Skip to content
Join our Newsletter

Squamish waterfront plans will be ‘transformational’

Chairman pledges to leave other waterfronts ‘in the dust’

If the newly formed Squamish Oceanfront Development Corporation converts on what it’s planning to do, Squamish could host one of the world’s most dynamic waterfronts.

Chairman of the SODC Larry Murray said his organization has a choice with the waterfront and so far there has been a distinct push to develop a world-first.

"Because of 2010 we are going to have a lot of people come through here… and they’re going to see what Whistler and Vancouver have to offer but they have to pass through Squamish, and it’s going to become the jewel in the crown," said Murray.

"The waterfront that we’re going to hopefully have in part ready to demonstrate for them is going to leave other waterfronts in the dust. Is that powerful thinking? Yes. Is that challenging? Absolutely yes. Is it far fetched? A little bit, but much better to do that than to say ‘ho-hum let’s pick up another cookie-cutter and plop another gingerbread style waterfront on our waterfront’."

Murray said if the waterfront is developed properly then it will "re-create the town" and more specifically reinvigorate the downtown area.

"The downtown has moved out of the downtown and up the highway as far as the commercial-retail section is concerned, towards the Canadian Tire area. And that’s going to continue with Home Depot and Wal-Mart and so on. But what seems to be a disaster is really turning into a miracle. And that is that the downtown is being cleaned out, in a way, and it’s leaving it wide open for redevelopment."

Murray said the SODC’s approach could be summed up in three terms: transferral, transactional and transformation.

"We know that overnight we could transfer existing waterfront development ideas into the downtown," he said. "But the research we’ve done tells us that the waterfront development happening on the West Coast and around the world is becoming more ubiquitous in that the last one looks like the one before it.

"So we’ve said no, we’re not going to do that because the whole picture frame that the Squamish waterfront sits on… is so spectacular that how dare we just transfer in something from Seattle or Vancouver.

"That leaves us with transactional, which is where we pick up a lot of old ideas and tweak them so that they fit the Squamish environment, and we’ve said, no, that’s an option, but we’re not going to go there either.

"So where we’re focussing, and it’s more challenging, is the transformational, which is, in other words, creating a waterfront that’s never been created before. Creating a concept of waterfront environments that are futuristic or ahead of the game, and that’s a challenge."

The SODC is owned by the District of Squamish. Murray said his organization was still determining, with council, how it will conduct business, but he confirmed there would be four areas of focus: residential, work environment, a marina and tourism.

"We’ve got some concrete plans and four major areas: residential – and that’s going to be a major driver for getting people living 24/7 in the downtown area.

"Associated with that is a work environment and Lee Malleau, our Economic Development Officer, is working with us to bring a variety of light industry options which will set the profile of what we want to do down there. We’re looking at industry which is into information technology, entertainment and arts and crafts fields, which are three big fields emerging.

"Outdoor recreation is also a major focus.

"There’s two other components and one is going to be a marina. Squamish is really yet to discover its oceanfront, and I’m talking about public and private marinas and I’m talking about the development of a yacht club and I’m talking about possibly things like sail training.

"We’re also looking at a ferry service and a pocket cruise ship environment."

With regards to tourism, Murray said the corporation had already talked about plans for hotel accommodation, a convention centre and a museum.

"But the glue that’s going to hold it together is the light entertainment. The bistros and cafés and the bars and the pubs."

Murray said the District of Squamish created the oceanfront corporation "as an arm of the district" so independent decisions could be made without being a constant disruption for the council.

"We’re in the process of setting up the administrative structure of the board – how do we report (to council), when do we report and in what form do we report. What processes do we use, setting up our financial picture, budgeting, which is also a major undertaking in a project like this.

"Also monitoring the development of the lands… the district has positioned the board in advance before we actually obtain the land, so we’ve kind of created a vehicle for the land to enter into."

There has been speculation that Squamish council might be preparing to acquire more land to add to the Nexen waterfront property they acquired last year. Squamish Mayor Ian Sutherland would not comment about specific land sales but he did concede that sales were happening at a hectic rate.

"Because of the land values now there’s all kinds of land transfers going on," said Sutherland. "It’s public record that we’re selling lands to Home Depot and Wal-Mart. And I’m sure the downtown is going to come back for all kinds of reasons, one of them being the waterfront."

For more information look up www.squamishoceanfront.com.