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Breathe easy, Max

Re: “Hold your nose again” (Maxed Out, Pique Aug. 28) The recent article by Max requires some clarification. As a general comment, Whistler and the WHA have never had the number of new WHA employee-restricted homes constructed at one time.

Re: “Hold your nose again” (Maxed Out, Pique Aug. 28)

The recent article by Max requires some clarification. As a general comment, Whistler and the WHA have never had the number of new WHA employee-restricted homes constructed at one time. At Cheakamus Crossing alone, there will be 221 WHA homes in six different strata developments.

In order to minimize interest and housing costs and reduce the final cost to the purchaser, as well as any risk to the taxpayers of Whistler, the WDC determined it was advantageous to commence a sales program well in advance of the date a purchaser could take occupancy. Prospective purchasers, however, expressed concern over the fact that the home, their home, was completed (and occupied by VANOC) 12 to 18 months before they could move in. In fairness to the purchasers, and as an incentive to purchase, the WDC suggested it would be reasonable to commence the indexing of the home upon execution of a binding sales agreement. Although this is not the normal policy of the WHA, Cheakamus Crossing is not a normal development project, having to provide accommodation for the 2010 Games in advance of the owner taking occupancy and funded by the municipality with grants from VANOC and land from the province, all with conditions attached.

The proposed indexing could increase the potential resale value of the home depending on when the purchase is made. Given the Cheakamus Crossing selling prices, however, the value of the home, even if indexing commences two years prior to occupancy, will be $20-40/sq.ft. less than the recent sales of comparable WHA homes. If anything, current WHA homeowners should be pleased that the potential value of new homes at Cheakamus Crossing, including any indexed value, will be closer to the value of their home so that its value is not discounted in the WHA marketplace due to lower-priced similar new product. The intent was not to give purchasers an “unasked for bonus,” but rather, respond to market conditions and reduce potential development risk.

Due to the number and variety units, in six different projects, and a sales program that must ensure the integrity of the waitlist, over a two-year timeframe, a third-party professional realty company was deemed to be appropriate. Again, the intent was to reduce the possibility of development risk.

While there are approximately 500 prospective purchasers on the waitlist, the sales records of previous WHA projects have indicated that less than 30 per cent of those on the waitlist actually purchase. A marketing, advertising and communications budget was set to ensure those wishing to purchase a home were aware of Cheakamus Crossing, had access to site and unit plans and a website, in order that they were aware of the various options and could make an informed decision. The budget includes a site model and open houses, etc., and is intended to assist those in the valley who are looking for permanent housing, in understanding the multi-project development and the opportunity they have. It should be noted that, to date, less than half of this budget is spent and any funds not expended (in any budget line item) remain with the RMOW for the development of future affordable housing under the Housing Reserve Fund Bylaw.

The WREC agreement with the WDC is for the complete administration of the sales and marketing program. The total fee is 0.8 per cent of the selling price or $1.88/sq.ft., is only payable on performance and, as previously noted, less than one in three people on the WHA waitlist actually purchase. Their fee includes two full-time sales representatives working out of the WDC offices and dedicated to Cheakamus Crossing for two years. Their responsibility includes monitoring and administration of the waitlist to ensure the priority is maintained, site tours, open houses, preparation of all sales documents and those tasks normally performed by a realty company. As a development company, WDC is obligated under the Real Estate Act to retain the services of a licensed realtor. Of the total budget for marketing, advertising communications and sales, less than 45 per cent is allocated to the employee restricted housing. This amounts to less than $2.30/sq.ft. including the real estate fee, not $7.50/sq.ft.

Unless a similar multi-development project is undertaken by the RMOW and the WHA, it is unlikely that retaining a realty company to market WHA homes will occur.

The WDC mandate is not only to construct temporary housing for the 2010 athletes, but also to provide quality affordable employee housing for Whistler without encumbering the taxpayer. The decisions that are made and the programs that are implemented by the WDC take into account many related issues and concerns, and are done so with this mandate in mind.

Joe Redmond

President

Whistler 2020 Development Corporation

Council through a martini glass

Well it’s over! Our time of fun in the sun has sadly come to an end. The Mojitos and Margaritas have been packed away till next summer and it is time for some serious martini drinking.

Actually it was while I was sipping my martini with friends this past weekend that the political issues of our community became the evening’s topic of conversation. Even though I was asked to run for council I decided that the best way I could make a difference was to write this letter (and yes, there might be more) with the intention of making our community more aware of our current mayor/council’s performance over the past three years! Besides, drinking martinis at council meeting would not be very acceptable (it might spur some decision making but not socially acceptable).

As I was swallowing my olive, I had an insight that after 14 years as a local, through three mayors and numerous councils, I have never been so bitter about the current municipal state. The crap from council that we have swallowed over the past three years is unbelievable.

I remember a feature article in Pique last December titled “Issues and reflections”. It went on to describe all the great and wonderful decisions our current council had made. Well what about these issues?

1. Council voting 4 to 2 in favour of paving the Nesters wetlands? (Gee Ken, are you not our “green” mayor?) Don’t tell me council could not do anything about encouraging B.C. Transit to put their new bus station elsewhere.

2. Financial responsibility — this is a whole other letter, but I will just mention our $15 million library and the raising of taxes (over inflation) for the first time in more then 10 years.

3. Rainbow development: how can six councillors, who all pledged that employee housing was their top priority, possibly take over two years to approve this project?

OK people, it is time to put down the martini and, I beg of you, start paying attention. We the generation Xers who have fought to stay in this community, who are the innovators, business owners and lovers of this community, have 10 weeks to select people amongst us who are creators and decisive decision makers. The next three years are crucial in our community’s development and it could be an amazing three years… or we could be sitting here in 2011 with a broke resort!

It is up to us to make the difference! Please vote and ask the people who inspire you to run for council.

Marjie Martini

Whistler

Numbers leave me lost for words

Ouch. Intrawest boldly jumps regular rate season passes 8 to 12.3 per cent and the only way to avoid paying for the P2P Gondola, as I understand it, is to have an early bird pass. Maybe they haven't noticed the world is in serious recession, with transportation costs to destinations such as ours responsible for much of the downturn.

Take this season's child pass, which jumps 11.5 per cent to $579, a most interesting number as it is coincidentally the exact price of Vail's Epic pass (in U.S. dollars) which allows unlimited access to five of the Vail Company resorts for an adult if purchased by Nov. 15.

With the P2P jacking costs for the majority of riders, will it result in an actual reduction of traffic rather than the lift in visitor days that was expected from this eyesore? Could easily occur considering the failing economy.

However, we should not blame Fortress, as it seems it would be impossible for them to be in touch with the average skier's pocketbook. If you missed the headline in the National Post Aug. 12th it read "Fortress Investments awards shares worth US$400M to senior employee". The M refers to million, not thousand, by the way.

On another subject, our mayor had his trip to the Beijing Olympics paid by an anonymous American — one would hope this benefactor does not have business interests in town.

I wish I had Feet Banks's prosaic gift of conveying a message, as I certainly know what I would say.

Lennox McNeely

Whistler

Out of touch, again

Once again I cannot believe just how out of touch with public sentiment our councillors seem to be. You quote Bob Lorriman as saying that the paving of the parking lots "is not costing taxpayers." But the whole point is that if we wish to park there it WILL cost us!

And so I would like to use your columns to ask council (and in particular Nancy Wilhelm-Morden who seems to be showing some sense in this matter) to consider the simplest of solutions — give every property taxpayer in Whistler a car sticker exempting them from paying parking fees in the day skier parking lots. This would ensure that it does not cost taxpayers anything!

John Fildes

Whistler

Appalled and dismayed

I am appalled and dismayed by the situation in the Nesters wetland. How does a three-hectare clear cut in a biologically sensitive area contribute to an "environmentally friendly" bus fleet that is supposed to "showcase the green initiative tied to the 2010 Olympics"? Newsflash: it doesn't.

According to the Globe and Mail (Aug. 27th), 72 per cent of Whistler's wetlands have already been lost to development. Meanwhile, the three powers that be (B.C. Transit, B.C. Hydro and the Whistler council) do not care. And the sad truth is that even if Whistler council did stand up in solidarity to say no, it wouldn't make one iota of a difference.

As a Crown corporation, B.C. Hydro, who owns the land, is exempt from municipal regulations and restrictions, and so is B.C. Transit when leasing this site. So much for "think globally, act locally."

All protests from the community have been ignored. Additionally, the Globe and Mail noted that Whistler council had turned town a request by a local group to monitor the environmental impact of the project.

I fully support a hydrogen bus fleet but three hectares of wetlands is too high a price for Whistler to pay. To offset this loss, I would like to see a portion of the $90 million in federal and provincial tax dollars earmarked for the project go directly into local conservation programs focused on (1) habitat restoration and (2) educating tourists on the huge repercussions of losing wetlands around the world as they disappear at a rate faster than rainforests and result in the irreversible loss of habitat, loss of wildlife, loss of biodiversity and affect the whole food chain contributing to the decline of species.

Nicole Trigg

Whistler

Squamish’s secret trails?

Imagine my shock and surprise when reading last week's cover story and finding out that the District of Squamish had spent $1 million on trails in Squamish in 2005. As the founder of the Squamish Off-Road Cycling Association, the president and race director of the Squamish Test of Metal, and as a person who has been involved in the Squamish mountain bike community for the past 18 years, I can not ever recall the district having spent that kind of money on any kind of trails in the community... unless there is an entire trail network that has been constructed and no one knows about it.

It is my understanding that in 2008 the district had to be “shamed” into providing its own trails coordinator with a $12,500 budget only after the Squamish Trails Society provided an equal amount of funding. In fact, the “world famous" Squamish trails network that almost all the real estate publications are promoting would not exist were it not for countless hours of volunteer trail work from the Squamish Trails Society, SORCA and other community members.

SORCA and STS advocated for many years for a trails coordinator’s position, which was created two years ago. Unfortunately, true to Squamish’s ability of only doing things half-assed, there was never any substantial corresponding budget for trail maintenance or new construction to complement the trails coordinator’s position. The Squamish trail network, while being long in actual kilometers, on the ground is very short in strength of being able to withstand the current amount of traffic.

In 2008, between SORCA, Test of Metal Inc. and the B.C. Bike Race, in excess of $12,000 cash was put into mountain bike trail maintenance in Squamish. If, as stated in your news story, the district actually did spend the $1 million, I am sure the three aforementioned mountain bike organizations would not have had to spend their money on trail infrastructure.

Cliff Miller

Squamish, B.C.

A happy family

Two weeks ago we had a very special young guest and his family come up to Whistler for the first time — long time residents of Vancouver who had never come to Whistler due to the disabilities one family member faced.

Thanks go to people like Bryan Pilbeam, the GM of the Crystal Lodge, and his staff who made special room modifications to support them during their stay. The Crystal Lodge is one of the few accommodations in Whistler with full roll in showers for the mobility restricted.

Len from Barely Legal Motor Sports set them up with a custom tour adventure so this young person would not feel left out. They have off road vehicles that are low enough to allow easy entry in for the mobility restricted.

They go all out for our visitors at Whistler for the Disabled and it is much appreciated. Whistler Adaptive Sports Program set the family up with Trail Riders (modified wheel chairs for outdoor hiking) and the young man had a lot of fun with them and all their volunteers.

The family is keen to come back in the near future because of all the great support they received while in Whistler. I have been working with this family since March of this year to bring them here and overcome all the barriers they had but it would not have been possible without the great support from so many.

Hugh Tollett

Director, Whistler for the Disabled

What goes around…

May I express through your column, my disappointment with some individuals in Pemberton.

My son rode his bike to the Old Pemberton Community Centre on Friday evening to attend the youth centre (A wonderful facility run by Geoff Pross and associates to entertain the youth of Pemberton and keep them suitably occupied and safe three evenings a week). Foolishly or naively he left his bike unlocked on the bike rack at the entrance. When he left the youth centre at 11 p.m. to cycle home, his bike was gone. Obviously, as it was raining, some thoughtless individual felt it would be better to steal a bike rather than face a walk home in the dark and wet.  (Thank you to Bettina for giving my son a lift home).

We have found the bike this morning (thrown over the fence at the building site of Point Grey Projects), minus its detachable front light — obviously the individual still needed to find his or her way home!

Let’s hope this letter touches a nerve with those individuals who would take something that doesn't belong to them. I'm a firm believer in what goes around comes around, so I hope your actions revisit you!

Lesley Clark

Pemberton

Recognizing a true legend

Fred Schwab was a legendary figure in our community.

During my 30 years in Whistler I have been to over 30 funerals — funerals of close-to-the-heart friends. From big-name skiers to everyday corridor residents, and from every walk of life.

On Aug. 29, at Our Lady of the Mountains Parish, we experienced one of the most touching memorial services in recent memory. It was followed by a reception and slideshow at Nita lake Lodge, which was truly magical and was well attended by the Schwab family and a cross-section of unique individuals and true Whistler families.

If anyone tells you Whistler has no community spirit they would be sadly mistaken. There is a core of individuals who have endured all the growth and ups and downs of what it takes to build a resort community in three decades. This hidden group is one that has survived — Fred Schwab was one of those people. Fred was one of the people who are the foundation of this community. His memory will live on in everyone’s heart and I was honoured to experience the tribute to Fred’s life. It was truly humbling.

What time is it? It is now. Where are we? We are here. Fred, we love you, we will miss you, you are everywhere.

Shawn Hughes, a.k.a. Puddles the Clown

Whistler

Raisin hell is over

I am writing to thank the Whistler community for helping me find my dog Raisin. She went missing from the Wayside-Rainbow area on Saturday, Aug. 16 after being chased down the Valley Trail by three skateboarders. I recovered her on a logging road in the Callaghan Valley on Monday, Sept. 1 after I received a call from a group of ATVers on Saturday, Aug. 30 that helped narrow my search to the valley roads. After a day and a half of no luck, amazingly, I received a call from a group of dirt bikers on Monday that came just 15 minutes after they spotted her. An hour later she was back in my arms.

I cannot express enough my gratitude to everyone who helped me in finding her, especially The HUB for helping me print hundreds of fliers and posters that, combined with reports from the most wonderful citizens in the world, led to her return.

Thanks to everyone who called with sightings, support and encouragement. Raisin is now back home safe and sound, albeit a bit skinny.

And to the skateboarders — I am not angry, just please, please don't ever chase a scared animal again.

Allison Gain & Raisin

Whistler

Transition Space continues

Thank you to all of the people in the community who have supported our effort in bringing underground art to Main Street. We have had an overwhelmingly positive response to the “Transition Space” Temporary Gallery. Whether you love it or hate there is something in the gallery for everyone, with more to come.

What started as a four-day art show has now “transitioned” into an ongoing exhibition space for local artists. There has always been a need for a dedicated venue to showcase our local talent and for at least a little while Whistler artists will have somewhere to do so.

Thanks to Don Wensley for being so supportive and allowing us to have this space until it is leased out. This means that “Transition Space” will now be open three days a week for a limited time. Wednesdays 12-6, Saturdays 12-7 and Sundays 12-6.

The gallery will be rotating artists on a weekly basis and will feature NEW photography, paintings, sculptures etc. each week.

Thanks also go out to the Whistler Art Council for being so helpful, the artists for all their hard work and our entertainers Sue, Jon "the Bear" and Josh "the Crane" and Joel and to Holly for her lovely article in Pique.

Hope to see you in the Gallery.

Andrea Mueller

Whistler