taking place.

The arena is the centrepiece in a series of publicly owned buildings in Roche’s vision for Lot 1. A culinary school could be adjacent to one side of the arena, providing catering services to patrons inside the rink and fine dining in an adjacent room. A post-secondary institution satellite campus could be part of a second building abutting the arena.

Another community facility, in Roche’s plan, is an arts building, with space for a dance studio, artisan workshops, martial arts classes and other community organizations.

Because the land is already owned by the municipality, Roche says the municipality could afford to put up the buildings and offer below-market lease rates and still pay for the buildings over 15 years.

Lot 9, which is zoned for commercial development, could be a medical facility financed with private sector money. Putting the facility next to the existing health care centre and the arena would allow for development of a high performance sports centre.

The whole concept, Roche says, is to make the area a sort of campus of activity, ideas and social interaction among residents and visitors, much like Granville Island.

"Build it and they will come, that’s what Whistler needs," Roche concluded.