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Message of Olympic legacies starting to get through

If you can’t find Whistler Mayor Hugh O’Reilly at his office check the 2010 information office.

If you can’t find Whistler Mayor Hugh O’Reilly at his office check the 2010 information office.

"Any time I have an hour I try and walk over there and just hang out," said O’Reilly who spoke at this week’s Olympic Info Zone meeting about legacies and lasting benefits for the community should the 2010 Winter Olympic Games be held in Vancouver and Whistler.

"I try to talk to people just one on one and I find that when I can do that I am able to really have an impact."

O’Reilly believes those with the Olympic Bid must do as much as they can over the next few months to share information with people about the Games and any impact they might have.

"Some people, you may soften them but you may not convince them," said O’Reilly.

"They are concerned and they may think that money can be spent in other ways, and that is fair.

"But we want to make sure that they understand the investments we are making.

"Investments are going to be made and money is going to be spent by senior levels of government and the private sector, and if it is not spent here it will be spent somewhere else, and perhaps this is a good investment and the whole town can benefit."

Three of the most important benefits the resort might gain, whether or not the Olympics comes to town, are a community land bank, new financial tools to help the resort, and the redrawing of boundaries in the Callaghan Valley.

Of these O’Reilly believes the land bank to be the most important.

"With that at least we have an asset to help with housing issues and community building, and that is significant," he said.

"We have no land and we can’t afford it in this market, so this is a very positive benefit."

Currently the resort is considering four sites for the land bank: The Callaghan, the Upper Cheakamus, the Lower Cheakamus and Brandywine.

To develop the Upper Cheakamus would cost approximately $27,200,000. That would include a water treatment plant, sewer connections, pressure reducing valve stations, a bridge over Alpha Lake Creek, and the development of 10 housing areas or "pods" within the 108.96-acre site.

This site would yield 2,940 bed units.

The 194.73-acre Lower Cheakamus would cost $14,895,000 to develop and yield 3,710 bed units. The price tag would pay for water treatment, a bridge over the Cheakamus River and the development of 10 pods for housing.

Developing the Callaghan and Brandywine areas is more expensive, over $50 million dollars, due to the greater amount of infrastructure needed to support the new community.

Each one needs water treatment plants, sanitation treatment plants, sanitation connections, crossings over creeks, a fire hall and trucks ($2,600,000), highway intersections, as well as the development of the housing areas.

Brandywine would yield 8,380 bed units and the Callaghan 8,273.

Under the community land bank legacy the government would promise crown land to the municipality for use in the future. That land would be the site of the athletes’ village for 2,500 if the 2010 Games came to Whistler. The facility would be converted to employee housing following the event.

Part of the costs of developing the area would be borne by the Olympic organizing committee, as the site would be utilized during the Games.

After the Games the land would be limited to resident housing and other related social uses, such as day-care and fire-halls.

It could not be used for commercial development unless the provincial government was compensated.

The final choice must take into consideration several criteria, including proximity to existing developed areas, the environment, how much work has to be done to prepare the site, and how much improvement must be done to facilitate highway access, water supply and other infrastructure needs.

A decision on which site will be chosen is likely to come before the fall.

The Upper Cheakamus, clear cut in the 1980s, needs a high level of site preparation because it has so many rocky knolls and elevations between 20 and 40 degrees. The topography also means there are large gaps between pods, resulting in inefficient cost in delivery and maintenance of services.

It also contains wetlands and creeks and one stand of old-growth forest and a stand of mature forest (141-250 years old).

The Lower Cheakamus needs moderate site preparation. It was extensively logged in the 1950s and contains the landfill and an active gravel pit. It also has a creek and a wetland and a stand of old growth on the fringe.

The housing pods can all be clustered together so delivery and maintenance of services would be cost effective. It is also near Function Junction.

And kids could even walk to the new Spring Creek Elementary school, due to open in the fall of 2003.

The 306.65-acre Callaghan site is away from Whistler and that increases the cost of providing services like police and fire. But the topography of the land makes it cost efficient for developing housing.

It contains a number of wetlands and creeks and is adjacent to a stand of old growth.

Brandywine has been logged since the 1970s. The 310.6-acre site needs only moderate site preparation but may need a berm for flood protection along Brandywine Creek.

Because of its distance from Whistler the cost of providing some services, like fire and police, will be high but delivery of other services, like water, will be cost effective because of the clustered nature of the community.

O’Reilly believes another benefit, new financial tools, will give Whistler a greater scope for improvements in the community.

"At least it gives council the opportunity to say can we support the community on something other than the tax base," he said.

"It allows the community to open some new doors, to keep the community prosperous, and to support community initiatives."

And changing the boundaries so Whistler has control of its watershed just makes sense said O’Reilly.

"It is appropriate that the watersheds which feed Whistler’s water system should be within our control so we can control activities in the backcountry, whether its tourism and recreation or whatever is going on," said O’Reilly. "We have a vested interest so it is appropriate that we take on that responsibility, and the way that would happen is to put it within our boundary.

"So it is changing some of the lines on the map, but some of those lines are pretty arbitrary, and now we are saying let’s put some rationale to those lines."

Other legacies and benefits discussed included the new multi-purpose facility proposed for Lots 1 and 9 (owned by the municipality) in Village North. It would host ice events for the Paralympic Games but could be used for conferences and concerts post Olympics. It might also contain retail business sites or other options.

The next Info Zone meeting will be Wednesday, May 1 at 7 p.m. at the Whistler Mountain Ski Club Cabin in Creekside. At that meeting there will be discussion about what opportunities are available for volunteers and supporters of the Games.