The Squamish Oceanfront Development Corporation (SODC) is paying up to $1 million of taxpayer money to hire a team of former Intrawest experts to create a business plan.
Former Intrawest real estate group executive, Drew Stotesbury has been hired as the new CEO of the SODC along with David Greenfield and Trevor Dunn. Their task over the next six months is to create a business plan for the development of the publicly owned Squamish Oceanfront Lands.
"We are paying a ballpark of $700,000 to $1 million for this whole thing to work. That includes their salaries plus any design consultants or costs for soil analysis, marine consultations, and other testing," said Bill McNeney, SODC chair.
The money is borrowed from the bank, which already holds about a $2.5 million loan on the property. McNeney said the business plan gives the bank some assurance that the SODC lands won't remain dormant.
"We are leveraging the assessed value of the property to pay for this process, which will be the future of this land," McNeney said. "It is taxpayer money and we have never spent this much dough before but it is a necessary step."
Council endorsed the SODC proposal to hire the Intrawest executives at an in-camera committee of the whole meeting Tuesday (March 24). Acting Mayor Paul Lalli said the investment is worth it.
"The Oceanfront lands will be a key part of the success and future in terms of the downtown and future employment it will bring for our community," Lalli said. "The business plan ensures that whatever we do makes financial sense."
Lalli adds that the bank requires a proper business plan and the Stotesbury team comes with a lot of experience working on large-scale projects. The team has over 50 years of combined experience.
Squamish resident Ron Enns said he is skeptical about the financial sense of the $1 million purchase. In a letter to the Chief, Enns said with the current economic climate, the business plan will be obsolete long before developers contemplate any condos.
"It is merely a temporary solution to avoid having the loan recalled. For now, a business plan satisfies the bank's requirements, and it certainly satisfies the three laid-off Intrawest executives who get the plum contract. It remains to be seen if it satisfies Squamish taxpayers," Enns said.
The district is in the middle of Create the Oceanfront, a community-based process to plan the future of the peninsula, which includes Nexen Beach.
The public has been encouraged to bring their ideas to the table but the Stotesbury, Greenfield, Dunn team was hired to filter expectations. Stotesbury said the team will build on the work already completed.
The business plan is separate initiative from Create the Oceanfront.
"We are only on day three, but we will be filtering the information received in an economically viable and holistic way," said Stotesbury. "This plan needs to work from a development, operational and municipal perspective."
With the support of the SODC and council, Stotesbury said he is confident his team will get the job done. He said the question now is "Why?"
"We have heard a lot of compelling descriptions about the land but we want to develop a better understanding of why," Stotesbury said.
Other players in the Oceanfront such as Westmana and B.C. Rail are also moving ahead with business plans said Stotesbury. The SODC is playing catch up.
"I think we are ahead one and behind another. Westmana is further evolved in their business plan and BC Rail is not," Stotesbury said.
Stotesbury said he intends to roll out the business plan in two phases. The first phase is dedicated to information gathering while the second phase entails the actual development of the business plan.
"All told we hope to be finished by the end of the summer," Stotesbury said. "We bring a lot of private sector experience to the table and we have proven experience because we have all done projects of this scale before."
