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The municipality is considering spending some of its approximately $6 million employee housing fund to acquire a parcel of the Whistler Kampground lands from Greenside Properties.

The municipality is considering spending some of its approximately $6 million employee housing fund to acquire a parcel of the Whistler Kampground lands from Greenside Properties. No decision has been made but council met in camera prior to Monday’s committee of the whole meeting to consider the land acquisition. Acting Mayor Thelma Johnstone said later "it would be reasonable to assume one of the sources (of funding) considered would be the works and services charge for employee housing." A detailed, independent proforma and appraisal of the costs and profits of the project will be done before council agrees to any purchase. Meanwhile, Greenside’s latest proposal for the Kampground lands will be processed as a priority application, but it still has to go through first two readings and a public hearing before there is any assurance the project will proceed. Greenside’s application this week was essentially the same as the proposal made last week. It includes 69 market value lots, which will be offered to Whistler residents first, dedication of more than half of the Kampground lands to the municipality for an improved configuration of Spruce Grove Park and the sale of a serviced site to the municipality for development of approximately 60 affordable housing units. The Crown land which Greenside had sought for a private high school will be turned over to the school board for a public elementary school. The proposal has a total of 486 bed units. Greenside’s earlier application, which is still at third reading in the re-zoning process, had a total of 845 bed units, through 55 single family market value lots, 11 duplex lots, 17 single family employee lots and the private high school with dormitories and staff housing. The Ministry of Lands has indicated it would require financial compensation if its land was used for a private high school. David Ehrhardt of Greenside said following the meeting the content of the new proposal is essentially the same as the earlier proposal. The difference is that rather than individual residents building their own employee housing, the municipality will have to build it. "I think it’s pretty clear council is being careful, but I’m confident we’re going in the right direction," Ehrhardt said. Greenside is trying to get all the underground servicing done to the site prior to winter. The company is also attempting to get the concrete abutments for the new bridge over Fitzsimmons Creek finished before winter. Greenside has completed a training berm alongside Fitzsimmons Creek which provides floodproofing for Spruce Grove Park. The company will also build the new bridge over the river which will eventually make Blackcomb Way a network road, stretching from the village north through the Whistler Racquet and Golf Resort lands to the new Spruce Grove subdivision. Greenside submitted a rezoning application for the Kampground lands in January 1990, in response to the municipality’s call for proposals for affordable housing. The proposal has changed form several time in the intervening years and been delayed by a municipal review of the Official Community Plan and a series of legal actions.