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Asphalt plant move, quarry expansion delayed

Contentious proposal will come back before council at Aug. 17 meeting
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The proposed move of Whistler's asphalt plant and expansion of a basalt quarry ground to a screeching halt Tuesday night after council came to a stalemate on the bylaws.

The contentious report was sent back to staff with the expectation that revised information will come to council in two weeks and the bylaws will be given initial approval at that time.

"The majority of council continues to be in support generally of the agreement," an exhausted Mayor Ken Melamed clarified after the meeting. "Council's decision in the debate really is reflective of the recognition of the anxiety in the community around the importance of the decision."

Fifty residents sat in the audience at MY Millennium Place while many more watched online as councillors Ralph Forsyth, Eckhard Zeidler and Grant Lamont voted against giving first and second reading to the proposal. Ted Milner was absent from the meeting.

Tim Koshul, the unofficial spokesperson for the concerned group of Cheakamus Crossing residents, said he is comforted that the proposal is not being pushed through. But he cautioned that it is not yet time to pop open bottles of champagne.

"I am pleased in the fact that people are going to take a little more time to look at this," said Koshul, who sat in the front row during the meeting. "It was so concerning to read on Friday that we are doing first and second reading on something I believe we need to put the brakes on and take a closer look at."

The exact numbers around a newly-proposed quarry expansion was one of the contentious issues.

Tuesday night was the first time council spoke about increasing the size of Whistler Aggregate's basalt quarry in the Crown Land next to the Cheakamus Crossing neighbourhood.

Since the province is responsible for that expansion, the municipal government has limited control on what that size could be, although it can try to intervene if needed.

"That is what the applicant has asked the province for in the new lease area," said Bill Brown, manager of community planning for the Resort Municipality of Whistler.

Even though their hands were tied, most councillors appeared to be against the proposed expansion, with Councillor Chris Quinlan stating: "I don't support doubling the size of a quarry next to a residential area no matter what the outcome for the asphalt plant there."

Municipal staff also changed some of the numbers surrounding the expansion before the start of the meeting, causing confusion around the council table. Brown and planning analyst Kevin Creery attempted to do the revised calculations on the spot before Melamed asked them to finish the math after the meeting without the pressure.

Brown confirmed the next day that the plan would see the quarry go from 13.7 hectares to 18.4 hectares, which also includes the size of the asphalt plant.

At the meeting, Lamont spoke firmly about how he couldn't support any changes without knowing what the numbers are.

"The devil is in the details and I want to be clear on everything going on here," said the first term councillor. "At this point in time, I don't have the clarity in my mind to be moving forward on this comfortably."

He later stated that he is not necessarily against the direction of the proposal but wants to see a complete report before it goes forward.

After the tie vote, Forsyth tried to put forward another motion that would see the current proposal scrapped altogether.

"I think that it is appropriate to go back to square one," said Forsyth.

"There is no way that this is ready for prime time. It feels rushed. We need to consider the timing of an Official Community Plan amendment that is so critical to the future of the resort at a time when we are reviewing the Official Community Plan. The whole thing is the kart before the horse."

Forsyth proposed allowing the operator to stay on the current site with a Temporary Commercial Use Permit while other options are pursued.

"If I know this thing isn't going to be enshrined in the old temporary commercial use permit, I'll make a motion to renegotiate to move the asphalt plant off the site entirely."

Only Zeidler supported his proposal.

On the other side of the debate, both Quinlan and Melamed took issue with Forsyth's claim that the process was rushed.

"I have to question the suggestion you made that we didn't fully explore the other options," said the mayor. "Actually, we explored them to the extent where we decided it wasn't worth pursuing them."

Meanwhile, at the start of the meeting six of the residents moving into Cheakamus Crossing questioned different pieces of the asphalt plant and quarry situation.

The question and answer period was heated, with Melamed visibly showing frustration with some questions.

"I am looking for questions for clarity only!" he bellowed at one point when Koshul strayed from his questions and started talking about his opinion.

Many of the questions asked have already come before council over the past eight months.

The proposal to move the asphalt plant 150 metres and expand the nearby quarry will now come before council at the Aug. 17 meeting for first and second reading.

If passed, municipal staff plan to schedule a public hearing on Sept. 7 and third reading on Sept. 21. If the time line is followed, the rezoning application and Official Community Plan amendment could be adopted at the Oct. 19 council meeting.

"It will come back largely in the same direction, having incorporated council's comments and hopefully having done the math right so we know what the exact areas are," said Melamed.