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CSP online for comments Time is ticking for community members to add input to the Comprehensive Sustainability Plan, which will map out Whistler’s future until 2020.

CSP online for comments

Time is ticking for community members to add input to the Comprehensive Sustainability Plan, which will map out Whistler’s future until 2020.

There are five future scenarios to choose from in the workbooks that became available this week, or people may take elements from each scenario and develop a separate future scenario. But there is less than three weeks to do it.

All input must be submitted to municipal hall by Monday, Nov. 24.

Mike Vance, general manager of community initiatives, gave council a brief update of the process at Monday’s council meeting.

He said the Web site is now up and running and people can log on to www.whistlerfuture.com to go through the workbook, backgrounder and fill out the questionnaire.

Comments can be submitted electronically via the Web site but Vance reminded Web users that their answers must be filled out in the questionnaire portion of the Web site, not on the workbook.

Vance also told council that they are trying to involve the students of Whistler Secondary School in the process too, but the details have yet to be worked out.

For those without access to the Web site paper copies are now available at the Whistler Public Library, the Meadow Park Sports Centre, all three schools and municipal hall.

Municipal staff will also be on hand to answer any questions at the CSP Open House on Saturday, Nov. 15 at Myrtle Philip Community Centre from 1 to 5 p.m. The open house will be a drop-in format where residents can get help with the process.

All public input will be considered during the next stage of the CSP, when the information is turned into the preferred Whistler future.

In car parking meters coming to Whistler

Whistler drivers will soon be able to buy individual parking meters to hang on their rearview mirrors.

The system is designed to take away all the stress of digging around for loose change or tempting fate by not putting any money into the meter at all.

It’s called the In Car Parking Meter system and after a successful pilot project this year, the municipality will launch the system on Dec. 1.

Bill Barratt, general manager of community services for the municipality, explained the ICPM system at Monday’s council meeting.

Drivers will pay $90 up front for the small meter that looks like a cross between a palm pilot and a basic calculator. Then they buy a "smart card" loaded with any amount of monetary value based on each individual’s need.

Each time they park at a municipal pay parking lot, they put in the card and its value decreases based on the amount of time the car is parked.

In the pilot project, one smart card user parked 40 times. Had they plugged a Loonie into the machine each time it would have cost $40. With the smart card they paid $21.85.

"You pay for what you use," said Barratt, adding that the convenience is great because you save both time and money.

"There’s some good savings right off the top."

The meters, which are made in Israel, will come with a basic explanation on how to use them as well as a map highlighting all the parking lots where they can be used.

Decals at the parking lots will also identify them as smart card lots.

To date the system has been used successfully in Aspen, Amsterdam and Santa Barbara.

Councillor Kristi Wells reminded council that the long-range plans call for the municipality to look at implementing pay parking in the day skier parking lots.

She added that she hoped the smart card system could give locals good discounts that could help with Whistler’s overall affordability issues.

Builders warned to get proper permits

Council voted 4-3 to allow a small renovation to continue on a townhouse in the Blackcomb Benchlands.

The owners of the Snowy Creek townhouse had started construction on a crawl space which would give them more floor area for a hot tub room, office and two closets, when they were issued a stop work order by the municipality.

Under the Blackcomb Land Use Contract, owners of Snowy Creek must get development approval from council for any improvements to the building. They did not have this approval before they began construction and so were trying to legalize the renovations at Monday’s council meeting.

Councillor Kristi Wells said this wasn’t the first time a builder or contractor had gone ahead with an improvement without first getting all the proper permits in place.

She reminded builders to make sure all their T’s were crossed and I’s dotted in the future.

Councillor Ken Melamed dismissed her warning as "wishful thinking."

"The way they’re going to get this message is (by) turning one of these things down," he said.

He added that council was also aware that this particular owner in Snowy Creek had been advertising for nightly rentals of up to 17 people, which was beyond the legal scope of their TA zoning.

Councillors Caroline Lamont and Gordon McKeever joined Melamed in opposition of letting the renovation go forward but in the end they were defeated.

Employee housing site preparation underway

The Nita Lake Lodge development is moving ahead with plans to build a portion of its employee housing in the spring.

They are currently doing site preparation for the employee townhouses that will go on the upper portion of the 23-acre development site.

On Monday Bob MacPherson, general manager of planning and development services with the municipality, asked council to approve an amendment to an existing covenant on a neighbouring site to allow for the water supply to reach the employee housing.

The amendment will allow the Nita Lake Lodge Corporation to build a watermain and access road through the 10-acre London Mountain Lodge site on the west shore of Nita Lake.

The London Mountain Lodge project was approved three years ago to allow for a small lodge and 25 little log cabins on the land. But the land has changed hands since then and is currently owned by an Australian group. The development has yet to move ahead even though council has approved the project.

Council amended the London Mountain Lodge covenant to allow Nita Lake to move ahead with its development.