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Council members grilled at barbecue

Whistler 2020, environment, and transportation most popular topics at round table
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By Andrew Mitchell

Whistler residents have a lot on their minds, judging by the wide range of issues and questions that were brought up Friday, June 8 as Whistler council hosted a round table discussion and barbecue.

The format was the same as the previous open house, with citizens gathering at round tables and councillors making the rounds to answer questions and address concerns brought forward by the public. Mayor Ken Melamed kicked off the discussion with an overview of council projects, and wrapped it up with an open question and answer period.

Roughly 30 people took part in the discussions, although the number of participants got larger as the afternoon wore on and the open house shifted into barbecue mode.

Melamed said the open house meetings are useful, and bring a lot of issues and ideas to the attention of council.

“It’s an opportunity for people to get things off their chests that they’re thinking about, and look at ways we can improve what we’re doing in Whistler,” he said. “Everybody gets some face time with members of council, and a chance to ask those questions that are on their minds, and get answers from their elected representatives. There were also a few cases where we didn’t have the answers, in which case we made it a point to get back to those people with the right information.

“Our feeling at council is that we can’t over-communicate, and you can never have too many opportunities for the community to engage with their local elected officials in an open way. It’s so important to be open and accountable.”

The discussions covered a wide range of topics. In his visits to four tables, Melamed said he was approached on a number of different issues.

“I don’t have a definite list of notes, and encouraged people to fill out their exit interview comments for follow-up, but from the few notes I did make I can tell you that people asked about increased access to cross-country trail connections in the winter, there were suggestions for putting rental accommodation on the old Nesters tank farm site — or what will hopefully become the old tank farm site once the pipeline is in place.

“We heard about energy issues, with businesses leaving their doors open through the winter, people were questioning the need to renovate municipal hall, there were questions about bed units, public transportation — someone even suggested building a valley bottom gondola to transport people like they have in some European resorts.”

At table two, transportation was a huge topic.

One particpant asked councillors Eckhard Zeidler and Gord McKeever about the effect that a faster four- and three-lane highway will have on our current two-lane highway. She was concerned about appearance, increased traffic, and the potential bottleneck for vehicles.

According to McKeever, the transition into Whistler will be seamless for drivers who are already used to the highway switching from one to two lanes and back again. The decision to limit the highway to the current two lanes through Whistler was made by the Ministry of Transportation after consulting the community.

“The input on highway improvements that we submitted to the Ministry of Transportation recommended not widening the road,” he said. “We requested safety improvements, some accommodation for lane changes, and bike lanes, but no widening for cars.”

He added that studies have shown that widening roadways has been proven to increase the number of cars on the road, resulting in the same traffic issues that were there in the beginning.

Whistler’s transportation plan, which is now part of the Whistler 2020 planning documents, advocates changing driver behaviour to encourage the use of public transportation, car pooling, and less commuting. Some possible elements of that plan may include pay parking in the village day lots — which the Resort Municipality of Whistler acquired from the province — and creating a south end day skier lot that would connect to other areas by free shuttles or perhaps a separate gondola.

Given that Whistler is reaching buildout, Zeidler says it may not be necessary to add another parking lot.

“When the project to upgrade Highway 99 was planned there was a lot of consultation with the public. When the idea of a four-lane highway through town was suggested there was a huge backlash from people in the community that said they didn’t want it,” he said.

“I suggest the resort isn’t getting bigger and bigger. We’re within a few dozen units of the bed cap with all the recent projects on the go… and I’ve put forward a motion to reaffirm our commitment to a solid bed cap.

“Someone will always come forward with a new proposal for a wellness centre or a university, but all of these great ideas that people want to build come with bed units. With the bed cap set in stone, maybe we won’t be asked or have to turn away these ideas.”

Tim Wake and Bob Lorriman were the next visitors to the table and continued talking about the transportation issue. The discussion moved to pay parking, which Wake admitted is being considered as an incentive to get people out of their cars.

“I don’t know any ski resort where there is free parking right at the base of the mountain,” he said. “Congestion is our trouble, and people won’t change their behaviour when there is free parking available. Our greenhouse gas emissions are increasing, and one way to address that is to get people to look at taking alternative transportation.”

One member at the table suggested that ski lockers and change rooms could go along with pay parking, rewarding people who use transit.

From there the discussion moved to the issue of global warming, which was addressed at the council meeting on Tuesday, June 5 after a presentation of the United Nations Environmental Program’s new report on the Global Outlook for Ice and Snow.

Given the amount of interest at the meeting, one round table participant wanted to know why more has not been done to build on that momentum and organize a mass effort to address climate change.

Lorriman admitted that more could be done to address the issue, but said that most people are already aware of their own behaviour and that the Whistler 2020 plan already has a lot of information the public can use.

When the participant pointed out that most people in Whistler were not that aware of Whistler 2020, and that the plan was too large and complicated for most people, Lorriman acknowledged that there was room for improvement.

“Whistler 2020 is still the best tool we have for addressing these kinds of issues, but more could be done to make the plan accessible to the public and see the way they can make a change in their own lives,” he said. “In a sense we’re preaching to the converted a lot of the time, but there are a lot of things we could be doing to reach the people who are still on the other side of the fence.”

Lorriman mentioned a new program called Project Torchlight, where municipalities purchase a large quantity of compact fluorescent bulbs and go door to door offering to replace residents’ porch lights.

“It would cost us about $50,000 at $5 a light, but a follow-up on the original Torchlight program found that when people were given an explanation of the technology and discovered they could save money, they went out and replaced other bulbs in their homes,” he said. “Maybe that’s the kind of program we need to look at.”

Ralph Forsyth and Nancy Wilhelm-Morden were the next visitors. Forsyth fielded the first question about the new Home program that will attempt to secure and administrate rental housing in private residences — similar to a program that Whistler-Blackcomb launched a few years ago to find housing for their own employees. The Whistler Chamber of Commerce will administer the program, but the Resort Municipality of Whistler contributed $18,000 towards the start-up costs.

“The great thing about this kind of program is that it makes it easy for people to rent out rooms,” said Forsyth. “We’ll sign the lease, we’ll arrange to have the costs taken off the person’s paycheque and sent to the homeowner, and you don’t have to field a hundred phone calls when your listing appears in the paper. Because we will be renting under the Inkeepers Act, we only have to rent that room as long as the person is employed with the business, rather than under the Landlord Tenant Act. It takes the risk away, the hassle away from homeowners. This is something we should have been doing years ago.”

Wilhelm-Morden was asked a question about the current strains on the municipal budget, and whether that would have any impact on plans to expand municipal hall.

She said the renovation and expansion was necessary, given the cramped conditions at the existing hall, but that steps would be taken to mitigate the cost. Unlike the library, where a decision was made to solicit separate bids on each phase of the construction project — which has been partly blamed for cost increases in the neighbourhood of 40 per cent — Wilhelm-Morden said that council would only approve a budget that is set in stone.

“This is not about expanding the hall because of the 2010 Olympics, it’s about the fact that the hall is too old and too small,” she said. “We’re still going to look at this carefully. If the bid comes in at $5.2 million we’ll probably go ahead, but if it comes in at $7.5 million we’re not going to do that.”

The mayor was asked about the fact that Whistler is falling short of its goals in Whistler 2020 — including reducing greenhouse gas emissions and water usage.

Melamed asked people to be patient.

“There is a lot of concern about our inability to meet those goals, but it’s a sometimes tedious process. We’ve just now started properly measuring and monitoring the right things, and it will take a few years before we have enough data collected to start taking some action,” he said. “We will have a better idea of impact and how to address these numbers.”

The round table came back to climate issues, and the limitations on expanding the municipal bus fleet.

“Under the current deal with B.C. Transit, for any incremental cost the municipality would have to assume 100 per cent funding for it,” he said. “Under the current formula we’re about 50-50, and B.C. Transit saw their funding frozen more than five years ago. If we want to expand the service we might be willing to assume all of the costs, but I don’t think we’re there yet. We’d like to get matching funds, or a source of revenue to cover those extra costs.”

The RMOW currently subsidizes transit by about $2 million a year, he added, and it would be tough to boost that number.

The mayor was also asked about the new land agreement with First Nations. He said that the outcome was positive for all communities, and that the agreement merely reflects the new reality in B.C. following the 1997 Supreme Court decision that recognized aboriginal title to the land. As a result, stakeholders have to consult with First Nations and gain their approval before making any land use decisions on territory claimed by First Nations.

The decision to grant First Nations legacy lands to develop in Whistler was necessary, he added, because it was the only way that the municipality could secure title to the day skier lots and additional land through a municipal boundary expansion.

The deal also warmed the relationship between Whistler and First Nations, which Melamed said will be important when making future land use decisions in and around Whistler.

“They want to work with us, and so far the outcome of that relationship has been nothing but positive,” said Melamed.