If the Garibaldi at Squamish (GAS) project goes forward, the District of Squamish will be faced with the decision of whether or not to widen its boundaries to include the project and become the governing body of the resort community.
If the resort area were annexed, it would mean the district would be responsible for everything from police and fire services, recreation services and snow plowing to garbage collection, Mayor Patricia Heintzman said.
“That is a decision we might have to make in the future, and sure we might get some tax revenue, but your expenses may exceed your revenue depending on the success of the project,” said Heintzman.
“We are going to really have to do a thorough analysis of what is in the best interest of Squamish, what is in the best interest of the taxpayers of Squamish, what are the pitfalls of having a municipality sitting on your boundaries and not having any ability to impact or make decisions on aspects of it,” she said.
“Council is just starting to put their minds to that now, but likely a decision on whether we do have to expand our boundaries or not won’t happen until we know there is a definitive going forward or not.”
Wolfgang Richter, vice-chairman at GAS, said of the choices available to the proposed resort community, being annexed by Squamish is the best option for the people of Squamish. Staying within the Squamish-Lillooet Regional District and forming its own municipality are the other possibilities.
“When we annex and go through a rezoning process, the town has the hammer in terms of what gets built. We get approval from the province for capacity, but the specifics of what gets built where and how, so many things… that is the town’s prerogative,” he said.
“And frankly, just the idea of doing this outside the district governance would be a bad start for neighbours.”
Richter agreed a decision on annexation isn’t one that the district needs to make right away.
“The next stage isn’t construction, the next stage is master planning and then hopefully annexation and then zoning,” Richter said.
The EAO public comment period on the project is open until June 22. The EAO is expected to refer the project to ministers for a decision in the fall, and a final decision is expected within 45 days of that referral.
