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Boot Pub development proposal sent back for further work

Townhomes and employee housing apartment not what council looking for

Plans to change the six-acre site of Whistler’s Boot Pub and Shoestring Lodge into 36 townhomes and an employee housing apartment complex have been sent back to the drawing board.

At Monday’s council meeting, council expressed their dislike for the proposed development project as it stands and asked staff to renegotiate with the developer before taking the plans to the public for feedback.

"It’s not about saying ‘no’," said Mayor Hugh O’Reilly after listening to a variety of concerns raised by his council.

"It’s about finding a way to say ‘yes’."

Vancouver-based developers Cressey, the same company that built the Westin Resort & Spa, proposed a small subdivision on the site, currently home to the Shoestring Lodge, The Boot Pub and Gaitors restaurant, as well as a cold beer and wine store.

Cressey’s plans for the site included a series of duplexes and four-plexes totalling 36 market townhomes.

A large employee housing apartment complex, similar to the Beaver Flats building in Creekside, was planned for the southwest corner of the site, abutting the highway.

A third commercial building was to go at the entrance of the subdivision with a cold beer and wine store, a neighbourhood pub, 4,000 square feet of office/commercial space and additional units of employee housing.

Cressey Development Manager David Evans felt positive about council’s discussion even though council voted against taking the project to a public open house.

"We’ve been trying to get to this point for a while," said Evans.

"I think, granted some of the feedback wasn’t positive, I think in light of all that, it’s more positive that council has now pretty much given staff the go ahead to really start working with us."

Council’s debate, while touching on many concerns about the project, focused briefly on the loss of the Shoestring Lodge.

The 46-room lodge, which has provided guests on a shoestring budget a place to lay their heads for the past 35 years, is not a part of the new plans.

"We are seeing the bottom end of the market fall out," cautioned Councillor Ken Melamed, adding that Whistler is seeing a rapid disappearance of affordable accommodation.

He said if Whistler’s idea of the bottom end is $150 per night, then the resort has not achieved its affordability goals.

But Councillor Gordon McKeever disagreed, saying that the market has a way of correcting itself to meet all spectrums of the economy. If one property such as the Shoestring Lodge disappears, another one will resurface to fill the niche in the community.

Another concern at the council table was the provision of employee housing.

Cressey’s proposal puts 224 employee beds in 56 apartment-style housing units on the site. This will more than satisfy Cressey’s long outstanding obligation to build 126 employee beds from their Westin development. While Melamed said he didn’t want to appear to be throwing hurdles in the way to meet this requirement by raising concerns about the project, he pointed out that it is the developer’s obligation to build that housing.

"It shouldn’t be us that’s bending over backwards to make that happen," said Melamed.

Councillor Marianne Wade also questioned the apartment-style employee housing when all of the current signs point to a major need for long-term ownership opportunities in the resort.

With the development of the 36 townhomes Cressey would be utilizing 152 market bed units on the site out of a total 206 market bed units.

The issue of the 54 residual or so-called "floating" bed units is still not resolved.

Some councillors also balked at this.

"We knew coming in that the idea of floating bed units isn’t really satisfactory any more," said Evans.

"…We’ve kind of come up with a mechanism to address that, hopefully. We’re trying the find a site right now."

The issue of the floating bed units will be part of the council report that deals with the Shoestring application.

The six-acre site at the corner of Highway 99 and Nancy Greene Drive stretches from the highway to the banks of Fitzsimmons Creek and is located in the flood plain of that creek.

Developers will have to make some fundamental changes to the land to protect the site from flooding.

The grades on the six acres must be raised slightly so that the building sites are above flood levels. In addition, the existing dyke on the east side of Fitzsimmons Creek must be raised to stop the creek "over-topping" into the White Gold neighbourhood.

Evans said he has been in touch with the homeowners backing onto Fitzsimmons Creek who may see the potential impact of the raised dyke.

Before any changes can be made to the banks of the creek, the municipality must first get approval from the Inspector of Dykes. That approval is pending.

"We knew coming forward that there were a lot of issues involved," said Evans.

"I think overall it’s a positive response just to get the go ahead to move forward and start working more in depth with staff."