Hundreds of festivalgoers will soon be setting up camp on a simple but spectacular spot along the Cheekye River off Squamish Valley Road.
Council passed a temporary-use permit at its July 21 meeting for the Cheekye Ranch to host up to two events in August and one event every month, until September 2017.
For the ranch’s first event, the Squamish Valley Music Festival, the ranch is allowed 1,500 campers. Future events will have to be kept to 500 people or fewer.
On June 2, council granted a permit for the ranch to offer camping for the Squamish Valley Music Festival.
“It is pretty exciting,” said ranch owner Kris Latham, after council passed the motion to grant the expanded temporary use permit.
Latham and partner Greg Hinds bought the property about a year ago and struggled to figure out what to do with the sprawling 27-hectare space. Hosting events and campers seemed a good fit, Latham said.
The granting of the expanded use permit was not without controversy. The Squamish Nation, which has two reserves near the campground property, sent a letter of objection to council expressing a variety of concerns, including noise, risk of fire, increased traffic and the impact on wells caused by water use by hundreds of campers.
“It is important that the District of Squamish understand we have had to respond to many authorized and unauthorized events directly adjacent to, or on, Reserve Lands, as such our response is highly influenced by these experiences,” said Chris Lewis, Squamish Nation councillor and spokesperson, in the letter to council regarding the permit.
Latham responded to the Nation’s concerns at council. The events to be held on the property, such as the Blessed Coast festival in August are “family friendly,” not loud or raucous events, she said. Latham added she and Hinds have been working with Squamish Fire Rescue and have a plan in case of fire, and the ranch has its own well so water conservation is a priority and won’t infringe on the reserve wells.
While the campground is on the northern margin of the Cheekye fan and so in a landslide hazard area, all camping will be kept on land above the area of the property that would be most at risk for flood or debris flow, according to a geohazards assessment of the property done for Latham and Hinds.
In voting in support of the permit, Councillor Susan Chapelle said there aren’t a lot of places to hold events in Squamish, so this site fulfills a need.
“If we want summer festivals, I think this is a great option,” she said.
Councillor Peter Kent said that he was comfortable supporting the motion because it was for a trial period of two years, and the permit could be revoked if things didn’t go well.
“I am willing to grant this sort of as a test, to see if it can be pulled off in compliance with our regulations and our policies. Given that we can revoke it, then I think we can keep a close eye on it and see how it goes,” he said.
