Skip to content
Join our Newsletter

Official Community Plan open house today, June 25

Council briefs: FE&A spending outlined; Alpine LUC up for termination
news_whistler3-1-ed8a84a34724d66f
community vision Chief Administrative Officer Mike Furey presents at a March 5 visioning session for Whistler's updated Official Community Plan. The next such forum is set for Monday, June 25. Photo by David Buzzard/courtesy of the Resort Municipality of Whistler

Whistlerites will have their next opportunity to provide feedback on the Official Community Plan (OCP) at an open today, June 25 from 4 to 8:30 p.m. in the foyer of the Whistler Conference Centre.

"We have worked on updating the vision, (and) had a great community forum for that (on March 5). We have continued to work with community members, committees, First Nations, (and) the provincial government," said Chief Administrative officer Mike Furey at the June 5 council meeting.

"It's really a restructure and an update, with some new information added there based on feedback, and the final product, we're hoping, will be a renewed Official Community Plan and vision."

The open house will start with a drop-in gallery walk, with poster boards available for review and staff on hand to answer questions.

Presentations begin at 5:30 p.m., with group discussions starting at 6:15 p.m.

Babysitting and light snacks will be provided.

Find updates and more info on the OCP update process at www.whistler.ca/myfuturewhistler.

FE&A SPENDING OUTLINED

The Resort Municipality of Whistler (RMOW) has released more details about this year's Festivals, Events and Animation spending.

The RMOW will spend $723,500 on Attract, Retain, Augment (ARA) investments in 2018, according to a municipal spokesperson—down slightly from the $737,600 spent in that area in 2017.

The ARA spend makes up just one portion of the FE&A's total budget of $3,160,000. The rest of the budget goes towards original programming (like GO Fest, Canada Day celebrations and the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra), village animation and marketing.

Among this year's ARA investments: Whistler Pride & Ski Festival, Jan 20 to 27— $25,000; World Ski and Snowboard Festival, April 10 to 15—$100,000; Whistler Half Marathon, June 2—$7,500 (down from $10,000 in 2017); Tough Mudder and Half, June 16 and 17—$100,000 ($112,500 in 2017); Whistler Children's Festival, July 6 to 8—$22,500 ($30,000 in 2017); Subaru IRONMAN Whistler, July 25 to 30—$282,000 (up from $250,000 in 2017 due to a strong U.S. dollar); Crankworx, Aug 10 to 19—$10,000 ($20,000 in 2017); RBC GranFondo Whistler, Sept 8—$40,000 ($22,500 in 2017); Whistler Beer Festival, Sept 11 to 16—$15,000; Whistler Writers Festival, Oct 11 to 14—$18,500 ($12,000 in 2017); Whistler 50 & Ultra, Oct 13—$13,000 ($15,000 in 2017); Cornucopia, Nov 9 to 19—$45,000 ($40,000 in 2017) and Whistler Film Festival, Nov 28 to Dec 2—$45,000 ($40,000 In 2017).

MORE LAND USE CONTRACTS UP FOR TERMINATION

The RMOW continues to work its way through the termination of all local Land Use Contracts (LUC), with seven properties in Alpine set to come under municipal zoning after council gave third reading to related bylaws at its June 5 meeting.

In May of 2014, the provincial government amended the Local Government Act to automatically terminate all LUCs on June 30, 2024—which means municipalities across B.C. must have new zoning in place for these areas before June 30, 2022.

"That gives us four years to rezone more than 2,600 properties regulated by seven separate LUCs, of which Alpine Meadows is by far one of the most simple of all of those contracts," said senior planner Jake Belobaba in a presentation to council.

And working through the Alpine LUCs was not a quick process in itself.

The bylaw—which rezones all affected properties to RS1 and adds some site-specific restrictions on the four larger panhandle lots—was first introduced in January, and went through two public hearings before coming back to council on June 5.

In his report, Belobaba addressed comments made from affected property owners, including concerns about the effect on auxiliary buildings, access, permitted uses and more.

One panhandle lot owner currently has a large auxiliary building that will become legally non-conforming under the new zoning, Belobaba noted.

"Staff note that the LUC does of course allow greater auxiliary building floor area than the proposed zoning, however, we're not supportive of a continuation of these rules into the zoning," he said. "The LUC rules were enacted in 1978, and in the interest of harmonizing those rules with current zoning and the surrounding neighbourhood form and character, if we were to allow unlimited auxiliary building floor area it would likely be out of scale with the surrounding neighbourhood."

The auxiliary building currently under construction will become non-conforming under the Local Government Act, "and that means it can be repaired in perpetuity and left in place—there's no need to tear it down or anything like that," Belobaba said.

Owners of all affected properties are able to apply for a rezoning at any time if they would like something else, he added.

Next up for review are LUCs governing the Whistler Creek and Vale Inn areas.

Find more info at www.whistler.ca/business/land-use-and-development/planning/land-use-contracts.

LMLGA RESOLUTIONS ENDORSED

A handful of resolutions relevant to Whistler were endorsed by the Lower Mainland Local Government Association (LMLGA) at its annual conference in Whistler last month.

Among the endorsed resolutions to be lobbied for with the provincial government are suggested action on ever-increasing backcountry and provincial park tourism (by matching tourism marketing funding with equal funding and staffing for mitigation efforts), adding basic dental care to Medical Service Plan coverage, giving 50 per cent of cannabis tax revenue to local governments and stable funding for reconciliation efforts with local First Nations.

Resolutions that gained the most support from the LMLGA membership will be taken directly to the provincial government, said LMLGA president and Whistler councillor Jack Crompton.

"When municipalities speak with one voice, the province listens. The resolutions that matter most to us, we usually get action on from the province," Crompton said.