An anonymous businessman is helping Garibaldi at Squamish (GAS) proponents rebuild their public image. On Monday (May 5) about 40 community members took part in a wine and cheese party at a local home to drum up support for the proposed all-season resort on Brohm Ridge whose environmental assessment process was suspended again last week.The project's president Mike Esler would not say who hosted the gathering, but said he planned on having "more of the same" in the future. Before the wine and cheese party, Esler took a number of board members from the Chamber of Commerce on a helicopter ride over the site. They were joined by councillors Mike Jenson, Raj Kahlon and Jeff McKenzie.Chamber board member Darren McCartney was one of those getting a bird's-eye view of the mountain. He said the trip addressed his concerns about adequate snow levels."After seeing it first hand I have no doubt that there was a lot of good quality skiing terrain," he said. According to Esler, there is currently 7.5 feet of snow at the proposed village site.The Chamber of Commerce has yet to take a formal position on the project, but Esler will be giving a presentation to board members at a closed board meeting next week. Chamber manager Kenny Music said the board would know its position by mid to late May.Speaking from personal opinion, McCartney said he was in favour of GAS."Personally I like the idea of a ski resort, after what I saw yesterday I do see it being viable," he said. "I think an investment of that typewould definitely be of benefit to the community."Board member Sameer Kajani also took part in the helicopter ride."It's too bad you couldn't take the whole town up there to take a look. It was a really eye-opening experience just to get an idea of what the project really is," he said.Kajani said he has to educate himself more before deciding how he feels about the project.GAS received further support on April 18, when the Squamish Sikh Society sent a letter to the Environmental Assessment Office (EAO) supporting it "due to the future business and employment opportunities that will be created for our members during construction and operation of the project."The EAO recently suspended the application for a second time citing insufficient information on issues such as water source.Over the past six months, the project has been under fire from the opposition group Save Garibaldi. Through information session and other public outreach efforts, the group has helped mobilize a number of residents to write letters of concern to the EAO and local politicians.Esler pointed out not all the feedback has been negative. He said those show attended the wine and cheese party held a different view than Save Garibaldi."They're not very happy with the activist groups that are distorting the information," he said, referring to comments from Squamish Environmental Conservation Society president Catherine Jackson that the project does not make business sense."How would she know? On what basis does she make that assessment?" he asked.Jackson said it doesn't take a business analyst to recognize the project's faults. She asserts the resort would not be able to compete with Whistler and would not be a wise investment in light of climate change. She said real estate is the real drive behind project, adding that resort houses would cost local taxpayers."The terrain is so hostile and steep that the 98 kilometres of roads and houses will be very expensive to buildtaxes from these houses will not be sufficient to meet the ongoing maintenance costs."West Coast Environmental Law has always countered the project, and applauded the move to suspend the EAO process in a May 1 press release."We're glad the Environmental Assessment Office did the right thing," said staff lawyer Andrew Gage. "It has put the brakes on the process until Garibaldi at Squamish Inc. is able to provide the information necessary for the public and the government to understand the impacts of the project."Esler said he doubts the law group's position has had a significant impact on the EAO process and stressed the suspension has not halted the project."It's unfortunate this EA process is suspended again but it hasn't really stopped anything," he said. "We're still firing on all cylinders."Learning more about it will be easier starting this Saturday (May 10) when GAS will open an information centre on Cleveland Avenue, said Elser. He said it is a temporary site, which will be used until a presentation centre is built.On Tuesday (May 6), Jackson submitted a letter to council urging decision makers to reject the project.It lists a number of concerns, including threats to species at risk, its contribution to urban sprawl, limited construction workers to build the site and the impact it would have on Brohm and Cat Lake, both popular recreation sites for community members."There are 35 forestry camp sites around Cat Lake that would be in the middle of a golf course and million dollar houses," said Jackson.
