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Blueprint for mediocrity

Editor, Just after the turn of the millineum we, the citizens of Squamish, received a gift of 100 acres of prime waterfront and water-lot property worth $22 million. At the present time, almost a third of that value has been frittered away.

Editor,

Just after the turn of the millineum we, the citizens of Squamish, received a gift of 100 acres of prime waterfront and water-lot property worth $22 million. At the present time, almost a third of that value has been frittered away.

The first mistake was hiring what was probably the highest-paid CEO in history, who received almost a quarter of $1 million a year to run a company with only $22 million in assets, little work to do, and one employee. He squandered another $1 million on, for the most part, useless engineering reports, and found a developer with no experience in projects of this magnitude for joint venture development.

In all fairness, the Qualex fiasco, with all its public involvement, yielded a pretty clear picture of our development expectations.

In spite of this, planning decided to hire more high-priced consultants to tell us again what we already knew. One of the mechanisms contrived by the Vancouver consultants was an interactive map of the area where suggestions could be entered for all to see.

I was happy to see this, and made a number of suggestions, not the least of which was one which, if implemented, would provide an inexpensive, close source of materials for infrastructure construction, and among other benefits, add between fifty and $75 million worth of land to the taxable inventory of the community.

Somehow this map and all its data have apparently evaporated from City Hall. Was this by design, or merely incompetence?

As a designer and developer, I have concluded that with creative thinking, the desires of everyone can be accommodated in spades. We have the opportunity to turn Squamish into a world-class community. All that is needed is a wider perspective, something lacking in the plans presented last week.

Indeed, it was obvious that little or no consultation occurred between two of the major landowners, and no input from the third was evident. When it was admitted that the effects of the wind would be largely ignored, that, to me, was the last straw. The wind, which Squamish is named for, needs to be considered foremost.

If I had had access to three or four per cent of the resources already wasted in this navel-gazing process, I could have produced any number of 3D models, all of which could be analyzed for financial viability. Instead, after spending $6 million, we ended up with this blueprint for mediocrity.

Peter B. Legere,

Squamish

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