The Sea to Sky Gondola proposal received a flood of support at its Squamish-Lillooet Regional District (SLRD) public hearing on Thursday, April 19.
Held at Britannia Beach Community Hall, 54 people signed up to voice their opinions on the proposed rezoning and Area D Official Community Plan (OCP) amendment needed to allow the sightseeing gondola's top terminal.
In an opening statement, the project's proponent David Greenfield said the tram running 2,700 feet up a ridge below Mount Habrich will tap into the 9 million visitors that drive up Highway 99 annually 71 per cent of whom are travelling for recreational purposes. Currently, people that stop at the Stawamus Chief Provincial Park stay an average of 20 minutes, the principal of GroundEffects said, a figure he wants to increase.
We see this employing 30 to 80 people directly, Greenfield said, noting the Capilano Suspension Bridge hires 200 staff.
The project would provide huge cross-marketing opportunities for facilities such as the Britannia Mine Museum and the West Coast Railway Hertitage Association, he added.
We truly want to get this right, Greenfield said.
Squamish Nation councillor Dale Harry was the first to the microphone. The nation is in support of the project, he said.
We would object to one going up the Chief, we would object to one going up Shannon Falls, but this one goes up the middle, Harry said.
The gondola won't be the overarching answer to Squamish's economic woes, Squamish resident Auli Parviainen said, but could be a component of addressing the problem. Environmental consultants estimate 30 trees might need to be taken down to allow for the gondola, which is less lumber that has been hauled out of the woods to maintain trails and climbing areas, co-founder of the Squamish Trails Society John Harvey said.
I've worked in the Smoke Bluffs for 35 years and I've taken out 200 trees, he said.
Not against the idea of a gondola, North Vancouver resident Anders Ourom who finished his first climb up the Chief in 1972 at the age of 16 said he would like to see it placed elsewhere.As the project stands, the gondola route requires the reclassification of a 20-metre-wide one-kilometre-long swath of provincial parkland from Class A Park to Protected Area.
We believe land should not be removed from the park, he said. The process to get [land designated as park] is difficult enough.
Last February, when the two-hectare land, slated for the base of the gondola, was sold by the Land Conservancy (TLC) of British Columbia to a financial institution a covenant was placed on the property. It stipulated the land not be used for a gondola travelling up the face of the Chief or one that terminates in the provincial park. This proposal may follow its guidelines, but goes against the intent of the covenant, Ourom said.
Although this issue, along with the park reclassification is outside of the SLRD's jurisdictions, the government body's decision may affect BC Park's direction, he warned.You are dealing with a flawed process that has been given to you by the provincial government, Ourom said.
Fellow climber Glen Woodsworth agreed. He was concerned about the impact the extra foot traffic will have on the backcountry. Stawamus park is currently overflowing with visitors, he warned.
[We are] overusing and stressing an already stressed out area, Woodsworth said.Some of the provinces most popular parks are full of manmade structures, Garibaldi Highlands resident Donna Wall said. Alice Lake Provincial Park has a fake beach, bike trails, washrooms and a parking lot, but the features don't make it less of a park, she said.
This is not virgin, pristine forest, she said of the Crown land which the gondola is slated to terminate in.
In the 1960s and '70s, Squamish resident Kerry Brown said he remembers tree planting after a logging operation occurred in the area that area.
It was a mess, I don't want to see that again, he said, noting the gondola will prevent logging.
After three and a half hours, the hearing came to an end. Of the 54 people who spoke, 14 were against the project. The SLRD will examine the information received at the public hearing and compile a report. A date for third reading has not yet been scheduled.
