Please reconsider Rainbow Park plans

This letter was sent to mayor and council and shared with Pique.

I listened to the presentation to the Resort Municipality of Whistler as to the new Rainbow Park plans and am not convinced. Please reconsider.

On a quiet day (about 200 days a year), I enjoy the natural setting of beach, grass and dock. I will now be denied access for months, and then look at many new structures and an asphalt bike path close to the water. On medium days (about 11), we will create biker/ walker/swimmer interaction at more places than the entrance point and water fountain. On busy days (less than 30), far fewer people will be able to enjoy the grass, as it will be much reduced by asphalt and sit-down structures.

The needed improvements could be done for much less, leaving B.C.’s Resort Municipality Initiative (RMI) tourist dollars available to build a new outdoor-indoor racket sports facility at Spruce Grove or Meadow Park, over a paved parking lot 7 and 8, or in the empty Village 8 Cinemas space.

Also, we could do the reduced work in the spring and fall and avoid a Rainbow Park closure for a year. So sad and disappointing!

Michael Blaxland // Whistler

[Editor’s Note: While the closure timeline has yet to be finalized, the RMOW indicated construction would likely last either from this spring to the fall, or the fall until spring 2024.]

Is demand for recreation being accurately represented in Northlands discussion?

The article that appeared in last week’s Pique titled “Enhanced rezoning process for Northlands moving ahead…” (Pique, Feb. 24) did an excellent job of summarizing the key choices that are at stake, and the exhaustive feedback that has been collected in this important redevelopment process over the past two years.

The Whistler Tennis Association (WTA) is pleased to see this issue get an appropriate level of exposure in the local media. However, we feel that it is important to clarify the report’s key conclusion that the Pique expressed in this article.

A bar graph on page 9 of the Resort Municipality of Whistler’s (RMOW) Northlands Phase 2 Report shows housing as the respondents’ top priority in the survey. Based on this information, the newspaper article concluded that, “Employee housing was the clear winner when it came to priority land use, followed by a large-scale recreation facility.”

An initial interpretation of these results does suggest that housing was the clear winner, with 65-per-cent support from the total number of respondents. However, the questionnaire effectively split the community’s support for a multi-use racket centre into two separate categories.

The WTA has completed its own analysis of the Phase 2 report and has drawn a different, yet equally compelling conclusion: that a largescale recreation facility is the clear winner in the survey, followed by employee housing.

The question was, “What land uses do you feel are best-suited and should be prioritized for this site. Select the uses that should be included. Check all that apply.”

In total, 237 respondents prioritized “employee housing;” 189 respondents prioritized a “large-scale recreation facility (including tennis and pickleball);” 120 respondents prioritize a “world-class tennis facility.”

The combined number of supporters for a “large-scale recreation facility (including tennis and pickleball)” and a “world-class tennis facility” is 309 of the 365 respondents. Eighty-five per cent expressed that a multi-use racket centre should be the priority for the redevelopment of the Northlands site. Although this is not a contest, from this perspective recreation is the clear winner!

Although there is significant support from within the community, the WTA is not advocating for the 16-court “world-class tennis facility” that was promised by another developer more than 30 years ago. The WTA is advocating for an inclusive, multi-use racket centre that provides the community with no fewer tennis courts than what we had when the WRC originally opened in 1993. We also support our racket sport partners, pickleball, in their quest for a robust pickleball presence. The current Whistler Racket Club proves that the vibrant social component is very highly valued by the community. The future facility needs to be of sufficient scale to be financially viable and to successfully accommodate different user groups.

Importantly, the WTA also recognizes that employee housing is a critical issue for the community. While we are therefore very supportive of any initiative that addresses this problem through the Northlands rezoning process, we feel strongly that it should not be realized through the elimination of an existing recreational and social amenity that has served the community for more than 30 years. The support that was expressed in the Northlands Phase 2 Report for recreation as the top priority echoes this position. We believe it is important that the RMOW hears the voice of the community clearly and represents it accurately throughout the remainder of the engagement process.

John Konig // Whistler Tennis Association board of directors