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Building expansion prompts employee housing policy review

Developer feels Function Junction not a good place for employee housing

Plans to expand and renovate a commercial building in Function Junction have prompted a review of the tools the municipality can use to leverage employee housing from developers.

At an early November meeting council was presented with plans to almost double the size of the Lordo auto parts building near the entrance to Whistler’s industrial subdivision. As part of the renovation and expansion plans, the developer opted to pay the Employee Housing Service Charge, rather than provide employee housing, which is his choice under the bylaw.

But some members of council are saying the bylaw is outdated, making it too easy for developers to pay the charge rather than build employee housing units.

"We shouldn’t have the option any more for developers to buy out of the employee generation, and especially not at the old rate," said Councillor Ken Melamed after the meeting.

The old rate has been around for more than a decade.

Under that rate a developer must pay $5,908 per employee generated by the development. The municipality also has an employee generation formula to calculate how many employees are needed for any given development. According to that formula, the 11,000 square foot additions at the Lordo building will generate four new employees. As such, the developer must pay $23,632.

"At the time (the charge was created) they thought that was a significant amount of money and actually when they were building these giant properties in the village, it created quite a substantial amount of money," said Melamed.

The money that came from the Employee Housing Service Charge bylaw over the construction boom in Village North created a $6 million pot in the employee housing fund. That money has since been used to build employee housing.

"That was then and this is now and we’re incredibly short of employee housing obviously and we are having trouble replenishing the fund and it just doesn’t jive," said Melamed. "What can the housing authority do with $6,000 per employee?

"I’m at the end of my rope. I’m tired of waiting. Each time we see these at the old formula, I say ‘well, we’ve got to review this.’ And literally it’s been eight years since I’ve been on council. My position now personally is not to approve anything under that old formula."

Councillor Nick Davies also agreed the service charge bylaw isn’t realistic.

"Part of what we need to do, and really we are engaged in this process… is rethink where we are going in terms of employee housing and what tools are appropriate and what tools are not appropriate," he said after the meeting.

"Because it’s not 1990 anymore and the thinking that might have made sense in 1990, doesn’t make sense now."

But increasing the charge could cause more problems, he cautioned, such as creating a disincentive for developers to build and freshen up their product. For example, if the charge is doubled or trebled for each employee, developers may decided not to build in Whistler.

"We don’t want to be erecting barriers to people doing business in this community," said Davies.

Councillor Marianne Wade said she was somewhat puzzled by some council members request to explore employee housing opportunities at the Lordco building site when earlier this year council turned down an application for a mixed use building in Function which would incorporate industrial, commercial and residential uses.

"It’s not giving clear direction to staff or any developer," she said after the meeting.

"We need a policy about how we want to deal with employee housing in Function Junction and I support the concept. I don’t have any problem with that but we need to be clear in what we’re stating so that staff can encourage developers to come forward."

Council turned down the mixed use building in part because it was located next to the concrete plant and, as such, was not the best location for employee housing units.

At that time Function developer Don Wensley spoke out against the plans to put residential housing units in the building, just as he does not support adding employee housing to his new expansion of the Lordco building.

"The idea of resident housing in an industrial building obviously hasn’t been thought out very well," he said. "The fact is when someone is living in that environment, it’s grossly unfair to them."

Wensley explained it’s unfair to have employees, who could be working late at night in the village, come back to their home in Function to sleep, only to be woken by industry early in the morning.

"I understand there’s a housing shortage but they’re trying to solve the problem by making something worse and not better," said Wensley.

At Monday’s meeting council directed staff to review the Employee Housing Service Charge bylaw to propose an increase to the fees. Municipal staff’s review will be back before council in the New Year.

The province must ultimately approve any changes to the bylaw.

Council also sent back the Lordco expansion plans for staff review. Councillor Caroline Lamont was concerned about the parking configuration on the property, particularly as cars pull onto Alpha Lake Road. She also wanted to the developers to look at upgrades to the Millar Creek Café’s patio.

Davies did not support the delay to send the plans back to staff over parking and patio concerns in light of the fact the developer was committing to significant upgrades to a high profile building in Function.

Wensley was amenable to reviewing parking and patio concerns but was adamant that he would pay the employee housing service charge rather than put employee housing in the building, as he is entitled to do under the current bylaw.

Under a development permit application, such as this, council cannot negotiate for employee housing. Those negotiations can only be done during the rezoning process.