The Resort Municipality of Whistler council has thrown in its two cents over the proposed Garibaldi at Squamish golf and ski resort development on the eve of the deadline for comment submissions - and Squamish Mayor Ian Sutherland is not happy about it.
Whistler Mayor Ken Melamed confirmed that he signed council's letter to the Environmental Assessment Office (EAO) opposing the proposal, which takes over vast tracts of Crown land alongside Garibaldi Park for a golf and ski resort and a residential development of close to 6,000 housing units.
"Whistler has a number of concerns," said Melamed. "In fact, what the proponent is doing is trying to justify a massive amount of real estate development really under the guise of a ski area proposal. "We also believe it's going to seriously jeopardize the private investment that's been made in Whistler village and negatively impact the viability of the success of the resort."
Melamed added the proposal is not consistent with the previous proposal, which had been grandfathered under the Regional Growth strategy, saying it is "three times as large" as the original.
Garibaldi at Squamish's 20-year-old project proposal has drawn significant criticism from the public over the last several months - since it cleared a two-year-old hurdle over land negotiations that included the province and the Squamish Nation - because it may compromise the recreational aspect of Brohm and Cat lakes and harm environmentally sensitive areas.
Sutherland said Squamish shares the public's concern over potential conflicts in the area as well as the size and scope of the proposal, but added he felt it was inappropriate for the resort's council to make comments.
"I'm miffed that Whistler would stick their nose in this right now," said Sutherland.
"The project is in the boundaries of the SLRD [Squamish Lillooet Regional District] and will likely become the boundaries of Squamish, I think we've all agreed that that's where it belongs and I think the government has agreed with that.
"We [at the SLRD] are always being lectured by the Whistler mayor about how we should butt out of their business and make sure we respect their boundaries and what's going on around their community, yet he feels the need to get involved in a project going on within our boundaries and just outside our boundaries."
Melamed said not only are the comments appropriate, but he's disappointed the resort had to submit their comments without invitation.
"We felt we had to take a position in the absence an invitation to participate," he said. "The very nature of this would have suggested that Whistler be invited to provide input in a manner that was not an average member of the public, but we did because there was a deadline for submission on August 5."
Sutherland said he will accept public comments from those in the immediate area, but Whistler has had "plenty of opportunity" to comment at Regional Growth Strategy meetings and will have more opportunities in the future.
The EAO's project director Graeme McLaren said it will take several weeks for the numerous comments regarding Garibaldi at Squamish to be compiled and reviewed.
"Those have all gone to the proponent to track the issues brought up. They will be required to create a table tracking the issues, and submit that to us," said McLaren.
"I have not set a deadline for that, but it will be a number of weeks. We will be working with them from there to address the issues."
The proponent must also provide, by Sept. 30, a summary of all new federal and provincial legislation that applies to the project, a report of traditional environmental information if available from the Squamish Nation, an archaeological impact assessment, an updated socioeconomic impact assessment, details on public transportation, an updated wildlife assessment, and confirmation on the existence of an adequate water supply.
Following the round of information gathering, the EAO will hold another, as yet unscheduled, public consultation period, said McLaren.
With files from Ray Wangen
