Following an extensive site selection process, municipal staff has picked the Lower Cheakamus as their preferred site for Whistler’s 2010 Olympic athletes village.
If council accepts staff’s recommendation, the town’s landfill will be facing its final days and the municipality will be faced with a tough decision about what to do with the town’s garbage.
In the meantime, council has deferred their final decision on the village site until the community has a chance to comment.
Bob MacPherson, general manager of planning and development for the RMOW, walked council through staff’s site selection process at Monday’s council meeting, explaining how staff came to choose between the Lower Cheakamus site at the south end of town and the Rainbow lands in the north.
Residents will be able to go through this same site selection process, which weighs the pros and cons of the two best athletes village sites, at an open house for the draft Comprehensive Sustainability Plan on Saturday, June 26.
Tucked east of the municipal landfill opposite Function Junction, the Lower Cheakamus site has always been the backup site for Whistler’s athletes village.
The first choice, outlined in the Olympic Bid Book, was in the Callaghan Valley but the community rejected that site in the winter during a consultation process.
Before settling on the Lower Cheakamus, council directed staff to explore all their options between Function Junction and Emerald Estates, including the Alpha Creek lands, the Whistler Golf Course and the Park Georgia site in between the Montebello townhomes and Highway 99.
Five sites were soon narrowed down to two and staff embarked on a fairly detailed examination of the Lower Cheakamus and the Rainbow lands.
A number of factors immediately favoured the southern site.
The Lower Cheakamus is closer to the Olympic venues.
The International Olympic Committee’s Co-ordination Commission highlighted location concerns during their March visit to the resort.
MacPherson said the commission was concerned about the distance of the Rainbow lands to the venues, which could result in some athletes choosing private accommodation over the athletes village.
Another factor weighing in favour of the Lower Cheakamus is that the land is made up of Crown land, which means Whistler can use all or part of its 300-acre land bank legacy, negotiated during the Olympic bid phase.
The Rainbow site, on the other hand, could only be used for an athletes village if Crown land was combined with privately owned land, which would have to have been purchased.
"The owners have indicated that they would be willing to sell at a price that is well in excess of the assessed value," wrote MacPherson in his administrative report to council.
"Alternatively the owners are willing to negotiate a land exchange with the RMOW or the Province that would see an Athlete Village site made available. It is expected that the acquisition of the Rainbow site would require either substantial expenditure or the granting of a considerable quantity of new development rights."
Another factor in its favour is that the Lower Cheakamus is the IOC’s preferred site.
In an interview with Pique Newsmagazine earlier this month, John Furlong, chief executive officer of the Vancouver 2010 Games Organizing Committee (VANOC) confirmed the Lower Cheakamus is the IOC’s preferred site.
Putting these factors aside, municipal staff also examined a number of other elements in comparing the two sites for suitability of an athletes village and any future development of resident housing following the Games.
MacPherson said the CSP identifies both sites as future resident housing nodes.
A report to determine what’s permanent and what’s temporary in the village will be coming out in July.
Both sites however, have the potential to be good resident neighbourhoods, added MacPherson.
If the athletes village can be transformed into some resident housing, it could keep costs down.
As it stands VANOC has made sizeable budget allocations for Whistler’s village including:
• $26 million for the development and construction of the village;
• $6.5 million for First Nations to move temporary housing or to build housing that will provide a revenue stream to First Nations and;
• $13 million for the construction of the Athletes’ Centre.
In doing the site servicing analysis, staff found the sites cost out roughly the same in development and servicing costs.
Estimates show development costs for the Rainbow site come in at $10.6 million, compared to the Lower Cheakamus at $11.5 million.
This includes the cost of water supply and distribution, sanitary sewer, and roads and services.
Staff also examined both sites within the context of the overall development patterns of the community.
MacPherson said there was some concern that the athletes village, which would have a large Athlete’s Centre similar to the size of Beaver Flats in Creekside, would seem out of character in the predominantly residential neighbourhoods close to the Rainbow site.
The Athlete’s Centre is a place where visiting athletes can stay after the Games.
The Lower Cheakamus does not have this same neighbourhood constraint. The closest neighbourhood is Function Junction, across the highway.
Development in the Lower Cheakamus could also act as a catalyst for new recreation facilities in south Whistler, such as more playing fields, a sports training centre and tournament centres, as well as supporting existing facilities like the Spring Creek Community School.
Likewise development at the Rainbow site could result in a new commercial node north of town, which could include a gas station, a facility which has been on the municipality’s long-term planning books.
Staff’s examination from a traffic volume standpoint shows that the development of more housing south of the village will exacerbate congestion on Highway 99.
Development north would likely only result in a little increase to day-skier congestion.
From a physical site analysis, staff highlighted concerns about sections of old growth and mature forest which are part of the Rainbow site. In comparison, the southern site only has trees less than 40 years old in the pole/sapling structure stage.
The full details of the site selection process will be laid out at the CSP open house on Saturday, June 26 from noon to 5 p.m. at the Spruce Grove Field House.
Maps and other information will be available and staff will be on hand to answer any questions.
