Pemberton is changing.
Slowly, but surely, the Village is growing bigger after the province approved a boundary expansion, a nearly five-year process that will see it expand on to 20 new parcels of land, which are currently governed by the Squamish-Lillooet Regional District (SLRD).
And as Pemberton's mayor tells it, that may not be the last time that governing boundaries change in the Valley, a place where overlapping and clashing governance can be a source of frustration for people living there.
It's with the expectation that boundaries could change again that Pemberton Mayor Jordan Sturdy is imploring people to think hard about what kind of community they want to see in future. He said in an interview that it's possible the Village will arrange a public forum for people to discuss what the future Pemberton will look like.
"Currently throughout the regional district, the number one priority for the regional board has been boundaries in the SLRD," he said in an interview. "As a regional district we spend an inordinate amount of time talking about Pemberton issues, because a board is obligated to make financial decisions which are under the purview of the regional district.
"I think for the people who live in Pemberton, the fact that the regional board makes decisions about what happens in Pemberton at a recreational level, or at an economic activity level, is also a regional board issue."
Asking a Pembertonian where they live can often be a complicated question. They might live in the Meadows. They might live in the Village. They might own a home in Owl Ridge, Mosquito Lake or Birken. They're all likely to tell you they live in Pemberton but that's just not the case on paper.
If you live anywhere in Pemberton but the Village, you're paying property taxes through to the provincial government and any land use decisions, whether a rezoning or a new bylaw, have to pass by a regional board made up of representatives from communities such as Pemberton, Whistler, Squamish, Lillooet and four unincorporated areas.
Susie Gimse, a councillor with the Village of Pemberton and director for the unincorporated Area C on the SLRD board, articulated in an email the difficulty of living in a jurisdiction adjacent to an unincorporated one.
"In terms of Pemberton's identity, you ask anyone on either side of the boundary where they live and they will respond with Pemberton," she wrote. "We already identify as a single community, yet most are frustrated by the fact that we are governed by two separate jurisdictions with different legislation and operating procedures."
Such an arrangement can make things difficult where economic development in the unincorporated areas is concerned.
Let's say, for a second, that you're a developer. You own land in one of the unincorporated areas and you need a rezoning because you want to put up a commercial development on a property zoned for a residence. Getting that rezoning will essentially give you the right to make money on that property legally.
You might have broad-based community support for your development. You might have the support of Pemberton's representative on the regional board. But you still need to convince people who live in communities 35 to 90 kilometres away that you deserve the rezoning.
One of them might not want you to put that development up in Pemberton because they don't want it to compete with a business in their own town. Someone else might say that the development has the potential to erode the agricultural identity of the valley - a regular point of contention when it comes to economic development in Pemberton.
Despite broad-based support in Pemberton, there are enough people on the board who don't want it to happen and they'll vote down the rezoning in spite of the community's feelings.
To that end, the SLRD has contracted Urban Systems Ltd., a consulting firm, to study governance issues throughout the regional district and provide recommendations on what might work better for the regional government working forward.
Phase one of the firm's work saw consultants give an overview of the status quo and identify issues relating to regional governance. Phase two, which remains active as of this writing, has seen Urban Systems look at making governance more efficient, a study that is looking at whether it would make sense to incorporate some areas into municipalities that currently lie within the purview of the regional district.
It is looking, for example, at whether the unincorporated communities of Black Tusk and Pinecrest Estates would be better situated if they were incorporated into the District of Squamish or the Resort Municipality of Whistler. It is also looking at whether more parcels that currently lie in Area C could be incorporated into the Village proper.
Sturdy expects Urban Systems to come back to the regional district at a board meeting this month with a draft report that will be referred out to stakeholders within various municipalities and made available for public discussion.
As for a public forum on the future identity of Pemberton, Sturdy said it could take place after Urban Systems delivers its report.
"Urban Systems has looked at a broad range of issues such as the cost associated with it, because there's rights, responsibilities and obligations that come along with any kind of extension or reorganization," he said. "They are fleshing out what those obligations, opportunities and costs are at a fairly high level and they're going to put forward three or four scenarios for Pemberton/Area C."
