It’s back.
The ski resort development idea that has been kicking around Squamish in various forms for about two decades, Garibaldi at Squamish (GAS), was back on the agenda at the committee of the whole council meeting Tuesday, Dec. 16.
The massive $2.9 billion year-round ski resort and community is slated for Crown land on Brohm Ridge approximately 15 kilometres north of Squamish.
David Negrin, the president of Aquilini Development and Construction, which is behind the Garibaldi at Squamish Inc. project, gave an updated briefing on the development to councillors.
He also took the opportunity to say that this time around, things would be different.
“We are taking a little bit of a different approach. I became the CEO in 2009 and our approach has been to work with Squamish and work with the province,” Negrin said.
“We want to annex this into Squamish. We want to work with you. We are not interested in doing this outside of Squamish,” he told council.
In June of 2010, B.C.’s Environmental Assessment Office put a halt to the proposal’s environmental certification process until Garibaldi at Squamish provided more information, including more details on how water would be supplied to the development and affect the aquifer.
The company is now expected to supply a supplemental application, which Garibaldi at Squamish officials say they will submit to the province by the third week in January.
At a public information meeting in May, many Squamish residents expressed concern over the impact of the development on the area’s aquifer.
“Loud and clear we heard water [is an issue] and we think we can resolve that,”
Negrin said on Tuesday. “Loud and clear we heard – which the previous group before us, I will say this, they didn’t listen – nobody wanted development around Brohm and Cat Lakes, because that is just another residential development and I think that was really important, we took it out.”
This year, as a result of the public concerns, golf courses and the development areas around Cat and Brohm Lakes were removed, thus reducing the total size of the project to 2,775 hectares from 4,903.
“If any point in time you feel this is not the project that Squamish wants, because you are the key to rezoning, tell us,” Negrin said.
Plans for the development include 23 ski lifts on 124 developed ski trails on approximately 1,200 hectares.
According to Negrin’s presentation to council, by the time the project is complete there would be 21,900 bed units, which would equal between 3,500 to 5,000 homes of various types, including multi-family, condominiums and single-family homes.
Eighty per cent of the development is slated to be ski in and ski out, according to Negrin.
There will be a one main village and two other satellite villages and pockets of houses all along the runs, according to Negrin.
The village will have boutique style shops and a native theme, to represent the Squamish Nation, which is a partner in the project.
The residences will be stratified to care for roads, pipes and sewers over the long run and built and paid for by the developer, Nigrin said.
In terms of employment Negrin said there would be 13, 200 person years-worth of construction jobs, over the 18 to 25 years it will take to build the resort to its full completion.
It will also create about 2,500 full-time jobs and about 300 part-time jobs once the resort is built out, he said.
Negrin also said BCIT and UBC have shown interest in creating schools for international students within the resort.
There are many steps to go even if the latest application is successful, including at least two years of the rezoning process.
Significant construction wouldn’t begin for at least three years, if all goes according to plan.
The next public open house is expected to take place in the next two months.
Please note, this story has been updated since it was first published.
