The District of Squamish's latest appointment to the board that will help steer the future of the Oceanfront development, has declined to accept the position of director.In a letter to council, Drew Stotesbury wrote although the waterfront project is exciting and promises to benefit the community, he won't sit on the Squamish Oceanfront Development Corporation (SODC) board.The project which proposes to re-develop 64-acres of municipal land into a "world-class work-live-recreate" community has its share of challenges, Stotesbury wrote. It is large, complex, capital intensive, financially constrained, market-dependent and publicly-owned, he noted, adding the latter aspect "is of no small significance."Stotesbury wrote if the project is to succeed, the SODC requires a clear mandate and full support of its owner council.Last week, the decision to appoint a new board, which included newly appointed members Stotesbury, Coun. Paul Lalli and Mayor Greg Gardner, met a split vote at city hall. While councillors Rob Kirkham, Doug Race and Corinne Lonsdale argued a smaller more dynamic board made up of directors with marketing and business planning expertise was needed to move the project forward, councillors Bryan Raiser and Patricia Heintzman said council's appointments didn't achieve that goal. Controversy continued to spin outside council, as former SODC director Tom Bruusgaard questioned the wisdom of appointing council members onto the board.Stotesbury noted the council's divide."I am not willing to sit on the board with anything less than unanimous support from its shareholder," he wrote. "Accordingly, I must decline acceptance of the board appointment at this time."Stotesbury is the former SODC CEO. He helped develop a business plan for the project.Visit The Chief's website www.squamishchief.com for updates on this story and look for it in Friday's newspaper.
