The carefully laid plan for Intrawest’s redevelopment of Creekside – the Whistler South Comprehensive Development Strategy – was amended this week to allow the highway underpass to be built next summer.
Intrawest says cleanup of the soil contaminated by leaks from the PetroCanada station have delayed work on the highway underpass, but some council members weren’t buying it.
"I’m not comfortable with this request," said Councillor Ken Melamed. "The timing and triggers for this project were carefully thought out."
The underpass will include a Valley Trail connection to the Beaver Flats employee housing project, as well as the re-routing of Whistler Creek. Intrawest has said it will build the Valley Trail connection and a dry creek channel next summer if clean up of the contaminated site is still ongoing and the creek itself can’t be diverted.
Councillor Nick Davies said he thought the dry creek could have been built this summer if Intrawest had started earlier.
"I think we have to give them a Mulligan on this one and require it be done next year," Davies said.
In the Whistler South CDS the highway underpass and the parking structure at Creekside were linked to an occupancy permit for the First Tracks Lodge. However, the First Tracks Lodge units have been sold and will be completed by the coming winter. Work won’t start on the underpass and parking structure until next summer.
Instead, council amended the CDS to tie those two projects to the issuing of a building permit for the Hillside Lodge, the third lodge to be built at Creekside.
What all that means is that next spring Intrawest will be busy at Creekside. Construction will start on the highway underpass, underground parking structure and Hillside Lodge. As well, the second phase of Franz’s Trail, the pedestrian mini-village at the south end of Creekside, will also be under construction next year.
Mount Whistler Lodge moves forward
The Mason family’s long anticipated plans for redeveloping their Mount Whistler Lodge site is finally moving forward.
Council gave first and second reading to zoning bylaws Monday which will allow development of 22 single family lots, ranging from 2,800 to 5,000 square feet, eight market townhomes, a four-unit resident-restricted townhouse building and a resident-restricted caretaker’s suite on approximately 15 acres adjacent to Alta Lake, between Alta Vista and Alta Vista Pointe.
The project also includes a foreshore parkland dedication, extensive Valley Trail connections and rehabilitation of a fish-spawning creek.
The proposed project will be the subject of a public hearing.
