Lorimer housing project receives third reading The Lorimer Road employee housing project — 14 apartment units proposed by the Whistler Housing Authority — received unanimous support at third reading from the five council members at Monday’s council meeting. "I think the project is good. It’s not too dense, although the Design Panel said the site is tight," Councillor Stephanie Sloan said. Sloan added she would like to see more family units in the project, as it is a family neighbourhood. Councillor Ken Melamed said the project "meets our objective of integrating employee housing in neighbourhoods." Melamed said the project could be improved "with some massaging" but he also supported comments Drew Meredith made at the Aug. 4 public hearing on the project, namely that there is precious little land left in Whistler to build housing on and opportunities such as the Lorimer Road site should be used to their full advantage. Opponents of the project have questioned the need for more affordable housing at this time. The housing authority has countered that the apparent oversupply of rental housing at the moment is a short-term situation. In the long run Whistler is going to be hard pressed to meet the demand for affordable rental housing of this type. The project includes six one-bedroom, six two-bedroom and two three-bedroom units in four buildings. The rental project is aimed at middle management people making less than $30,000 annually, rather than seasonal workers. Bylaws rezoning the property from RR1 to RM41 and amending the Official Community Plan to allow the project received third reading Monday. The bylaws still have to be adopted but that is generally just a formality. The Whistler Housing Authority hopes to begin some site work this fall but it will likely be next spring before foundations are started.
