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Whistler! What’s your future?

Fundamental questions asked at weekend open house Just how sacred is Whistler’s cap on development? That’s the burning question that needs to be answered by the community in the next 10 days.

Fundamental questions asked at weekend open house

Just how sacred is Whistler’s cap on development?

That’s the burning question that needs to be answered by the community in the next 10 days.

If they decide the cap isn’t sacred, then the community has to ask itself another tough question. Where would Whistler put any new development?

The answers to those two questions will determine Whistler’s future for generations to come.

Now everyone in the community is being asked to add their two cents in a simple questionnaire, which will guide planners as they map out Whistler’s future.

"What’s very important to us at this point in time is that we get as much input as we can," said Municipal Administrator Jim Godfrey.

Almost a year and a half ago the municipality launched a public consultation process called Whistler. It’s Our Future , where the community was asked to lend a hand in carving out Whistler’s path over the next 20 years.

After the launch the community helped put together a list of criteria for a successful and sustainable resort community. Then a year passed where consultants and municipal staff were hard at work, piecing together the information and creating visions for the future.

Now there are five future scenarios on the table.

In each scenario Whistler is pictured in the year 2020 based on the decisions made in 2003.

Only one scenario, known as Future One, has a Whistler that stays true to the cap on development, which was envisioned by planners long ago.

The four remaining scenarios can each provide between 6,000 and 7,000 bed units of resident housing for Whistler employees, either on Crown land within the existing corridor, in the Callaghan Valley or on a mixture of private and Crown land.

Eckhard Zeidler who was one of the first community members to go through the workbook and pick a preferred future for Whistler was pleased the process gets right to the heart of the matter of resident housing and affordability. He calls the workbook an excellent piece of work.

"Most of the scenarios indicate that the days of building market housing and expensive new homes is pretty much drawing to a close, which is quite a turn for this community," he said.

"And the emphasis that’s being put on resident housing in most of the scenarios, in almost all the scenarios, I see that as just being extremely positive for this resort and for the future."

Resident housing has become a critical component of Whistler’s future because the housing boom of the past decade has driven Whistler’s real estate off the charts for the average person. Now when employees retire or sell their market homes, new employees are not able to buy them. More often than not the homes are bought by second homeowners from around the world, who spend a few weeks each year in the resort. It’s a problem more commonly known as "leakage." If things continue in this fashion it is assumed 75 per cent of market bed units that currently house employees in Whistler will be lost by the year 2020. If there is no new resident housing to replace that lost housing more people will be commuting from bedroom communities to work in Whistler.

It is also assumed that with fewer employees living in Whistler the resort will become a less vibrant community and as such, the visitor experience may deteriorate.

"It’s not a science," said Godfrey about the co-relation between employees living in the resort and the visitor experience.

"It’s more of an art."

Yet, this co-relation has been documented in American resorts like Vail and Aspen where skyrocketing housing prices forced employees to move to communities down valley and as a result, the resort offered an inferior visitor experience.

Garry Watson, who was in the process of going through the workbook and questionnaire, has long advocated Whistler sticking to the cap on development unless there are extensive benefits to the community.

"I’ve always been a staunch defender of the bed cap subject to getting exceptional benefits for the community," said Watson, pointing to a deal four years ago where the municipality increased the cap for the Four Seasons hotel in return for the preservation of the Emerald Forest.

He said resident housing is an extensive community benefit and as such, the cap could be increased to accommodate it.

After an extensive analysis of Crown land and the costs associated with developing it, the municipality has created four additional future scenarios, which show where resident housing could be built in the community. Unlike Future One, these future scenarios all exceed the cap on development, particularly with resident housing.

Future Two calls for resident housing within the existing corridor. There could be nodes of development in Alpine North, Emerald West and Kadenwood as well as a new neighbourhood in the Lower Cheakamus by the Interpretative Forest.

Putting resident housing within the existing corridor is the preferred choice for Frank Savage, one of the 21 locals who was part of a citizen’s advisory committee for the process.

"I lean toward Future Two because I like the compactness and the sense of community that would go with infill housing," he said.

The alternative in Future Three is that the resident housing could go on Crown land in the Callaghan Valley, which is still within the municipal boundaries.

The new neighbourhood there could house up to 6,000 employees in a range of homes, including single family, condominiums, townhouses and duplexes.

Future Three is Zeidler’s preferred choice.

"I lean towards the Callaghan specifically because the Callaghan will be developed," he said, pointing to the planned $105 million Olympic Nordic Centre and a potential First Nations hotel and golf course slated for the area.

"It’s clear that it’s going to be developed and Whistler may not have anything to say about how it gets developed except for the little tiny (300 acre) portion.

"I believe if we get ahead of the curve and we develop a really remarkable community there that demonstrates sustainable principles... not only will it make a huge impression on Olympic visitors but it will also set a benchmark for how development moves forward there."

Future Four envisions a more diversified economy, including business opportunities compatible with the tourist economy.

And Future Five allows for more market housing over the development cap.

Both Futures Four and Five also provide extensive resident housing either within the existing corridor or in the Callaghan.

Wherever the housing goes, Godfrey insists it would be a mix of housing types that would cater to a range of people and a range of incomes.

"It’s to be a community that we’d all be proud of," said Godfrey.

The five futures have also each been measured against the Natural Step framework to determine whether or not they move the community closer to sustainability.

"I was very impressed how they managed to do more than just pay lip service to the Natural Step framework," said Zeidler.

After going through the process with the citizen’s advisory committee Savage said it’s important to remember Whistler’s future is all about sustainability.

He encourages the community to remember the legs of the sustainability stool as they work through the process.

"Sustainability is about balancing financial, economic, environmental and community interests," said Savage. "In order for the resort to be sustainable, all those things have to be considered.

"It’s a balancing act."

Savage also said that while he is leaning toward Future Two with its goal of putting resident housing in the existing corridor, he is keeping an open mind until the open house on Saturday, Nov. 15.

"I do want to have an open mind to having a little bit of market housing to help pay for (resident housing)," he said.

After he has made up his mind, Savage will fill out his questionnaire and submit it to the municipality by the Monday, Nov. 24 deadline.

"Time’s a wasting," he said.

"We’ve really got to bring people up to speed quickly.

"Every person I can get a hold of I’m telling them to come (to the open house.)"

Once the community decides, the preferred future should be ready for community review by February 2004. By the summer council will be ready to approve the preferred future and develop the policy framework for the Comprehensive Sustainability Plan, which will guide development, or prevent it, over the coming years.