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Worker’s Paradise

Kudos to Councillor Eckhard Zeidler for proposing that Whistler reaffirm its commitment to a solid bed cap. I hope all councilors will back him on this when it comes to a vote.
andrewbyline

Kudos to Councillor Eckhard Zeidler for proposing that Whistler reaffirm its commitment to a solid bed cap. I hope all councilors will back him on this when it comes to a vote.

Whistler clearly does not get better as it gets bigger, for visitors or for residents. Most long-time locals would probably say that we’re too big already and many are leaving or have left for saner pastures. Sloping pastures where the fresh snow isn’t tracked out by 10 a.m. on a powder day.

For too many years we’ve been caught in a vicious cycle. As more housing and commercial developments are approved, more employees are required to build and staff those developments. Then council is called on to approve more staff housing projects to accommodate those extra workers, adding more beds that were not always counted in the bed cap or regulated in any definable way.

Zeidler’s proposal would reaffirm the existing bed cap of 62,150, including all staff housing units, present and future. Sound like a lot? It is — at capacity, it makes Whistler the seventh largest municipality in the province behind Vancouver, Victoria, Kelowna, Kamloops, Nanaimo, and Prince George. It’s rare that all of those beds would ever be occupied at once, although we probably come pretty close during the Christmas holidays.

Once the current slate of projects is completed — Intrawest’s new projects in Creekside and Base II, the redevelopment at the tennis club, Fitzsimmons Walk, Rainbow, Alpine North, the athletes’ village, Green River Estates, Kadenwood, Nita Lake, Lakecrest, Stonebridge, and various building lots scattered through town — we should be at our capacity, give or take. What Zeidler wants to address is what happens next, and to etch the bed unit number in stone.

It won’t be easy. Intrawest, the parent company of Whistler-Blackcomb, is not a resort management company as much as it is a real estate development company. They will continue to build as long they are allowed, and will develop every single bed unit they have. Through decades of growth we’ve also birthed a large local construction industry that won’t be happy when we hit a hard cap. That won’t happen for a decade, and there will likely be work in Squamish and Pemberton for a long time after that — but will the construction industry downsize to recognize the cap or merely move to develop the corridor between Squamish, Whistler and Pemberton, outside of municipal boundaries?

You could easily make a case that too much growth will hurt our tourism industry. Do visitors really want to spend days of travel and thousands of dollars to wait in lines at restaurants, stores and chairlifts?

However, it’s even easier to make a case that growth is hurting our ability to find and keep employees. In recent years the biggest challenge for the resort has not been keeping up with real estate demands, it’s getting enough employees to staff our expanded resort.

Affordable housing is a major component of that challenge, but it’s not everything. We also have to face the possibility that the quality of the Whistler experience is being diluted by the sheer number of people living here and visiting the resort. Whistler may not be as attractive a long-term option for employees as it has been in the past.

In the summer the municipal parks are standing room only, although that doesn’t seem to discourage people from trying to throw Frisbees and footballs around. There’s an oil slick on the lake from the accumulated suntan lotion runoff, and bobbing hairballs from dozens upon dozens of swimming dogs.

Bike trails throughout the valley are being lost and cut up piece-meal to make way for new developments, including new housing for employees — many of whom are here, ironically, for the mountain biking. New trails are being built to replace what’s lost, but some riders are concerned that the difficulty level is being reduced.

Winter is a lot more difficult for locals. More locals means more skiers and riders with local knowledge, which means fewer secret stashes. Visitors are not a problem, because for the most part they have no idea where to go. When I see a set of footprints hiking out to an area I used to think of as all mine, I know it was a local that creamed me out.

Powder days are becoming the domain of the competitive, the aggressive, the cutthroat. People cram eight wide in the lift lines waiting for four-person chairs to open, not willing to give an inch. Everybody budges, everybody shoves. Instead of happy and excited, locals are stressed out and angry.

And how many times have you tried to take a visiting friend out for dinner during the winter season, only to find there’s a two hour wait at most restaurants?

Meadow Park is packed at peak hours. Hockey players who turn up at drop-in are often turned away because there are already too many people.

And we’re not even at capacity yet!

Maintaining a cap on bed units, including staff housing units, is the only way to preserve any quality of life for the people who choose to live and work here. Whistler will never be the place it was, but council can take steps to stop it from getting worse.