The Energizer Bunny and the proposed Garibaldi at Squamish resort appear to have a lot in common. Both just keep on going and going, marching in circles to a repetitive drumbeat, without apparently getting anywhere. Well, if we buy into reports coming out of the GAS camp, that exasperating repertoire is about to change.
At a recent project update gathering inside the Roundhouse at the West Coast Railway Heritage Park, GAS promoters were flanked by vintage railcars and the venerable Royal Hudson steam locomotive, a fitting juxtaposition of the old railway/resource-based economy and the new destination resort sector.
Before the presentation got underway there was a distinct sense of weariness and déjà vu among some attendees, amidst the shopworn GAS displays and the all-too-familiar Brohm Ridge flyover video. Three years ago the provincial Environmental Assessment Office sent GAS officials back to the drawing board to locate a safe and sustainable water supply. As a result, the highlight of the evening for pilgrims in search of a revelation was the assurance that GAS engineers had tapped into a major aquifer in the Paradise Valley, gushing at 70 litres per second to supply the 22,000-bed-unit development.
Despite a bevy of charts and graphs depicting the main features of the water table and the potential flow velocity, not everyone in attendance agreed with the numbers. One skeptic suggested the proponents had embarked on a premature disclosure of the area's hydrological capacity without sufficiently assessing all the variables, including pumping all that water uphill for a considerable distance.
A number of observers wondered whether the water supply was sustainable over the long haul, since the population on the mountain eventually could eclipse that of the municipality below. Concerns were also raised about the possible negative impact global warming will have on the snowpack on Brohm Ridge. Those apprehensions were coupled with warnings about the affordability of snow sports for cash-strapped youth and Boomers who may have deep pockets but whose wonky knees and arthritic hips will undermine their athletic aspirations.
Still, if GAS officials can finally get all their ducks in a row, at the moment the local development climate looks positive. The re-elected majority Liberal government is chaffing at the bit to make good on their business-boosting campaign promises. Closer to home, the revenue-challenged DOS will be more than ready to endorse the major job and tax infusion this project could provide.
Ultimately, GAS promoters should heed The Bard's prophetic advice: "There is a tide in the affairs of men, which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune; omitted, all the voyage of their life is bound in shallows and in miseries. On such a full sea are we now afloat, and we must take the current when it serves, or lose our ventures."
