The Squamish Oceanfront Development Corporation (SODC) annual general meeting (AGM) on Tuesday (June 15) passed almost without comment, except for Coun. Patricia Heintzman voicing community concerns about the location of a proposed hotel near the south end of the peninsula.
At a meeting between SODC principal Trevor Dunn and the community on March 29, residents voiced numerous concerns about the proposed hotel itself and namely its location.
Residents cited the threat of the Oceanfront lands becoming an exclusive enclave due to the hotel's prime location.
"We've told them so many times that we don't want the hotel on the prime south beach location," said Egyed. "And they haven't changed it."
At Tuesday's AGM Bill Mcneney, SODC's chair, said the board was launching into phase two of their business plan which includes finding funding for a knowledge-based incubator, the community arts incubator, and some money to investigate a hotel package and a land swap with Capilano University.
"We're finding ourselves with hotels that are financially bankrupt and there are some that never started - The Ramada, Shannon Falls," said Heintzman.
"How wise is it to make this the first building venture on the oceanfront considering the difficulties that industry is having right now?"
SODC CEO Drew Stotesbury said the purpose of putting a package together is to access the developer's reaction.
"Certainly the real estate hotel industry cycles and it's certainly not at the top of the cycle right now but this is a longer term process," he said. "The first step of which is to simply put a package together and take it to the market to see what interest exists.
I would be cautiously optimistic that there will be significant and credible interest because of the location, because of the bigger storey and because of the way the hotel is specked to include a significant amount of meeting space."
He said SODC would never commit to something that would not be viable.
Heinztman asked if the completion of the proposed hotel site would essentially commit them to that specific site, in view of community concern.
Stotesbury responded: "it's more to say here's the story, here's the site, here's where we're anticipating the hotel and we'll put that out in front of the development community and solicit feedback."
McNeney said the guiding themes of SODC have now become imbedded in their business plan.
"The guiding themes of community first, oceanfront alive and inspired living became the themes that are guiding how the oceanfront project was going ahead."
Six new board members were selected for the next two-year cycle. Mike Jenson, Sandra Bicego, Michael Hutchison, Toby Baker, Gregg Smyth and Matt Fraser will serve on the SODC board until June 15, 2012.
