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Council agrees to remove trees for helipad upgrade

Vancouver Coastal Health takes responsibility for delays in notifying RMOW
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Council authorized the removal of trees for the Whistler Health Centre upgrades on Tuesday evening, though the Resort Municipality of Whistler (RMOW) has no intention of cutting anything until Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH) has all their "ducks in a row."

Joe Paul, manager of development services for the RMOW, said that the trees will be removed as soon as VCH has met all of Transport Canada's upgrade requirements. He said it is conceivable that VCH could have all of this done by the Nov. 22 deadline, but there is no word yet on whether that will actually be the case.

If it takes until February for VCH to get everything sorted, then Paul said, "I won't pull the trigger on those trees until February."

At the root of the issue is making the necessary upgrades for H1 and H2 helicopter flight path landings. H1 requires only modest tree topping, while H2 requires complete removal of the trees between day Lot 4 and Lorimer Road to create an emergency landing area for helicopters.

H2 flight paths allow for more versatile aircraft to fly and land in the area, which VCH has expressed as necessary to provide the absolute best care to patients.

"I'm not an expert in this field. VCH is convinced that the H2 status results in the best patient outcomes at this facility," Paul said at the council meeting.

Both levels of upgrade require the lowering of traffic lights, as well as a road closure program for when helicopters are landing - which council also approved.

Mayor Ken Melamed and councillors Ralph Forsyth and Eckhard Zeidler were opposed to the motion.

"This is a village, not an airport," Melamed said. "If we're turning this into an airport, we need to rethink what we're doing."

Forsyth and Melamed both favoured an option offered by Transport Canada, which said that allocating between 150 and 200 parking stalls in Day Lots 4 or 5 would also be acceptable for creating an emergency-landing pad.

Melamed saw this option as a temporary solution to buy the RMOW more time to decide on another, more permanent solution, aside from removing the trees completely.

RMOW CAO Bill Barratt said that allocating 200 parking stalls could be problematic since the RMOW operates the day lots in an agreement with the B.C. government and Whistler Blackcomb.

Meanwhile, VCH is taking the blame for the confusion over the Whistler Health Centre heliport upgrades, and now they're working with both Transport Canada and the Resort Municipality of Whistler for a quick solution.

Larry Harder, Director of Capital Projects for VCH said that the Nov. 22 deadline to have all the upgrades completed was set well before he asked the RMOW for approval to make the upgrades two weeks ago.

"We own the problem and we're working on fixing that," he said. He added that part of the problem was the upgrading process was happening during the consolidation of region's health authorities.

"Just about all of the players that were involved were changed," Harder said.

Last December, Transport Canada told VCH after an inspection of the heliport that certain upgrades needed to be made or else the heliport would be closed. Those upgrades include a road closure procedure at Blackcomb Way and Lorimer Rd. every time a helicopter lands; the lowering of street lamps in the surrounding area; and the trimming or removal of trees separating Day Lot 4 and Lorimer.

So far, the deadline is in place and Harder said VCH is in an ongoing discussion with Transport Canada to get the deadline extended. Harder said that Transport Canada will close the heliport if the deadline is not met.

"There's some things they are recognizing that we can't get done right away, and as long as we can show that we have an intention to do it and a plan in place, that will be fine," Harder said.

Transport Canada would not clarify whether it would indeed close the heliport, stating instead that they "will not speculate on the outcome of the decisions that will be made by Vancouver Coastal Health Authority and the Whistler Municipality."

TC spokesperson Sara Hof had stated in an email last week that they "are responsible to ensure the safety of persons on the ground as well as those in the air. That is managed by ensuring that a heliport is safe to operate from and conditions, as required, are placed on the heliport and/or helicopter operators."

Harder said that regardless of what TC decides to do, they recognize that in any emergency the decision whether to land is at the discretion of the pilot.

"So whether we have certification or not, if the pilot thinks in his mind that he can land, they always have that option. So it's not like you can't use it under any conditions and they wouldn't let us do that on a regular basis, it would have to be an emergency," Harder said.

If the heliport is closed, VCH has a contingency plan where they can use the municipal heliport, located 10 minutes north of town - an option paramedics already use for serious cases to transport serious cases to Vancouver.

If an agreement cannot be reached between the three parties, Harder said it would be best to invest in upgrading the current municipal site.

"We're further ahead to invest in that facility because anything we do within a built up area where people live and work is going to be a problem, and an ongoing problem," Harder said. "So we might as well find a better long-term solution. If we can't make it work at the health centre then I think that would be the next logical step."

The project budget is $500,000. Vancouver Coastal will pay 60 per cent of the project while the Sea to Sky Regional Health District will cover the remaining costs.