Squamish could lose the very reasons people come to town if the Garibaldi at Squamish year-round mountain resort goes ahead, according to some recreation and commercial organizations in the Sea to Sky Corridor.
Tony Cailes, president of the Black Tusk Snowmobile Club, is one of those who is arguing against the project slated for Brohm Ridge which is currently in the provincial Environmental Assessment process.
“Losing our riding area, that is what we object to,” Cailes said.
The club was founded in 1971 just after a ski development failed in the area. The remnants of the former ski development still exist in the abandoned lift towers and in the clubhouse and chalet that the club took over as tenants in 1971.
The club hosts the Alpine Learning Centre for avalanche training in the winter on Brohm Ridge. About 1,300 people have taken the training, according to Cailes.
For snowmobile enthusiasts, Brohm Ridge offers a wide variety of terrain, Cailes said, with well-groomed trails for novice riders, children and advanced riders. And it is a form of recreation that is getting squeezed out in many areas across B.C., according to Donegal Wilson, executive director of the BC Snowmobile Federation.
She said there are 40,200 snowmobiles registered in B.C. and about 100,500 people who snowmobile in the province, she said. In the 2012-13 season snowmobiling contributed approximately $867 million to the province’s economy, she said.
“The land base is only so big, and it seems like everybody wants a piece,” she said.
In terms of Brohm Ridge, she said the Black Tusk Snowmobile Club has demonstrated they are good stewards of the land.
“They have been investing in the road going up there, maintaining those buildings, there is a lot of personal connection to the area,” she said. “It is one of the few basically family riding areas left in the Sea to Sky.”
Cailes stressed he is concerned not just for the members of his club, but for all recreational users of the area.
“People’s access to Brohm Ridge is very important,” he said. “All year long, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, you and your mom, you and your dad, you and your husband should be able to access Brohm Ridge as you see fit. Giving it to a corporation to make money with is not good for the public,” he said.
Wolfgang Richter, vice-chairman at Garibaldi at Squamish, said that something has to give when it comes to user groups on Brohm Ridge.
“There isn’t room for everyone everywhere,” he said. “You either buy a house and you live in it, or it is not your house.”
Richter said in 1995, the provincial government chose Garibaldi at Squamish as a potential development for the Crown land on Brohm Ridge.
“The Crown put out a request for proposal (RFP), three potential proponents… applied, one was chosen. One of the three was un-chosen before they even went to the extra effort of making a proposal, and that was the Black Tusk Snowmobile Club,” he said.
However, Richter stressed the public approval process isn’t over yet.
“We are coming near to the end of it in the sense that we have done the studies asked for, and there are specific timelines now that get some people nervous,” he said.
“There is lots of process left. It is not the end.”
Whistler Blackcomb executives also have concerns about Garibaldi at Squamish.
Dave Brownlie, president and chief executive officer of Whistler Blackcomb, said in addition to concerns about the viability of the ski resort given global warming and concerns over how water will be drawn for the resort, Squamish residents should be very concerned about traffic.
“They are talking about two million visits year-round. That is impossible,” he said. “We are talking about the development of a community, a resort the size or slightly bigger than Squamish is today.”
Brownlie also said development such as the Oceanfront development planned for Squamish’s Nexen Beach area is good for the whole corridor, but the Garibaldi at Squamish project is not. There is a regional growth strategy, he said, and Garibaldi is not a part of it.
“It would be like us going and building a university up here,” he said. “We want Quest University to be as successful as it can be. And it had some tough times. You know universities did approach this community, and you know, we didn’t think that is what we wanted to do. It was already taken care of, so let’s work together.”
Time ticking on DOS input
There isn’t a lot of time for council to decide how it feels about Garibaldi at Squamish.
Citing the Woodfibre LNG and FortisBC Environmental Assessment processes the district has been bogged down analyzing, council unanimously passed a motion at its meeting May 5 to request more time and access to funding for extra staff in order to thoroughly analyze the supplemental application on the $3.5 billion ski-resort.
“We haven’t heard back officially, other than we did meet with a couple of the ministers a couple of weeks ago and there seems to be no inclination to make any extensions on it,” said Mayor Patricia Heintzman.
She said the district gets a bit longer than the public to comment. The public comment period closes June 22, and the district would likely have a few more weeks beyond that to respond, Heintzman said, but she didn’t have an exact date.
Richter said he was aware the district was struggling to analyze the project and said his company has offered to help. “We had already advised key people in the district that you know, we get it, and if you have to hire somebody, we are happy to pay for that person that you hire,” he said.
To comment on Garibaldi at Squamish to the EAO, contact Chris Hamilton, executive project director, Environmental Assessment Office PO Box 9426 Stn. Prov. Govt., Victoria B.C. V8W 9V1; fax 250-387-2208.
