Two members of the current council, including the mayor, are out of the race altogether. Three more are vying for the mayor’s spot, along with other outside candidates. That leaves only two councillors to try and win their seats back. Amid all this uncertainty one thing is for sure – change is on the way.
Many voters are hoping the fractured council of the last three years, the council that overtly struggled to work cohesively as a team and failed to deliver some of its key mandates, such as employee housing, is a thing of the past.
They are looking for strong leadership – a group of seven that can help Whistler out of its current economic woes, bring back some vitality and excitement to a town feeling a little sorry for itself and set the stage for the biggest event in its history, the 2010 Olympic Games.
No one believes it’s an easy task.
"In a way I pity the council," said local parent Cathy Jewett. "It’s like being on a whitewater raft ride – everything’s been happening so fast and you’ve been going through absolutely crazy class 4 rapids and all of a sudden you get to a place where it just slows right down, to where you’ve got to get your oars in the river and start paddling."
The question is: what direction are we paddling in and are we all heading in the same direction?
In some ways Whistler has taken its success for granted, it has come so easy. Throughout the boom years of the ’90s, development was fast and furious and business was flush. Whistler was the "it" spot in ski and snowboard magazines and there was a contagious buzz around town.
But in recent years the buzz has fizzled out.
"Business (throughout Whistler) is down for the fourth year," said Scott Carrell, who owns Affinity Sports. "I don’t think anybody’s having any fun."
Carrell has lived here for 28 years. He remembers when Whistler strived to become the number one resort in North America. He also remembers that when Whistler reached that goal it failed to set a new goal.
While the Comprehensive Sustainability Plan, Whistler’s new visioning document which took three years to complete and cost more than a million dollars, is a worthwhile document, said Carrell, it doesn’t have any economic legs.
The new council must develop a new common vision and goal to help kickstart the economy. Then they must unify the community around this goal.
Carrell has his own idea of what that goal should be.
"To me it’s fairly black and white," he said. "I think that first of all we have to have a common vision or a common goal for the community. And I believe that that goal should be to become the best in North America at putting on events… (both) big and small. So if it’s a choir from Coquitlam Elementary School or if it’s the World Snowboard Championships, we should be the best at putting on both of those events because in four years from now we’re putting on the biggest event of all – the Olympics – and we need some practice."
Those events can be centred on skiing and snowboarding but Carrell believes the time is ripe to diversify and make Whistler a little more weatherproof. Events can focus on health and wellness, taking advantage of the many spas Whistler has to offer, or food and dining, even arts and culture.
"We need to unify the community, I believe, through some sort of goal that everyone can get their teeth into," said Carrell. "It’s a community plan to move forward. And we need to, at the same time, diversify the economy.
"When I go to the poll I’m going to vote for who I think can take this town through the next three years with the best possible outcome for the community on the whole."
Business owner George Koning, who owns three clothing stores in the village, is confident the economy will take care of itself in time. He is more concerned that council has failed to deliver on its promises for employee housing and failed to stop workers from becoming disillusioned about their future in town. The waitlist for employee housing has topped more than 500 separate families or people who are biding their time, hoping to buy into "affordable" employee housing. People are leaving, making their homes in Squamish and Pemberton, eroding the fabric of the community and making it tougher for businesses to attract and retain middle management.
Council placed employee housing as top priority three years ago reminded Koning. Nothing has been built this term, though some big projects are in the pipeline.
Koning said Whistler is owed employee housing from different developers, some dating back more than 17 years, such as the units associated with the tennis club development. The employee housing from the Westin Hotel development is still outstanding, as is the Nita Lake housing. And yet, the hotels and homes have been developed.
"There’s been a lack of progress on completing what has been promised," said Koning. "Why hasn’t staff, why hasn’t council, really cracked down on that?"
Similarly, council pledged to resolve the Class 1/Class 6 taxation issue, which sees some condo properties in Whistler taxed at the commercial rate – more than three times as much as similar properties classified as residential.
Many condo owners are being taxed disproportionately higher than residents. And while they make money from their condo rentals, the second homeowner still isn’t using the services in the resort as much as the residents who live here. They feel they are seen as a bottomless pit.
"It just doesn’t make sense to tack a property tax onto those non-resident homeowners that has us paying quite a disproportionate share to the amount of services that we’re getting," said Seattle resident and Whistler homeowner Gary Gardner.
This is an issue near and dear to Gardner’s heart. He has been instrumental in creating the Whistler Strata Owners Association as a way to lobby for a resolution to this issue and give second homeowners a common voice.
"People are bloody sick and tired of the Class 1-Class 6 issue," he said. "You sat around waiting three years for action and didn’t get it.
"I think there is a perception up there that the entire municipality operates under this notion that we can spend our way out of anything because we have this great ability to tax property owners that don’t live here," said Gardner.
He uses the $10 million library project as an example of this excessive spending.
The newly formed association has invited the mayoral candidates to listen to their concerns. They are also encouraging the non-resident homeowner to vote in the upcoming election as a way of expressing their concerns.
The demand to resolve these issues and more is just going to keep increasing over the next three years. That’s a concern for parent Cathy Jewett who sees the potential for social issues to fall by the wayside as council struggles to deal with an already taxing workload.
She points to a recent council meeting where Councillor Marianne Wade was calling for the council to schedule more meetings this fall in order to push through a project that would deliver employee housing before the election.
"If that’s what it takes for the housing to move forward, what’s it going to take with an agenda that’s got all the regular stuff, the employee housing issue still to solve as well as all the issues surrounding the development of the Olympics?" said Jewett.
In particular she is worried about the lack of programs for children in the pre-teen to mid-teen age group. Hanging out at the village after school, she said, is not where these kids should be.
She points to an experience her son had riding the chairlift at the bike park while older kids smoked a joint beside him.
"Is that normal? Is that how people behave in other towns? I don’t think so. I think that that’s something that’s a little bit different because we have a certain demographic," said Jewett. "We have a demographic that is closer to college campus than a normal community, whatever normal is."
In addition to social marketing to help people understand that this isn’t just a party town, it’s a real community, Jewett said there also needs to be an understanding at municipal hall that younger kids need successful, stimulating after-school programs.
She is looking for candidates that have a strong community connection, that understand how municipal hall works and who are concerned about the real livability issues facing residents of the town. And they need to be able to make the tough decisions.
"When it comes down to it it’s going to be tight timelines, it’s going to be nose to the grindstone, and it’s going to be, ‘OK the decision has to be made now’ and make it," she said.
In spite of the problems of the past and the sheer volume of work expected in the future, voters were optimistic about Whistler’s future.
The Bombardier conference last month brought hundreds of delegates to the resort, where they enjoyed some sunny fall weather. Koning, who talked to many of the delegates first hand as they shopped in his stores, said they were impressed and excited with what they saw here.
"We’ve had some incredible world challenges that no one could have possibly predicted," said local financial planner Wendell Moore. "Can we get up there again?" he asked. "I don’t see why not. I’m an eternal optimist. For every bad year we’re going to have a couple of good years and it’s just a question of taking the time when you have those bad years to reflect. Reflection is absolutely, absolutely necessary. If you’re going to do any planning, no matter what it is, you have to reflect. It’s the most important thing."
