Don’t drop the old dumbbells yet, but there may be a new player in the gym game in Squamish.
At the council meeting on Tuesday night, council passed first and second reading of a rezoning bylaw to allow a 6,000-square-foot gym at Garibaldi Village shopping centre.
The fitness centre would be on the second floor, which is currently zoned for office space, at 40258 Glenalder Place.
This isn’t a new idea.
A previous District of Squamish council supported the idea of a gym when phase one of the shopping centre was planned, but it was never built, according to Sarah McJannet, the district planner who presented the plan to council Tuesday night.
The shopping centre was built in two phases between 2002 and 2009, she said.
The second floor where the fitness centre would be located has 16,000 square feet of space, but the remainder of the space has been leased to eight businesses including a web design firm, an architecture firm and an orthodontist.
The space where the gym is proposed has been empty for six years, according to McJannet.
Councillor Peter Kent was supportive of the idea but concerned that the planners and tenants take noise into consideration.
“I am hoping when they do that they take in the amount of noise that something like that will generate above the tenants below. I have had a little experience in gyms and I know that dropping weights on the floor can be very loud for whoever is down below, so hopefully that is a strong consideration,” Kent said.
There will be a public hearing about the rezoning on Tuesday, June 2.
