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Finding Function’s future

Whistler’s industrial/business park at a crossroads

It's mid-morning in Function Junction and the "toads" – the affectionate nickname for employees at Toad Hall Studios – are hard at work.

Around them local logos, mushroom stickers and random airbrushed thoughts adorn the walls, serving as inspiration for future creations. With the music pumping, the "toads" lean over a heavy sticker press, turning another custom-made illustration, the likes of which are stuck on snowboards around the world, into another homegrown work of art.

Though they may be tucked away in a nondescript warehouse on the southern fringe of the resort, Toad Hall Studios is as much a Whistler landmark as Black Tusk or Rainbow Mountain. But it’s raw, edgy and loud, and far away from the curious eyes of tourists.

For 15 years Jorge Alvarez and his partners have been running the company out of Function Junction, Whistler’s darker, coarser neighbourhood.

Like Toad Hall Studios itself, Function has come a long way over those years and now business owners, landlords and workers are engaged in an underground, vibrant debate about where the area is headed.

Some argue it should be gentrified, some want it just for industrial uses, and some want the status quo.

The municipality, while it isn't planning on rezoning the area, is open to some upgrades, such as sidewalks or expanding the transit service.

"There's nothing that we're doing actively to re-plan Function Junction or anything," said Bob MacPherson, general manager of planning and development at the municipality. "Every town needs an area like Function where the semi-industrial uses go, and we see Function continuing to fill that role."

But, like anyone who has seen Whistler's whirlwind transformation, Alvarez is worried about the future of Function and has this to say about it: "This is the real Whistler; the last bit of the real Whistler.

"Keep it real."

Off the beaten path, looking the same as industrial areas around the world, Function is a place that keeps Whistler moving and shaking. Here you'll find building supplies, car repair shops, a concrete plant, a steel fabrication shop and much more.

That's why former Whistler Mayor Drew Meredith describes Function as "the engine room of the resort."

But there are forces at play in Function and beyond which may herald big changes for Whistler's industrial/business/retail park, and that has many people thinking about the area's future.

On the one hand it is dealing with a flattening economy and an unprecedented number of vacancies. On the other hand it is poised to take advantage of Olympic development and an athletes village cum resident neighbourhood going in just across the highway.

Though it is almost at build out, with only three major empty lots to develop, Function is ready to change.

But it’s hard to figure out what those changes will be unless there is a plan put in place which not only recognizes Function's piecemeal development to date but also what new opportunities lie ahead.

The sign from the highway – business, industrial, retail – suggests it's a mixed bag of goods today.

"Really, we're the catch all for everything else," said Meredith, who was mayor from 1986 to 1990 when Function was little more than a few warehouses and a concrete mixing facility.

"Everything that doesn't work anywhere else in Whistler comes to Function, which isn't a bad thing. But what is it? Is it an industrial park? Is it a retail area? Both?

"It should be (called) Every Function.

"But right now it seems to be at a bit of a crossroads and doesn't seem to want to move forward."

YESTERDAY AND TODAY'S MIX

Walking along the dusty roads, you're bound to uncover little treasures in the big boxy buildings.

At one end of Function, there's Prior Snowboards, a factory producing made-in-Whistler snowboards every bit as good as any of the old school names. Good Hair Day is in the middle, a hair salon that could be at home on any downtown Vancouver street. At the other end lies Art Junction which offers a quiet respite from the hustle and bustle outside, with CBC radio setting the mood for perusing high-end works from B.C. artists.

But Function wasn't always this funky. There was a time when Function was little more than a gravel pit, an out of the way spot where heavy industrial uses could flourish undisturbed.

Randy Ficko remembers; he opened Proteck Industries, a welding and steel fabricating shop, in the spring of 1987.

"I didn't want to be down here, to tell you the truth, because there was nothing down here," said Ficko, leaning back in his office chair in his dark coveralls, the smell of steel grease permeating the air.

"I wanted to be at Mons (Crossing, north of the village) but they said ‘no, you have to come down here, you're heavy industry.’"

Proteck set up shop across the way from Cardinal Concrete. It was auspicious timing; the resort was on the verge of unprecedented growth and it needed an industrial centre to supply the village development.

As attention focused on the village, Function slowly evolved on its own. Building supply stores came on the heels of heavy industry, and those were soon followed by a hodge-podge of retail stores and storage spaces.

"Function had relatively broad uses as an industrial park goes," recalled Steve Bayly, who began developing in the park in the early ’90s.

"For example, industrial parks in the city were typically more restrictive, more warehousing, more wholesaling; Function's always had retail sales of household goods, (and) building supplies in its zoning."

Former Mayor Meredith admits it was an ad hoc evolution.

"The history of Function – you could do anything you wanted for the longest time," he said.

THE FUTURE

That evolution has created challenges for many of the retail businesses trying to survive in a gritty industrial park.

It's dusty and utilitarian and without a doubt, it's the smelliest place in Whistler thanks to the sewage treatment plant across the highway.

Art Junction owner Harvey Lim, who took over the gallery about a year ago, would like to see the place turn into a funky artsy area, offering an alternative to the village shopping. He suggests something akin to Vancouver's Granville Island, where industry meets retail and the arts in a booming and unique hub of commercial activity.

The addition of sidewalks, and perhaps re-hanging the resort's colourful banners, could entice people to explore Function.

And fixing the smell from the sewage treatment across the road, which on some days lingers over Function like a bad hangover, would go a long way to keeping the customers he already has from walking out the door.

Maybe everyone doesn’t agree with this vision but at some point, he said, there has to be a conscious decision to give Function some sort of parameters and characteristics.

"Function has to assume some sort of identity," said Lim, a tall dark-haired Brit, who stands at ease among the colourful works of art.

That new identity would encourage more businesses to invest in the area.

With roughly 40,000 square feet of vacant space, encouraging more businesses to come to Function is a topic on many business owners’ minds.

Sue Adams, who owns Function-based Market Catering, which also has a popular coffee bar at the north end of Function, laments the loss of some of the unique hole in the wall stores which have folded in recent years.

"Obviously this year has given us a good example that we need to be a little bit more economically sustainable," said Adams.

"If we're looking at expanding our economic base then obviously this area could play a big part in that, and I think we need to.

"If I have guests in town I like to bring them down on the weekend and poke around the stores. It's an area that the average tourist really doesn't get to see. But my concern is now that we're really losing all those interesting stores and businesses, that obviously it's no longer viable for them. I'm concerned right now as to where we're going."

The vacant space was created a year ago by the addition of a new building at the north end of the park, while at the same time, the resort's economy flattened, making it a tough year for many businesses to keep going.

Don Wensley, the developer who built Function's latest building, which created the vacancies in other parts of the park, sees very clearly how the area should define itself.

"This should become a business park," he said simply.

That means the heavy industrial uses such as Cardinal Concrete and Proteck, and the heavy machine shops, should be relocated. He suggests they move somewhere else where they can have large yard space, freeing up valuable land for more business and retail shops.

The bylaws in Function should then be revamped to reflect the type of new businesses Whistler needs to put in its industrial park. Indeed, the current bylaws are very prescriptive in their nature, not even allowing general office space as a permitted use.

"We are driving businesses out of Whistler because we haven't had the foresight to create an environment where business can flourish," explained Wensley, in a quiet classy office in his new building.

"Whistler is not here just for the enjoyment of the tourist. Whistler is here also for the satisfaction and success of business."

It's not as though Wensley is pulling the concept of relocating heavy industry out of thin air. An old Official Community Plan points to land across the highway as the site for those uses.

Bayly also sees this as a way for Function to turn a corner, and redefine itself.

"…(W)e've got concrete batching right in the middle (of Function), which is non-compatible with any kind of neighbourhood," said Bayly. "We've got welding right in the middle. We've got heavy equipment and maintenance repairs sprinkled in with people walking around trying to buy a lampshade."

It doesn’t work as well as it could, but that's not to say the area should compete with the village, he hastened to add.

But perhaps, moving the heavy uses and developing a niche market for things such as consignment stores and discounted ski stores offering last year's gear, could make a more sustainable resort.

"I don't think we can do everything that Squamish or the (big box stores) do, but I think there's a gap between the Costco/Squamish run and the Village/Creekside stuff," said Bayly.

"Now we don't want to rip off the village on the one hand; you don't want to rip off the locals going to the village and the vibrancy within the village and the sales within the village. On the other hand you don't want everyone going to Squamish or beyond in their car to not pay the village price.

"I don't know the answer but I just know the feeling (of what's missing and needed)."

AT HOME IN FUNCTION

Another missing component in Function is housing. The odd local lives here, more often than not tucked away in the top floors of the buildings where illegal suites have flourished.

There are only a handful of legal spaces to rent, dotted throughout the area. Living in Function isn't for everyone.

Tara Bowland, an official "toad", lives just down the road from Toad Hall Studios. She loves living and working in Function, though she can see why it doesn’t appeal to the masses.

Sure, there may not be street lights and sidewalks, and certainly, there’s always the possibility of running into a pack of Function dogs while walking home from work, or the odd black bear, but this is the only place in Whistler that has that gritty city feel to it. A city girl at heart, Bowland fits right in.

"I really do like living down here, mostly because it's so close to work," she said. "I’d like to see more people living down here."

That could be a possibility as Wensley has put plans forward at municipal hall to build a 30-unit employee housing at the north edge of the park. The units would be offered for sale as part of the Whistler Housing Authority inventory.

The resident housing works in that location, said Wensley, because it's a freestanding building, and therefore residents are unlikely to clash with nearby industrial operators.

Still, if he is going to put more residents here, Wensley also wants to see the municipality develop a budget for putting in curbs, gutters, sidewalks and street lighting, as well as an expanded transit service to the north end of the park to service local residents.

Then he proposes to take that budget to the property owners and see if they can agree to pay for part of the cost through a special assessment levied against each property. They could pay for the upgrades up front, or over a period of years by adding it to their taxes, in much the same way the residents in Emerald Estates paid for their sewer hook up last year.

"My personal view is it would make the industrial park much more attractive, much more appealing, and safer," said Wensley.

"Why is (that)… important now? Because now the park is almost built out. We now have a large number of employees, young working people, down here. There's no safe place to walk on the street. And there's no bus service from Home Hardware down to the north end of the industrial park. And the young people are walking in the rain and the snow. They're hard to see and somebody's going to get hurt. And it's also unpleasant for the young workers."

But there are critics of gentrification, particularly from the old guard in Function, who aren't happy with its evolution over the last 20 years.

"I liked it a lot better the way it was, (with) only people concerned with industry (in the area)," said Ficko.

"I don’t believe that it ever should have been allowed to go this way."

Bringing more retail businesses and more residents will not only add more traffic, he said, but there could be clashes with heavy industry.

As for relocating elsewhere, that's not something Ficko is interested in doing.

And Bob Fast, owner of Cardinal Concrete, said he has no plans to move his company from its place in Function.

"We don't want to see heavy industry shown the door," he said. "A good mix is healthy."

Toad Hall's Alvarez says the writing is on the wall for businesses like his if Function moves the way of the business/retail park. He already envisions the possibility of being squeezed out of Function as Olympic developers come knocking around town, looking for space to set up shop in the resort.

Rents, which are already more expensive than downtown Squamish, will creep up, forcing out businesses operating on a small margin.

Alvarez doesn't mince his words about the future. Function doesn't need to follow in the village footsteps as Creekside has done. It needs to stay raw and industrial. And a move to gentrify Function even further could only spell the demise of some long-term local companies.

"We don't want boulevards full of (flower) baskets here."

He likes it the way it is. Function has a flavour and a feel that allows businesses such as Toad Hall Studios to flourish. They can operate round the clock, with music blasting and presses pumping.

It’s almost a throwback to the good old days in Whistler, just like the Toad Hall Studios name itself, which is a salute to the original Toad Hall, a hippie/ski bum "chalet" dating back to Whistler’s early days when there weren’t so many rules and regulations.

For a time, there weren't so many stringent rules and regulations in Function.

Case in point – up until this year retailers and food stores have been advertising their wares with sandwich boards on the side of the road, something which is forbidden to village merchants.

Last month the municipality ordered all the sandwich boards down, a move that left a feeling of distaste around Function.

It got many people talking about the future of this quirky place too.

"It'll find its own economic niche, I think. I think it has to do that," said Marketing Catering's Adams.

It may just need a little help along the way.

The lunchtime banter about the dusty streets may all be better served in a municipal task force or an association of business merchants, which could help define Function and plan its future.

"I think the municipality really needs to dust the bylaw off and look at the future and be realistic about what's here and what isn't here," said Meredith.

"We've been a retail area hiding behind an industrial park and maybe it's time to come out of the closet and be what works best."



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