The proponents of a gondola that would deliver tourists up to a ridge between the Stawamus Chief and Shannon Falls are staging a series of informal open houses over the next couple of weeks to answer questions and gauge community interest in the project.
If it goes ahead, the Sea to Sky Gondola would act as a "catalyst" for tourism in Squamish, increasing both the number of people who stop in Squamish and their average length of stay, officials with GroundEffects Developments told The Chief on June 29.
David Greenfield, one of the two GroundEffects principles who has been presenting the idea to a wide variety of groups over the past few weeks, on Tuesday (July 12) said the open houses -one on Wednesday (July 13), one next Thursday (July 21) and one on Wednesday, July 27 - are meant as a forum for presenting the concept and answering questions in advance of the more formal gatherings that are expected to begin in the fall.
Greenfield said he, business partner Trevor Dunn and others have been working on an application to rezone the parcel of private land on which the base area would be located, just off Highway 99 between Stawamus Chief and Shannon Falls provincial parks. They expect to deliver it to the District of Squamish in the next few days and hope to be in a position to host a public open house, which is required as part of rezoning, in September.
"Our hope is to try and get through the bulk of it in the fall, prior to the (Nov. 19) election," Greenfield said. "We met with the district staff and it's a relatively simple application and we're hoping that it can be processed fairly quickly, and we're hoping to generate a fair bit of public support going into that process."
If the rezoning is successful, GroundEffects would still have three major hurdles to jump -with the Squamish Nation, B.C. Parks and the Squamish-Lillooet Regional District (SLRD). B.C. Parks' OK is required because the gondola route would run through a portion of Stawamus Chief Park, the entire area is part of the Squamish Nation's traditional territory, and the top station and other amenities (perhaps including enhanced recreational trails) would be on Crown land that's within the SLRD's jurisdiction.
If all goes according to plan, the proponents are hoping to open the gondola in the spring or summer of 2013.
Greenfield said he and Dunn have been pleased with the comments received to date -both during presentations to community groups and in the online comments forums since they went public with the proposal.
"Trevor and I have a huge sense of relief that we can talk about it," he said. "We've been thinking about it and working at it for a couple years and we were somewhat worried that it would get leaked out there somehow and we wouldn't be able to control the information. But now that it's out, we can talk about it."
He said presentations to the area's three environmental groups -Squamish Climate Action Network (CAN), the Squamish River Watershed Society and the Squamish Environmental Society -have given rises to questions and concerns but as yet, no show-stoppers or declarations of outright opposition.
"By and large they've been very encouraging -'Gee, you're using an existing gravel pit as your base, you're trying to emphasize the environmental component,' and what not," he said.
Greenfield said most seem to feel, and the proponents agree, that the lion's share of the environmental impacts would come about as a result not of the facility at the top, but of the number of people the gondola would bring into the area. At the moment, most of the users are either hardcore hikers or motorized recreational users moving around on the area's decommissioned forestry roads.
He said he expects that the discussion with groups such as the Squamish Off Road Cycling Association and the Squamish Access Society will focus on how best to manage the environmental impacts of tens or even hundreds of thousands of annual guests descending on the area.
The proponents' approach, he said, is that "we need to be careful that we're not doing something that's overly negative toward the habitat and the environment as a whole. And there's still more work to be done that way."
He said one of the common misconceptions about the project is that "a couple of liftie jobs" is all the employment the completed project would bring. The proponents, he said, estimate that the gondola business would employ between 20 and 30 people including sales staff, management and marketing personnel, and environmental and cultural interpreters.
One of the key components of the gondola operation would be a movie presentation to guests who reach the top. It would give visitors a chance to learn about the area's cultural and environmental -and yes, touristic -assets.
"If you have this captive audience, what better way to market than to sit them down in a theatre and tell them about the Railway Museum or the Britannia Mines or the other things there are to do. It's a great marketing opportunity," Greenfield said.
Greenfield, who used to work for Intrawest, has also presented the idea to Dave Brownlie, Whistler Blackcomb's president and chief operating officer. He said he told Brownlie the proponents believe the gondola would not draw visitors away from Whistler but would likely increase the overall number of people visiting the corridor.
Future open houses are planned next Thursday (July 21) from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. and Wednesday, July 27, from 8 to 11 a.m., both at the Squamish Adventure Centre. For more information about the project, visit www.seatoskygondola.com
