The B.C. government this week introduced legislation that would remove 2.36 hectares of land from Stawamus Chief Provincial Park to make way for the Sea to Sky Gondola project.
The move, announced in a statement issued Monday (May 7) as part of a much larger initiative under the headline, Province expands protected areas system, was hailed by a gondola principal as a big step in the approval process for the project, which proponents claim would attract an estimated 300,000 visitors a year.
Gondola opponents, though, said the proponents and the B.C. government haven't answered a number of key questions about the project's environmental impacts, adding that the government should be required to provide a forum for the public to comment on the plan instead of relying on input gathered by the proponent.
The overall protected-areas initiative announced by Environment Minister Terry Lake on Monday will see some 550,000 hectares added to B.C.'s parks and protected areas network, the statement said.
The Stawamus Chief Park move is one of a handful of initiatives that fell under the heading of boundary amendments.
According to the statement, Two-point-three-six hectares are being removed from the park. The area being removed will subsequently be established as Stawamus Chief Protected Area under the Environment and Land Use Act. This allows for the application of a Park Use Permit for a right-of-way through the park. B.C. Parks staff will review the application to assess environmental impacts.
At the same time, Approximately 1.93 hectares are being added to the park as a result of Crown lands transferred to the ministry in 2008 from the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure for a closed road that was no longer needed as part of the Sea to Sky Highway Improvement Project.
Suntanu Dalal, B.C. Ministry of Environment communications officer, wrote in an email to The Chief on Tuesday (May 8) that the reclassification is a significant step in the approval process. The next step is to obtain a park use permit, he said.
Potential environmental impacts were considered in the decision to modify the boundary of the park, but the park use permit process may require a more detailed review, he wrote.
David Greenfield, one of the two main principals of Sea to Sky Gondola Corp., on Monday said the proponents were pleasantly surprised to see the legislation introduced. He said the park use permit is the document that gives applicants the technical permission to begin making the improvements.
The proponents also still need rezoning and Official Community Plan amendment approval from the Squamish-Lillooet Regional District (SLRD) board. To date, the board has passed two readings on those amendments.
In response to any environmental concerns, Greenfield said, We've done a full impact assessment that's actually going to be part of the B.C. Parks permit that we're requesting to be issued. That impact assessment takes full account of everything that would be impacts from the project.
Squamish resident Brian Vincent last week said neither he nor anyone else with concerns about the plan has seen an environmental impact assessment for the project not only of the structures but of the tens or hundreds of thousands of people who would fan out from the upper gondola station onto the ridge below Mount Habrich if the project goes ahead.
The proponents of the gondola minimize the impacts by saying the actual impact of the gondola and the structure won't be that much. But there will be an extensive expansion of the use of the backcountry up there, beyond what would normally be there, Vincent said.
We're going to have thousands of people hiking or on mountain bikes and a bear or cougar is going to get spooked and respond. It's predictable, and of course we know it's the animal who will pay the fatal price.
Dalal said the assessment submitted as part of the application process identifies how potential impacts to key park values will be mitigated and what benefits and/or enhancements to recreational opportunities may be realized.
Said Greenfield, People need to understand that we don't have full control over the release of these documents. These are B.C. Parks documents and they are reviewing it. After that we expect that they may have questions for us and then at some point it will be released. But it's not like we're withholding any information from the public.
Anders Ourum, a spokesman for the group Friends of the Stawamus Chief, said that while the proponent has done extensive consultations with groups in the Squamish area, he thinks the government should be required to seek out its own, independent input.
I think it's a significant weakness in the process as it has taken place so far, Ourum said. I don't know what, if any, professional review B.C. Parks has done, and from what I can see there's a lack of any meaningful opportunity for public input, aside from what's been gathered by the proponent.
In an email, he added, The park was created less than 20 years ago, as part of the Protected Areas Strategy, a very thorough, inclusive and public process. A similar process should be needed to remove land, if it is to be considered at all.
Dalal said the process carried out under the Protected Areas Boundary Adjustment Policy puts the onus on the proponent to make a case for the proposal and they go through a rigorous process that looks at any potential impacts on any conservation, cultural, and/or heritage values.
B.C. Parks has reviewed the consultation process undertaken by the proponent and determined that they have completed appropriate consultation.
Ourum said he has heard the government hopes to approve the legislation by the end of the current session, which is expected to wrap up by May 31.
