Rod MacLeod is the VP of Planning for Garibaldi at Squamish.
It was wonderful to see students given the opportunity to research and comment on important issues in the community.
In the letter on Garibaldi at Squamish, Mr. Dillon Jones makes some good points but also shows how difficult it is to obtain accurate and updated information on complex issues.
The project received an Environmental Certificate with 40 Conditions that must be met before construction and operations can begin. Many of these are very detailed and will require many more years of study by environmental professionals and government, along with community consultation.
Some of the issues raised in the letter have already been incorporated into the revised plans:
- There will be a significant amount of employee housing on the hill
- Water will be coming from a nearby aquifer, not from the District of Squamish system
- The Main Village has been moved up to an elevation of 1070m, similar to the top of the Grouse Skyride or mid-mountain on Whistler/Blackcomb
- Most of the Cat Lake dirt bike trails will not be impacted by the project
- The project will provide a significant number of jobs for residents that currently commute to Whistler or Vancouver
- If the Mountain Resort becomes part of the District of Squamish, there will be significant net taxation benefits to the community
The Resort has the support of the Squamish Nation who will benefit significantly through jobs, spin-off economic benefits as well as recognition of their culture and heritage in all of the planning of the resort, including possibly the development of a new name.
While Garibaldi continues, our planning and consultative process the Regional District has introduced an Amendment to the Regional Growth Strategy that takes language that describes the building of Destination Resorts like ours from being explicitly encouraged, to being significantly more difficult to achieve.
This proposed amendment will be discussed at a public hearing on Feb. 19, at Sea to Sky Hotel on Tantalus Road at 7 p.m., and we encourage citizens who support this project to come and speak out against this proposal to change the rules in the middle of a process.
We look forward to presenting the details of our project to the community over the next several months and to be part of many consultation events with the District and citizens.
