The free village summer concerts aren't music to everyone's ears.
Municipal communications manager Michele Comeau confirmed this week that there have been "a few complaints" since the Whistler Outdoor Concert series launched in 2011 at Whistler Olympic Plaza.
It is not clear how many complaints are on the record or where they're coming from.
But one local musician/event organizer, and regular Pique contributor, has raised some concerns in a letter to council.
Though he loves the idea of the concerts, tobias van Veen (sic), has concerns about the noise and its impact on human health and wildlife and is asking if anything is being done to reduce sound levels.
"I see it as a health issue, as noise pollution is proven to cause increased stress among humans and wildlife both; persistent loud noise is proven to disturb animal/bird migratory pathways, nesting, and other behaviours," he said.
In looking for ways to solve the problem van Veen asked, among other things:
"Is the RMOW going to look into alleviating noise pollution from the Plaza through sound baffling/redirection? Maybe do something about it? Solutions do exist... proper sound baffling would allow the concerts to continue, but with less disturbance to residents and local wildlife."
Staff is taking steps to mitigate the noise levels with speaker repositioning and other measures, confirmed Comeau.
The other point raised by van Veen was if it's a level playing field in the municipality. Other clubs and venues have to abide by the noise bylaw. Is the RMOW subject to that same bylaw, he asks?
The Resort Municipality of Whistler (RMOW)'s noise bylaw states that no person shall: "operate or play any musical instrument, radio, stereophonic equipment, or other device for the production or amplification of sound, or permit such devices to be operated or played, in the Resort Municipality in such a manner as to disturb the quiet, peace, rest, enjoyment, comfort, or convenience of the neighbourhood or of persons in the vicinity."
The bylaw also states that council believes that the following noises or sounds are objectionable: "any amplified music or speech which is audible between the hours of 10 p.m. and 8 a.m. outside the premises on the real property from which it emanates or is reproduced, or at any boundary of the real property from which is emanates or is reproduced."
Comeau said the sound system at the plaza is modest compared to other concert venues and staff is continuing to refine and adjust the sound system in response to complaints.
New 'savings' policy in the works
Work is underway on a new municipal policy that will outline just how much money should be put aside in the rainy day reserves accounts.
"It made sense to develop policy behind what we save our monies for," said Mayor Nancy Wilhelm-Morden.
"In a town such as Whistler where we've got a cap on our growth, we're not going to be adding kilometres of new water lines or sewer pipes, really we've built everything that we're going to have for the foreseeable future to a large extent, and so really all we need reserves for is to replace that infrastructure as it ages. So that policy will take that into account."
Contributions to the so-called reserves funds have fluctuated in recent years. Having a reserves policy at the hall will help ensure things are done on a proactive basis, said Wilhelm-Morden.
At its low point, Whistler was squirreling away 11 per cent of property tax revenue to reserves. Council of the day then approved year-over-year tax increase from 2009 to 2011 to get reserve payments back up to about 19 per cent, or roughly $6.3 million in property taxes.
This year's budget has 22 per cent contribution of revenue, or $7.6 million in property taxes.
In total, Whistler's reserves topped $55 million at the end of 2011.
"I think we have been, to a certain extent, putting too much money away and that's not fair to current taxpayers," said the mayor. "It's not that we will have more money to spend, it's that we won't have to raise as much tax revenues."
The challenge is to find the balance between what current taxpayers contribute to reserves versus what future taxpayers contribute.
The Finance and Audit Committee and staff will be working on the reserves policy as part of the 2013 budgeting process.
RMI reserves could be used to plan summer 2013
Whistler doesn't have the multi-million dollar provincial RMI (Resort Municipality Initiative) money confirmed for 2013, so it may use its reserve money to start planning ahead for things like next summer's free concert lineup.
Council will be considering using reserves as a "place holder" of sorts at the next council meeting on Tuesday, July 17.
"It's just so that we're not scrambling around in April trying to figure out our program for July," explained the mayor, referring to the spring timeline when the province confirmed this year's $6.3 million RMI grant. Of that grant money, Whistler apportioned almost $2.7 million to its Festivals, Events, and Animation (FE&A) program for things like the free concert series in the village, among many other things.
Michele Comeau, municipal communications manager, later explained:
"As part of planning discussions with the FE&A Oversight Committee, the RMOW is looking to allocate some RMI reserves in order to support a more continuous planning cycle for FE&A," she said. "This will allow us to do more advance planning so we can maximize the program booking, and advance marketing."
The 2012 RMI reserves sit at more than $2.2 million. The province encourages communities to spend the RMI monies in the year they are allocated, but it is possible to set some money aside in reserves.
Meanwhile, senior municipal staff recently met with the Resort Collaborative, the collection of resort towns, which receive varying amounts of RMI funding. The collaborative plans to meet with provincial ministers during the Union of BC Municipalities in the fall, to discuss how the resort RMI funding will transition back to the PST from the HST.
Muni to lead the way in resort-wide economic plan
Now that its own house is getting into order after November's election, internal restructuring at the hall, and a new corporate plan, the RMOW will be spearheading a community-wide economic plan.
The goal is to get the resort partners on the same page, working collaboratively and not at cross-purposes.
With a 12-month timeframe, the plan will be led by municipal CAO Mike Furey, and called the "Economic Partnership Initiative."
"It's the thinking of a new way of moving forward in partnership with the Chamber, with Tourism Whistler, with Whistler Blackcomb to start developing an economic strategy," said the mayor, adding that the idea comes from council's January retreat and subsequent Council Action Plan.
The idea is still in its very early stages.
"We're reluctant to even start talking about the idea of something like this," she said.
"It's things like identifying our risks and planning for them, identifying our opportunities and the strategies to seize those opportunities."
Now that the RMOW Corporate Plan is complete, work on a resort-wide economic strategy is expected to get underway.
"It was something that we had to wait to start discussing until we felt confident that things were in hand internally at the hall," said the mayor.
"We're certainly getting there."
