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Growing up Whistler at the OCP open house

Passion for community comes out as development cap, secondary industry discussed

It's clear now that the upcoming OCP update will focus on how to preserve and sustain what Whistler has built for itself.

Since the first OCP was completed in 1976, Whistler has been focused on the development of the resort and its tourism industry, with the beacon goal to one day host the Olympics. This has now been achieved, and as 165 residents gathered at the Whistler Conference Centre on Nov. 24 for the RMOW-hosted Official Community Plan update open house to discuss Whistler's future, it was evident that the town has passed through its childhood and is now in its next stage of development.

The question is, how will Whistler transition from a developing resort community to a mature resort community?

"Some of the comments are that this growth has been so fast and so explosive that we don't really know what the implications of it are yet, so it's really smart that we have a cap on development so we can understand what building this place to its ultimate capacity looks like, physically and operationally," said Kevin Damaskie, sustainability coordinator for the RMOW.

Staff was looking for direct feedback from the community on the directions that the OCP is taking. It's been a simple process so far - staff has asked residents what their issues are for moving Whistler forward from this transitory time, to identify some opportunities to deal with the issues, which staff then took and laid out in specific policy contexts that were laid out on placards at the meeting on Nov. 24 for all to see.

Staff will blend the information taken from the open house into 110 proposed general directions across six identified chapter areas for the update, which are economic; climate action, energy and resources; land use and development; natural environment; transportation and infrastructure; quality of life.

The night included a PechaKucha-style presentation by Whistler author Leslie Anthony, who addressed the question, "Who is Whistler?" dressed as his alter-ego, Dr. Hunter Les Thompson. That was followed by group discussions where residents would sit in at one of the six stations to discuss that topic in particular.

Damaskie said that "85 per cent of the proposed directions were generally supported" and people were most responsive and enthusiastic about maintaining and enforcing the development cap; restricting development to existing developed areas; ensuring the biodiversity of the natural areas, which are vital to the resort experience.

There was also much discussion of second industry outside of tourism, and Damaskie said there were diverse ideas of what second industry would look like. The general feeling is that secondary industry that would fit into the already-built environment, including education and other knowledge-based industries.

But staff was surprised by the lack of interest from Whistler secondary students for an education institution located in town.

"That was a surprise," he said. "Many of these youthful Whistler citizens want to go out into the world to see how the world is relative to them and bring that learning back to Whistler."

This will also be the first time that aging-in-place policies will be included into Whister's OCP. Because Whistler has been a youthful, transient town over the past 35 years, policy-makers are for the first time in a position to take an introspective look at opportunities for the ever-increasing number of people who are currently growing up here, and will continue to live here for the long term.

"These are amazing conversations. There is no more passionate citizen than the Whistler citizen," Damaskie said. "This community is beyond bitching about itself in spite of our opportunities. People are really considering what's important to them and how to maintain it. I think that, from my perspective, that's a very progressive, very enlightened position for a community to be at. If I were to survey 165 people in that room, notwithstanding their political ideologies, who they love or who they hate, they love Whistler. They need to figure out what they love about it and how to maintain that."

Staff has been very encouraged with the feedback they were receiving since the beginning for the OCP update process.

"There are so many intelligent people who understand and care about this place, who live in Whistler, who know that we are an anomaly. People really do understand and care about this place in a smart progressive way. This town is built by people who build concepts and realities," he said.

Which is, of course, making his and the rest of staff's jobs considerably easier - with a community-base that is both passionate and eager to take part in the development of Whistler's future, that knows what it's role is and is educated on the processes, complexities and issues that this town is facing.

Staff are eyeing the final two weeks in January for the working group sessions, one session per chapter area, where each area will be analyzed and thoroughly discussed to see what the long-term effects and benefits will be for the policy directions that have already been outlined and will be revised based on the material acquired at the open house.

Part of this process will be to prioritize the community's needs, with an eye focused on how to maintain sustainability because, as Damaskie said, "we're certainly not sustainable."