Pique Newsmagazine 3119

Soul decisions

As Whistler gets busier by the year, some locals seek greener pastures. - By Adelaide Tiller

14 WHAT A WASTE

Whistler still has a long way to go before it meets its zero-waste goals, according to a recent update to council.

15 EVERY-DAY HERO

Remembering longtime Whistler and Pemberton realtor Pat Kelly, who passed away April 13.

19 HEALTHY WATERS

The Whistler Lakes Conservation Foundation is inviting all to its May 11 AGM, where it will share details on a new water-monitoring project.

22 TAX TIME

After years of “caution,” the Village of Pemberton is pursuing an “aggressive” tax increase to help shore up infrastructure.

28 EARLY ADOPTER

Shannon McJannet is still carving up the mountains in Whistler on her snowboard at 80 years old.

32 WALK IN THE PLAZA

Canadian indie pop band Walk Off The Earth kicks off the 2024 Whistler Summer Concert Series on July 1.

COVER The ocean is calling and I must go... visit Poo Font in Powell River. - By Jon Parris // @jon.parris.art

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DAVID SONG - sports@piquenewsmagazine.com

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Contributors G.D. MAXWELL, GLENDA BARTOSH, LESLIE ANTHONY, ANDREW MITCHELL, ALISON TAYLOR, VINCE SHULEY

Founding Publishers KATHY & BOB BARNETT

Opinion & Columns

08 OPENING REMARKS Taking a closer look at the Resort Municipality of Whistler’s density study of Lake Placid Road in Creekside.

10 LETTERS TO THE EDITOR This week’s letter writers weigh in on parking in Pemberton, foxes in the forest industry, and playgrounds in Palestine.

13 PIQUE’N YER INTEREST When it comes to sports, debates over who is the Greatest of All Time are a dime a dozen. But should we care?

46 MAXED OUT With the provincial government’s new housing statutes, the genie is already out of the bottle, writes G.D. Maxwell—here’s hoping for some benevolent wish-granting.

Environment & Adventure

25 THE OUTSIDER Vince Shuley reflects on the ski season that was, while easing himself back into some big drops on his mountain bikes.

Lifestyle & Arts

30 FORK IN THE ROAD Some fast food facts and other quirky bits to chew on ahead of Mother’s Day, courtesy of Glenda Bartosh.

36 MUSEUM MUSINGS Revisiting the revival of the Whistler Answer, which stirred up some local controversy thanks to nudity and descriptions of drug use.

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Imagining what might be in Whistler

LONGTIME LOCALS with fond memories of the original Whistler—the area known today as Creekside—might have done a double take when they saw recently revealed concepts for the area.

A preliminary study of Lake Placid Road, produced in response to the B.C. government’s

BY BRADEN DUPUIS

Bill 44, which will unilaterally allow the construction of three- and four-plex housing on single-family lots, was presented to Whistler’s committee of the whole on April 23, showing a drastic departure from what exists in the space today.

Multi-storey apartment buildings, a reimagined streetscape and pedestrian thoroughfare, completely redesigned facades and frontages, improved access to Nita Lake— this ain’t your grandaddy’s Creekside.

The ground-breaking is not imminent, but Bill 44 is, so it’s worth thinking about how its opportunities might be best captured, said the Resort Municipality of Whistler’s (RMOW) planning manager John Chapman over coffee in Creekside last week.

“That’s coming up very quick—by the end of June, we’ll have zoning in place that broadly looks at infill opportunities across all single-family residential zones for up to four dwelling units,” Chapman said. “And we wanted to make sure that we got this out now so that folks could see … [and] before they move forward with plans for triplexes or fourplexes, they might think about an opportunity to do more than that.”

Bill 44 sets minimum requirements municipalities have to respond to, but it also encourages them to go above and beyond if they can. Given the stretch of Lake Placid Road between Creekside and Nita Lake Lodge is identified in Whistler’s Official Community Plan as an area for study for further densification, staff saw an easy fit for a little visioning project.

As Chapman explained, the study is more about imagining how the space itself might be filled rather than what it will actually look like.

“[J]ust think about the volumes,” he said. “What does three or four storeys look like? How does that relate to the scale of this building, and Creekside Village? That’s really all we’re doing there.”

recognize that we have a need for more locals and workforce housing, and this is an opportunity to look at that, and to identify really key strategic locations.”

One of the most enticing aspects of the Creekside redesign study is the potential to reimagine the initial entrance to Whistler, both from an aesthetic and safety point of view.

“Imagine if you were driving north and you approached Creekside—how can we imagine it so that you really feel like you’re getting here? I think that should be a really big part of this work,” Chapman said.

“The views of the peak are amazing from here. Creekside Village, Franz’s Trail, I think there’s a ton more opportunity there to just make that really more of a place.”

Another key component of the study

least at first.

By presenting the Creekside concepts now, staff aim to paint the bigger picture of what might be in Creekside and beyond— eventually.

“Things take time, and we need to do it sensitively,” Chapman said, noting the RMOW planning team has a long to-do list, and redeveloping Creekside is not at the top.

“It’s an opportunity to have a conversation with the community.”

Considering the implications and transformative potential of Bill 44 reminds me, again, of one of my all-time favourite interview quotes, from a Whistler homeowner concerned about a neighbouring development: “The possibility that our lives may change scares me.”

“If you imagine Lake Placid Road as a corridor, we want to make sure that a principle of the study is around improving that public realm, that idea of making it a really attractive place to move east and west for pedestrians.”

- JOHN CHAPMAN

So if you saw the reimagined Southside Diner building in the mock-up image and wept for the Whistler that was, fear not—the actual urban design elements would require “significant community contribution, [and] lots more work with council and other key stakeholders,” Chapman said.

“We have to understand what Whistler is, and we have to make sure that everything that we do is reflective of the history and heritage of Whistler—that’s really important,” he added. “We also have to

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is improving public access to Nita Lake, Chapman added.

“If you imagine Lake Placid Road as a corridor, we want to make sure that a principle of the study is around improving that public realm, that idea of making it a really attractive place to move east and west for pedestrians,” he said.

The opportunities—and opportunities for angst—presented by Bill 44 are many, but the jury is still out on how effective, or transformative, it will be in Whistler. At

Deeply profound, while somehow still saying nothing of substance; a futile expression of stubborn defiance in the face of unstoppable, universal forces. I just love it so much.

Change is not only a possibility, but an inevitability, and on a long enough timeline, it comes for everyone and everything.

We don’t have to like it, but it does us no good to be afraid.

The best we can really hope for is a chance to prepare. ■

What will Pemberton council do about parking pressures?

I was disappointed to read the recent article in Pique regarding the zoning amendment for the proposed Prospect Apartments ( Pique , April 19, “Pemberton adopts zoning amendment…”). It seems to me every downtown development proposal that passes across the Village of Pemberton’s desk these days includes a parking variance, and despite the public’s repeated, voiced concern, they are all approved.

In this particular case, it is my understanding the zoning amendment not only included a parking variance, but also a height variance, adding a fourth storey to the building. I’m not an expert, but it would seem to me that adding an additional storey with more residential units, without adding any additional square footage on the ground, very quickly adds up to a parking shortage. Both the parking variance and height variance were required because under the current zoning bylaws, which are meant to be the guidepost for development within

a town, the proposed project would not have been approved.

The rationale for the parking variance, that “the project’s proximity to downtown, with most daily amenities within close walking distance of the complex,” does not hold much weight with me. What about commuting to work, or getting down to Vancouver for a doctor’s appointment, or to the airport? Take public transit, you say? Ha! Easier said than done. Right now there is no direct, reliable link between Pemberton and Vancouver—and no plans to establish a route anytime soon, as far as I know.

I understand the desire to move to a more “eco-friendly future … that’s a little

less car dependent.” I’m not against that, in principle. However, I think a balance needs to be struck between meeting the residents of Pemberton where they are and striving toward a car-free community.

The fact the mayor himself acknowledged that, “this [project] will put some pressures on parking” doesn’t instil confidence in council’s decision-making. And so my question to him (and council) is: what are you going to do about it?

Perhaps including the required amount of off-street parking according to the bylaws to start with, with the ability to turn some of those parking spaces into bike storage or more green space down the line might be

a valid solution—instead of adding more vehicles to the already overcrowded streets of downtown Pemberton.

Erin Bruhns // Pemberton

Don’t put the fox in charge of the henhouse

A big thanks to Stefan Labbé for reporting on the BC Council of Forest Industries Convention (Pique, May 3, “Disaster capitalism?”). This is a blatant attempt by the forest industry to exploit people’s fears after the disastrous 2023 wildfire season in order to get free range in “selective” logging. The forest industry is trying to convince the public (and government) that they know best how to “manage” the forests in B.C. in order to reduce wildfire risks and thereby protect people’s properties.

Well, we have all heard the expression of putting the fox in charge of the henhouse. And this tactic is not new: The industrial extraction industries from oil and gas multinationals to industrial ocean fisheries all have deep pockets for “public information campaigns” that make them look less environmentally destructive.

Let us be aware and push back against such misleading and downright dangerous tactics.

Erich Baumann // Whistler

From hope springs visions of a better future

Playground Builders has its roots in the

Palestinian Territories. The very idea that by building playgrounds for children we could sow the seeds of hope for a better future was born in the first play areas in the West Bank.

From hope springs visions of a better future, and that is all we have ever wanted for the children and parents who visit these playgrounds. As a very small community-based charity, we have always been mindful of the history and polarity of the communities in which we facilitate the building of playgrounds. These are, after all, spaces of joy for children.

Playgrounds make no comment on politics or civil strife. They just exist to allow children to be children. They exist to provide parents a place to congregate and observe their children connecting with other children. They exist to fill dusty voids with children’s laughter. We place them in places for which hope is often in scarce supply. We built them in Gaza for these reasons, and when the timing is right, we plan to rebuild any of them that were lost in this conflict.

So of course our hearts are broken by the sheer scale of the suffering of these same children. By expressing that pain, we condone no other horrible act. By expressing our sorrow, we seek to see the suffering stop. We cannot offer more than another voice saying, simply, please stop the war. Find another path. Let the displaced Palestinians begin to rebuild a life. We can be better than this. Every single child around the world needs to see that grownups can do better than this.

Keith Reynolds // The Olive Branch Playground Builders Foundation

Myrtle Philip PAC shares thanks

The Myrtle Philip Community School Parent Advisory Committee (PAC) would like to extend our most heartfelt gratitude to the many businesses and individuals that made our Spring Fundraiser a great success. Our online auction and May Day celebration combined raised more than $15,000 for Myrtle Philip students. We will use these funds to support

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

enrichment programs, classroom programs and supplies, school equipment, and field trips for children in our school.

Our auction relied on the generosity of local businesses donating the more than 80 amazing items to bid on. Please see the separate ad in this week’s Pique , or our Facebook page for a full list of sponsors. We also want to thank everyone who bid on items or who shared it with their family and friends to help us raise awareness.

Our May Day celebration was also a great success, and we loved hearing all the stories about how much fun the kids had! We thank everyone who attended and helped out with a few special mentions, including:

Volunteers who helped with ticket sales, food and drink preparation and serving, running games and set up and clean up; Jodi Carter for organizing the barbecue; Louise MacDougall and Jayne Touchet for organizing all the games; All the amazing cake makers for the cake walk and Jill Scott for organizing; Splitz Grill for the use of the barbecues; Nesters Market for the food donation; Mountain View Farms for bringing their adorable baby chicks for the kids to hold; Derek Foose for MCing; Kathryn Watters with Cheese Box Photo Booth; Mamquam Elementary for lending us their carnival games; Ms. Lowe for doing the facepainting; and the student band led by Kris and Kevin Dontas for the entertainment.

As the school year draws to a close, the PAC is looking forward to the many programs we are able to support this spring and into next year thanks to the generous support of so many people in our community.

Laura Loppacher // On behalf of the Myrtle Philip School PAC n

FOR THE RECORD

An article in the April 26 Pique stated the Whistler Blackcomb Foundation (WBF) is a private foundation. Founded in 1992 as the Blackcomb Foundation, the WBF has in fact always been a public foundation. Pique regrets the error. n

Write to us! Letters to the editor must contain the writer’s name, address and a daytime telephone number. Maximum length is 450 words. Pique Newsmagazine reserves the right to edit, condense or refrain from publishing any contribution. Letters reflect the opinion of the writer and not that of Pique Newsmagazine. Send them to edit@ piquenewsmagazine.com before 11 a.m. on Tuesday for consideration in that week’s paper.

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Notice of Proposed Zoning Amendment

Bylaw - No Public Hearing to be Held

Zoning Amendment Bylaw (Small-Scale Multi-Unit Housing) No. 2440, 2024 (the “Proposed Bylaw”)

The Resort Municipality of Whistler (RMOW) is required by recent amendments to the Local Government Act to amend Zoning and Parking Bylaw No 303, 2015 to accommodate small-scale multi-unit housing on parcels of residential land with restrictive zoning The Local Government Act prohibits the holding of a public hearing on bylaws proposed to comply with this provincial government requirement.

Purpose: The purpose of Proposed Zoning Amendment Bylaw (Small-Scale Multi-Unit Housing) No 2440, 2024 is to comply with provincial government requirements for zoning bylaw amendment permitting small-scale multi-unit housing on parcels of land with zoning currently restricted to single-family detached dwellings, auxiliary suites and duplexes Depending on parcel size and location, up to 4 dwelling units must be permitted on each parcel

Subject Lands: The Proposed Bylaw affects parcels of residential land on which Zoning and Parking Bylaw No 303, 2015 restricts development to fewer than the number of dwelling units required to be permitted by s. 481.3 of the Local Government Act. To see if your property may be affected, visit the RMOW website: whistler.ca/SSMUH

Date of First Reading: Consideration of the first reading of the Proposed Bylaw is scheduled for the Regular Council Meeting on May 14, 2024.

To learn more: A copy of the Proposed Bylaw will be available for review from May 3 to May 14, 2024 at:

• Municipal Hall at 4325 Blackcomb Way, Whistler, BC, during regular office hours of 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday to Friday (statutory holidays excluded)

• Online on the RMOW website at: whistler.ca/SSMUH

SCAN THE QR CODE FOR A COPY OF THE PROPOSED BYLAW AND BACKGROUND DOCUMENTATION

Who’s the GOAT? Who cares?

AS A SPORTS journalist and fan, one acronym I am particularly familiar with is: GOAT. For the uninitiated, that means “Greatest Of All Time,” and it is frequently bandied about in passionate exchanges regarding which athlete in any given sport stands head and shoulders above his or her peers.

Wayne Gretzky or Mario Lemieux? LeBron James or Michael Jordan? Cristiano Ronaldo

BY DAVID SONG

dsong@piquenewsmagazine.com

or Lionel Messi? These kinds of questions can get us sports fans rather worked up, to say

Adjacent to that debate is the one about which player is the best at present. Hockey lovers may not be ready to equate Connor McDavid to Gretzky right this second, but they hold a mainstream consensus that McDavid rides alone at the top of today’s NHL. There are several other elite players in the league (Nathan MacKinnon, Auston Matthews, Cale Makar, Andrei Vasilevskiy, etc.) but most who dare insinuate any of them are on McDavid’s level tend to elicit a droll look from others.

The same is true in other sports. For instance, Stephen Curry is the NBA’s alltime leader in made three-pointers, with an

edge of 730-plus and counting on runner-up Ray Allen—yet his name rarely emerges in basketball’s GOAT debates. Ronaldhino and Zinedine Zidane are two of the greatest talents soccer has ever produced, but I don’t hear them talked about as much as Ronaldo and Messi.

Now, if I were to actually claim Curry is the best hooper ever or Zidane was better than Messi, I’d expect legions of superfans and pundits to shout me down using statistics and

hockey’s best forward: a five-time NHL scoring leader whose rare combination of speed and skill are a nightmare to game-plan for. Yet he can’t play defence like Makar, a generational blueliner who’s capable of guarding McDavid himself and driving play from the back end as no one else really can.

Neither of them can stop pucks like Vasilevskiy, a Vezina and Conn Smythewinning netminder who played an invaluable role in the Tampa Bay Lightning’s back-to-

[S]ports fandom is a more interesting experience when we step away from our collective obsession with crowning the GOAT.

unbridled fervour in equal measure. But that’s not the argument I’m trying to make.

This hill, I will die on: sports fandom is a more interesting experience when we step away from our collective obsession with crowning the GOAT.

It’s inherently a flawed exercise to compare different positions across a team sport. McDavid, strictly speaking, might be

back Stanley Cups in 2020 and 2021.

As a quick tangent: I would argue goalie is the single most important position in hockey—a fact not reflected by mainstream media’s focus on elite skaters. A top-tier goaltender (or one who gets hot at the right time) can steal more than one playoff series for his club, while you need several great forwards and defencemen to outweigh the

performance of one mediocre netminder. It is hard to outscore bad goaltending.

Along similar lines: the question of “Is LeBron better than Jordan?” reduces basketball to a shell of itself, because each man impacted the game differently. Jordan may have been the best pure scorer ever, but LeBron is a much better passer and playmaker. And while Curry may not have the raw accolades to join the GOAT conversation, he helped revolutionize basketball by influencing teams at all levels to take more three-point shots.

There is nuance in individual sports, too, and here’s a skiing example just because we’re a Whistler publication.

Mikaela Shiffrin owns an unrivalled 97 World Cup victories, but while she’s good enough to be a five-time overall titleholder, slalom (60 wins) and giant slalom (23 wins) are her best disciplines. Contrast that with Lindsey Vonn, who dominated downhill (43 wins) and super-G (28 wins) for years.

Shiffrin has more medals, yes, but she and Vonn are different types of skiers who excelled at different things. Both left a lasting mark on their sport. We could insist on comparing the two head-to-head, or we could appreciate them both for what they did.

To my fellow fans and reporters, I ask: what if we spent more time doing the latter? Why obsess over finding a singular all-time great when every sport has so much talent for us to recognize? n

BU GGY T OU RS AR E OP EN

Whistler still a long way from zero-waste goal

THE RESORT IS COMMITTED TO AN 80-PER-CENT REDUCTION ON WASTE FROM 2019 LEVELS—BUT IN 2023 IT GENERATED MORE THAN IN 2022

BY SCOTT TIBBALLS

WHISTLER’S MAYOR and council heard an update on the Resort Municipality of Whistler’s (RMOW) zero-waste goal last month, and the numbers are not as squeaky clean as hoped.

According to a staff report to council, Whistler generated 11,561 tonnes of waste in 2023—an increase of 129 tonnes from 2022.

In the larger scheme of things, a small change—but in entirely the wrong direction considering the municipality’s self-imposed goal is to reduce landfill waste by 80 per cent from 2019 levels by 2030, to 2,368 tonnes annually.

Speaking to the report at the April 23 regular council meeting, the RMOW’s solid waste technician, Lauren Harrison, said the path to zero waste is not just through minimizing the impact of landfills, but with behavioural changes as well.

“Extracting raw resources requires a large amount of energy and creates pollution. Processing these materials then requires more energy and creates more pollution. And then once they’re used, materials are simply dumped in landfill,” she said,

“In contrast, a zero-waste approach conserves natural resources and reduces pollution and greenhouse gases from all of those steps.”

Harrison reported while the tonnage delivered to landfill has increased, the rise coincides with a hefty population increase, which means Whistler’s per-capita waste generation actually went down.

“The goal of 80 per cent of 2019 levels is 2,368 tonnes disposed of in 2030, so we clearly still have a very, very long way to go, but we are moving in the correct direction, which is reassuring to see,” she said.

In fact, Whistler came in below the province’s waste goals on a per-person level, which is 350kg per person, per year.

“We did meet this in 2023 … we generated 304kg of waste per person,” said Harrison, adding the most recent provincial data for the whole of B.C. showed an average of 506kg per person, per year, while in the SquamishLillooet Regional District, the overall average was 440kg—meaning Whistler is actually helping drag down the average in the region.

Since the RMOW’s current zero-waste plan was endorsed in 2021, the amount of waste generated in the community has continued to inch upwards from 11,000 tonnes, while the per-capita amount goes down, from 368kg per person, per year in 2021.

Harrison also spoke at length about diversion rates—the amount of waste going into recycling or composting streams rather than the landfill. In 2023, the diversion rate was 47 per cent—the same as in 2022.

Harrison noted Whistler’s diversion rate has been 40 per cent or higher since 2015.

“The best way we can increase our diversion rate is to get more organics out of the landfill and into our compost stream,” she said.

On that, the RMOW hired a contractor to do an audit of the Nesters and Function Junction Waste Depots in April 2023, with self-hauled residential waste considered. The data showed disposable organics had the most potential for increased diversion in Whistler, with organics accounting for more than 31 per cent of waste generated by weight, of which the vast majority was made up of avoidable food waste.

According to the staff report, the 2023 audit found 67 per cent of all materials audited had the potential to be diverted into composting, recycling, and product-stewardship depots (such as the Whistler Community Services Society’s Re-Use-It Centre).

“This means that over half of the waste that is currently going to the landfill could be diverted to more sustainable solutions,” reads the report.

However, as noted in the report and highlighted by Harrison in her presentation, even if 100 per cent of those divertible, audited materials were caught, the community would still not meet its 80-per-cent waste reduction goal given the relatively small amount of waste self-hauled to the waste depots (13.44 per cent of the community total).

“This is why achieving zero waste is not just about recycling and composting, also reducing and reusing—we really need a culture shift in our consumption habits,” Harrison said.

Notably, the report touched on alternatives to single-use items, with some discussion on the possibility of a reusable coffee cup program in Whistler which is being

considered by municipal staff.

Councillors asked a run of questions around the particulars of the report, with Councillor Ralph Forsyth noting his disappointment on what the audit found, and asking what policy levers the RMOW could pull to ensure the community is on the right track for waste reduction.

Harrison said change may need to come at a provincial level to manage waste, and repeated behavioural shifts are key.

In speaking to the final report, Coun. Arthur De Jong said he was both frustrated and hopeful.

“When I look at the six Big Moves, each one of them needs technological and behavioural change, for the most part. This is the one where if we had the will, we can get the ball close to the finish line,” he said.

“I’m airing a bit of frustration, but in the age of the Anthropocene where humanity is crashing the natural systems that give us life, we just fail to fully commit to something we can actually do today.

“I think of microplastics in our food chains and forgive me for my crudeness, but somehow we keep crapping in our nest, and we can do better,” he said.

Coun. Cathy Jewett spoke about the changes that have taken place over her lifetime, noting she grew up with paper bags and glass bottles—all of which seem to have shifted to plastics.

“We really have to move beyond plastic, we have to refuse plastic and find a way to not use it,” she said.

Councillors voted unanimously to receive the report. n

PASTA EXPIRY DATE An entire tub of avoidable food waste sticking out of a garbage bin in Whistler. PHOTO BY SCOTT TIBBALLS

NEWS WHISTLER

Remembering Pat Kelly, Whistler’s ‘every-day hero’

THE LONGTIME LOCAL REALTOR DIED APRIL 13 AT 66 YEARS OLD

BY BRADEN DUPUIS

EVEN FROM A YOUNG AGE, at a distance, to a stranger, Pat Kelly stood out.

“Actually, the first time, I didn’t meet Pat, I saw Pat,” remembered longtime friend Doug Forward.

It was at a high-school basketball game in 1975. Forward was attending Argyle Secondary in North Vancouver, watching his school face off against rival Sentinel from West Vancouver.

Argyle was one of the top teams in the province at the time, but Sentinel held its own that night, thanks largely to the efforts of one player.

“Pat was the reason. He stood out to me, as a person in the audience, as a guy who was a great athlete,” said Forward, who would go on to attend the University of British Columbia with Kelly, pledging the same fraternity.

“I think he should have a very strong legacy, because he was a great leader, and a great businessperson, and a great friend.”

Kelly, former longtime owner of the Whistler Real Estate Co. and a constant reassuring presence in the communities of Whistler and Pemberton, passed away April 13 at Vancouver General Hospital. A nagging November cough was originally thought to be pneumonia, before Kelly’s condition worsened and he was diagnosed with lung cancer on March 12.

He died one month later at 66 years old, survived by wife Julie and daughters,

Shannon and Heather.

“He was a really good dad, and he was very proud of [seeing us succeed],” Shannon said. “He worked hard and he worked a lot … but it was important to him that he was there and present.”

He was always looking to teach his two daughters, Heather added.

“He always had a lesson, or a perspective that he thought we might want to hear, something that might help us,” she said.

“He did everything that he could to help us succeed.”

STRIVING FOR SUCCESS

That mindset extended to Whistler itself—the community Kelly adopted as his own in 1980— and in turn, Pemberton, where he lived his later years.

Kelly was one of the first people Julie, then Julie Mantoani, met when she moved to Whistler in the winter of 1987.

“He was building a house on Fissile in Alpine, and I was looking for a place to live,” she recalled.

“I ended up renting his old suite on Eagle Drive … so he was like one of the first guys I met there.”

Kelly’s friends and family describe an intelligent, well-read, driven man, always striving for improvement—for himself and all around him.

“He was a taskmaster—he started every day by reading, keeping up on current events,

SEE PAGE 16 >>

THE KELLYWAY SYSTEM Golf was one of Kelly’s greatest passions, and as longtime friend Doug Forward described, “he had a gorgeous golf swing.”

PHOTO COURTESY OF THE KELLY FAMILY

following up on emails. Even after he retired, he was disciplined about keeping structure,” Julie said.

“He wanted his family to succeed, but he wanted that for everybody, every business.”

Drew Meredith, former Whistler mayor and longtime local realtor in his own right, hired an inexperienced Kelly to work at his company MacGregor Pacific Realty in 1981, “and I’ll tell ya, 1981 would have probably been the worst time in the history of mankind to become a realtor, in Whistler anyway,” Meredith said, noting the infamous recession that crashed the market and sent interest rates soaring to 22 per cent.

Always resourceful, Kelly took a job washing dishes at local restaurant the Creperie (today Joe Fortes) to make ends meet.

“In 1981, you weren’t legally allowed to have another job when you were a realtor, but he did, because he had to,” Meredith said. “I mean, how can you possibly feed yourself if there’s no deals coming through the door?”

MacGregor Pacific morphed into the Whistler Real Estate Co., and the two men became partners until Kelly bought the company outright in 1999.

“Pat and I were partners forever. He was the educated one, so he used to want to run it like General Motors, but I was the uneducated one … but we did quite well together, obviously,” Meredith said with a laugh.

“He ran a real-estate company for a number of years; that’s no easy feat,” Meredith said. “You’ve got to be able to roll

with the punches, because the market is not always up, and he did that quite successfully, and managed to keep a very strong stable of realtors there for a long time.”

The former mayor chalked Kelly’s success up to his education and honesty.

“A good realtor is being honest. Pat could not tell a lie if he tried,” he said. “He was almost honest to a fault, in that, you know, sometimes you gotta paint the picture a little more rosy than it is, but he would never do that.”

THE VIEW FROM HERE

Kelly sold the Whistler Real Estate Co. to Wendi Warm in 2020, and though he wasn’t able to properly celebrate the milestone due

to COVID, his kids noticed a change as he adjusted to retirement.

“Since he retired, I personally saw a huge shift in the way that he approached life, and in the way that he just relaxed into himself a little bit more,” Shannon said. “He was no longer so stressed … this is what makes me so sad about this, is that he was only 66, and the next 10 years probably would have been some of the best years of his life, because he didn’t have that business, that obligation anymore, and he was just relaxed.”

Heather noticed it, too.

“He stopped giving me shit about my tattoos,” she joked.

“Dad was always somebody who wanted to see quantifiable improvement.”

That constant drive for progression and improvement, and quantifiable results, was evident in The View From Here—a series of in-depth, all-afternoon speaker presentations bringing together all the latest data and insights from the top minds in business, real estate, economics and more.

Originally organized by Kelly for WREC clients, the event grew so popular the company was soon fielding inquiries from all over town about how to snag a seat.

“And that was all Pat, right? Pat was all about statistics, and all about the truth about the market, whereas other people would tend to say the market is running along just beautifully even when it isn’t,” Meredith said.

“He was very good about that, but people liked that. They loved coming and hearing about other independent, third-party speakers talking about the world economy and how it might affect Whistler, and yeah, that was his baby.”

‘HE MADE THE ARTS IMPORTANT’

When Maureen Douglas, now executive director of Arts Whistler, was working as Tourism Whistler’s director of festivals in the ’90s, finding talent to book was a challenge, and the arts sector something of an afterthought. She credits Kelly, both for his financial contributions and his advocacy, for helping nurture it into all it is today.

Whistler LakesConservation Foundation is holdingits AnnualGeneral Meeting ,followedbyguest speakerDr. PeterRoss, Senior Scientist, RaincoastConservation Foundation, whowillpresent thefirst-year results of Whistler ’s community-based waterpollutionmonitoringprogram Doorsopenat3:00pm, seatingislimited! wh

PROUD DAD Shannon, Pat, Julie and Heather Kelly. Pat took a lot of pride in seeing his daughters succeed, and always had an insight or lesson to share.

PHOTO COURTESY OF THE KELLY FAMILY

In the days before the Whistler Excellence Awards, Kelly was presented Arts Whistler’s “Champion of the Arts” award for his efforts.

“There’s some folks who need to hear the economic argument for the arts—and there’s one there, there absolutely is—but when somebody like Pat Kelly, who people, you know, they look at him and know he’s a savvy, successful businessperson, and he’s there advocating for the arts and not just speaking about it, but he’s literally putting his money where his mouth is, that definitely made other businesses within the local community sit up and take notice,” Douglas said. “And it made opening doors for not just us, but other arts organizations that much easier.

“He made the arts important.”

It wasn’t just the arts; Kelly gave back in a variety of ways, whether coaching basketball, being a volunteer firefighter, or on one of the many boards and committees on which he served over the years—most recently the Whistler Community Foundation, where he was poised to take the lead on a Pembertonspecific initiative.

Just as Whistler did before it, Kelly’s new community of Pemberton held a special place in his heart, and when he saw it was in need of a Notary Public, he took up the mantle himself as another way to give back.

“So much of it came from that anchor for him: That in order to have Whistler thrive, it has to have more balance in the community,” Douglas said.

Achieving that balance was incredibly

fulfilling to Kelly, Shannon said.

“He cared so much about leaving Whistler better, and investing in the community,” she said. “And he really believed that investing in the community is a way to leave a legacy and to have a purpose and to find happiness, and he worked at that every day.”

While the Kelly most knew may have been the buttoned-up, all-business version, those close to him describe a wry sense of humour, and a playfulness you might have to poke a bit to get at.

“Pat Kelly, actually, he cracks me up, and that might not be the Pat Kelly that people think of right away,” Douglas said with a laugh. “But if you knew Pat, he had that very stoic, together exterior, but he had this very dry wit. I just loved talking to him.”

THE EVERY-DAY HERO

Kelly’s closest friends say they always saw that side of him, though it really started to show after he met Julie and had the kids.

“I think the family served to take some of the seriousness out of Pat. I think anybody would say that,” Forward said. “Julie was a great match for Pat—she made him a better person, I think.”

Longtime Whistlerite Doug O’Mara has known Kelly the better part of four decades, their real estate and construction worlds overlapping from time to time, but it was through sports the men first truly bonded.

“We played on the men’s basketball team, we played golf together … Pat was good at everything,” O’Mara said.

The two men were founding members at Pemberton’s Big Sky Golf Club, and attended an annual golf vacation of about 25 Whistler guys.

“And Pat was a prolific winner at that one,” O’Mara said.

“He could hit it long and straight—he was a very good golfer.”

Forward talked about a different annual golf trip, attended mostly by he and Kelly’s old fraternity friends, called the “Hoagie Classic.”

Kelly’s own unique scoring system, dubbed the “Kellyway System” as a play on the Callaway System for golf handicaps, ensured anybody could win in any given year, Forward said—but Kelly still notched his share of victories.

“He had a gorgeous golf swing,” Forward remembered.

Golf was one of Kelly’s biggest passions, a hobby O’Mara chalked up to his excellent handeye coordination and the camaraderie of it.

“Pat was quite an opinionated guy, but his opinions were really well thought out, and usually right on the mark,” he said.

“He was a very smart guy, but also very personable and caring about people. And those qualities made him a very good leader.”

That sentiment is reflected by WREC’s current owners, Phelan Regan and Emilie LaJoie.

“Pat was instrumental in building an incredible company, and really shaping the real-estate landscape in the Sea to Sky corridor,” Lajoie said. “He truly is a real-estate legend.”

Kelly, along with Ann Chiasson of Re/ Max, was also instrumental in building the Whistler Listing System, Regan said.

Looking at market data is one thing, “but

the historical context as to how Whistler has become a truly global superpower in [real estate], you’re losing one of the main torchbearers from the history side of things,” he said.

The absence of Kelly’s institutional knowledge is already being felt at WREC.

“There was a question this morning from one of our agents who was trying to figure out who built one of the hotels in town, and it was not in any of the disclosure statements or in our historical records or anything,” Lajoie said.

“But I’m sure Pat would have known.” Kelly’s family will be exploring a donation to the Whistler Community Foundation, Pemberton branch, with a designation to the Pemberton Health Centre. Donations are welcome to the Whistler Community Foundation in his honour, “a board he sat on and a cause which he believed in,” the family said.

“I think people will remember him as incredibly well-rounded, a family guy, a businessman, an athlete, intelligent, and nice at the same time. He had a lot of good, longtime friends here, and his family is great. He just made a lot of very good decisions in his life, and it’s a shame that it happened so fast,” O’Mara said.

“I think Pat was one of those guys where it wasn’t that he created something hugely momentous in his life, it’s just that every day was really, really good and special.

“The every-day hero.”

A celebration of life is scheduled for June 21 from 2 to 4 p.m. at the Fairmont Chateau Whistler. n

21 Steps

3 Singing Birds

Alpha Coaching

AlpX powered by Blackcomb Helicopters

Alta Bistro

Ann Chiasson Realtor

Armchair Books

Audain Art Museum

Avalanche Paintball

Babysitting Whistler

Beacon Pub & Eatery

Big Mountain Adventures

Big Sky Golf (Golf BC)

Black Tusk Fire and Security

Breathing Space Consulting

Brewhouse Pub

Myrtle Philip Community School

Chromag Bikes

Circle Kids Whistler

Coastal Mountain Excavations

Creekside Dental

Dairy Queen

Dr. Jill Scott, ND

Earl's Restaurant

WhistlerEscape!

WhistlerEvolution

WhistlerExtremely Canadian

Fairmont Chateau Whistler

Four Seasons Resort Whistler

Marika Koenig, Realtor

Meadow Park Sport Centre

Mongolie Grill

Mountain Kids Outfitters

Thank You to all the Donors and Sponsors

Movement LAB

Music Together Whistler

Nesters Market

Nicklaus North Golf Club (Golf BC)

North Face Whistler

Peak Performance Clothing

Premium Mountain Rentals

Race & Co

RideWrap

Rimrock Cafe

Rise x Shine Whistler

RMU Whistler

Ruby Tuesday Accessories

Scandinave Spa

Senka Florist

Splitz Grill

Squamish Lil'wat Cultural Centre

Suco's Beauty

Sundial Lodge

Sushi Village

Top Table Group

Whistler.Com

Underground Tuning

Vancouver Aquarium

Westin Resort & Spa

Whistler Bungee

Whisler Medical Aesthetics

Whistler First Aid

Whistler Hat Gallery

Whoola Toys

Zep Mountain Bike Camps

Local foundation studying watershed health in the Sea to Sky

RESIDENTS

CAN LEARN MORE MAY 11 AT THE WHISTLER PUBLIC LIBRARY

BY LIZ MCDONALD

THE HEALTH of the Sea to Sky watershed will soon become less turbid, thanks to citizen scientists and a pollution-monitoring program.

The Whistler Lakes Conservation Foundation (WLCF), in partnership with the Raincoast Conservation Foundation, is working on a water-monitoring project known as the Healthy Waters Program.

The project has a two-and-a-half-year timeline, and its initial dataset will be presented to the public on May 11 at the Whistler Public Library.

Dr. Peter Ross, Raincoast’s chief scientist, will speak about the initial findings at 4 p.m. Raincoast works with staff scientists, academics, First Nations, government and NGOs, and seeks to research and create support for policies which safeguard the land and sea. The Healthy Waters Program provides important insight into water quality, and studying watersheds helps pinpoint pollution that deteriorates fish habitat.

Water is essential for all life on Earth, be it humans, zooplankton, salmon or killer whales. According to Raincoast, 80 per cent of ocean pollution is traced back to the land. But there isn’t a single agency responsible for tracking overall water pollution, which is why the Healthy Waters Program is a necessary step forward in understanding where and how pollution winds its way into ecosystems.

‘IT’S ALMOST LIKE THE PUBLIC GOOD’

The WLCF is monitoring water that drains into the Fraser River and Salish Sea, and samples 16 sites that encompass five water “buckets.” The buckets are source water, which is upstream of development; freshwater streams, creeks and rivers; road runoff from ditches and culverts; tap water inside of homes; and marine samples. The contaminants analyzed in Whistler are identical to other participating watersheds, so data will be comparable between geographies with different factors that influence each’s watershed health.

President of the WLCF, Lynn Kriwoken,

explained the program is an additive to existing regulatory agencies that monitor water health at specific source points, like liquid waste treatment centres and tap water.

While these are necessary testing sites, the overall impact on a watershed goes above and beyond specific sources to the actions of society.

“[Non-point sources are] road runoff, road salt or tire chemicals that accumulate just from you and I and everybody else driving our cars, land-use developments—the cumulative effect of all of these actions in the watershed can cause concerns and problems,” she said.

“It’s almost like the public good. You can’t regulate a single user; it’s more of a collective contribution, and therefore, it has to be a collective effort to ensure that we’re doing the right thing and appropriate practices on the land.”

Kriwoken said initial findings could provide cautionary flags that inform future monitoring, but she stressed the study’s overall findings will provide validity once complete.

Raincoast is studying watersheds in the Chemainus River, Cowichan River, and Tod Creek on Vancouver Island, and the Cheakamus River at Whistler, Sumas Lake watershed in the Fraser Valley, and Hope Slough near Chilliwack. The foundation will publish summaries about the types of pollutants identified, with the ultimate goal of enabling solutions to protect and restore fish habitat in the province.

The WLCF is well-versed in studying water, with four years of field work monitoring five Whistler lakes: Alpha, Nita, Alta, Green and Lost Lake. The foundation combines expert scientists with volunteers who are passionate about lake conservation.

The WLCF’s annual general meeting (AGM) precedes the Raincoast presentation, and members of the public are welcome to attend. The AGM starts at 3:30 p.m.

The Lake Stewardship Society, which also partners with the WLCF, will also be in attendance.

“No single organization can do all this monitoring and reporting alone. And the value of citizen science and volunteers like ours and others really contributes [to watershed health],” Kriwoken said. n

SEEKING CLARITY Volunteers working with the Whistler Lakes Conservation Foundation examine samples of lake water.

PHOTO COURTESY OF THE WLCF

More e-bikes coming to Whistler parks and parking lots near you

EVOLVE’S E-BIKE SHARE PROGRAM HAS NEARLY DOUBLED SINCE 2022

BY LIZ MCDONALD

THE POPULARITY OF E-BIKES isn’t slowing down in Whistler, and last year’s surge in riders has Evolve E-Bikes pedalling more options to the community.

Evolve E-Bike Share, run by British Columbia Auto Association (BCAA), is expanding its local fleet to 110 e-bikes and adding parking options in key locations this summer. BCAA partnered with Whistler Blackcomb to get real estate at Creekside parking lot and outside staff housing at Blackcomb, Brio and Westside. E-bikes are also rolling out in some of Whistler’s picturesque parks.

Whistler Blackcomb locations were top of mind for BCAA, with surveyed riders saying these locations would be very helpful for seasonal workers who may not have a vehicle. They’re also spots with dense population pockets that make e-bike ride-sharing work well from an economic standpoint.

“It’s really connecting a lot more residents with some of those very key destinations like shopping centers and grocery stores,” said Leanne Buhler, head of Evolve E-Bike and E-Scooter Share.

Increased ridership last year meant the

program operators felt comfortable gearing up for an expansion of services.

“We’re seeing a lot of ridership which means that people are wholeheartedly adopting the program,” Buhler said. “That gives us confidence that there is a greater demand for the bike-share program in general, which is really helpful for us to know that expanding to these locations will be a successful move.”

Whistler Blackcomb locations rolled out May 3, and Rainbow Park and Lakeside Park options are estimated to start in June.

Belinda Trembath, chief operations officer for Whistler Blackcomb, said in a press release the expansion aligns with the resort’s goals for net-zero emissions by 2030.

“We are excited to partner with BCAA’s

Evolve E-Bike Share to promote a more sustainable future for Whistler,” Trembath, said. “By integrating e-bike parking zones into our properties we can connect neighbourhoods like Creekside and offer our staff convenient, eco-friendly transportation options. This partnership reflects our commitment to achieving zero net emissions by 2030.”

The service started in 2022 when the Resort Municipality of Whistler (RMOW) first authorized it as a pilot program, and expanded in 2023 due to demand. In 2022, the program had 60 e-bikes with eight zones, while 2023 included 70 bikes and 12 zones. With 110 bikes on the road this summer and 23 zones, the service has almost doubled in three years.

In a press release from BCAA, Whistler Mayor Jack Crompton said the service is in line with climate goals to reduce transitrelated emissions and the increase in ridership.

“I was truly inspired by the growth we saw in our e-bike share pilot program last year and I’m excited for the positive shift this is making on our transportation landscape,” he said. “As we introduce additional e-bike parking zones this summer—extending to Creekside, lakes, and park areas—I am optimistic we’ll see an even greater community impact. We will continue to monitor this program, and any adjustments made, to respect our community partners.”

To use the service, riders need to download and sign up with the Evo app. n

Here’s your chance to own a piece of Whistler history

AS WHISTLER BLACKCOMB preps a replacement of the resort’s Jersey Cream chairlift, locals and lovers of Whistler now have a chance to take a piece of history home with them.

The Whistler Blackcomb Foundation announced on May 7 the chairs will be up for auction later this month.

But best not delay: similar sales in both 2022 and 2023 sold out within minutes.

“Whistler Blackcomb/Vail Resorts have

generously donated the recently retired Jersey Cream chairs to help raise funds for both the Whistler Blackcomb Foundation and the EpicPromise Employee Foundation,” reads a release from the foundation.

Among the most popular lifts on Blackcomb Mountain, the Jersey Cream project will upgrade the high-speed lift to a six-seater, increasing uphill capacity by an estimated 29 per cent, while also reducing

lift-line wait times and improving circulation, Whistler Blackcomb said when the upgrade was announced in October 2022.

The online sale opens Fri., May 24 at 9 a.m., with the chairs going for $600 a pop. Purchases are limited to four chairs per transaction, and the chairs will be available for pickup on May 31 and June 1. Find more info at whistlerblackcombfoundation.com.

- Braden Dupuis n

Underused Housing Tax not right for tourism economies: Whistler realtor

DAVE BROWN TESTIFIED BEFORE THE FEDERAL FINANCE COMMITTEE TO ASK FOR AN EXEMPTION FOR WHISTLER TOURISM

BY SCOTT TIBBALLS

A WHISTLER REALTOR made the trek to Ottawa recently to formally request the government of Canada consider an exemption for Whistler in the application of the federal Underused Housing Tax (UHT) on properties zoned for tourism accommodation.

Dave Brown, who was speaking on behalf of the Whistler Real Estate Co. and Tourism Whistler, said at the April 18 finance committee meeting in Ottawa the UHT is driving foreign investors away from Whistler—and the result is not more housing for locals, but less revenue for Whistler, the community, and Canada overall.

The UHT is designed to levy a tax on foreign property owners who do not make their property adequately available for housing. According to Brown, its application to parts of Whistler zoned for tourism accommodation means foreign owners who let their properties be used for tourism accommodation for most of the year may instead sell to Canadians for use as second homes, removing them from the tourist accommodation pool.

“The new federal UHT penalizes those investors who have supported Whistler’s tourism economy and contributed to its longterm success,” said Brown, who explained some 80 per cent of Whistler’s tourist accommodations are owned by individuals who use their properties for short periods during the year.

“International owners typically use their property one to two weeks a year, then put it into a rental pool for the remainder of the year so the accommodation is not sitting empty but rather being maximized for its intended tourist rental usage,” he said.

A way around the UHT was to increase usage to at least 28 days per year, but that was a concern for local hoteliers, property managers and commercial business. As Brown explained, owner-accomodation usage doesn’t support the local economy on the same level hotels do.

Brown said a flow-on effect of the UHT was the sale of those properties by foreign owners who didn’t want to pay the tax, or couldn’t increase their usage enough. As such, the units were not becoming housing (as the UHT intended), but were going to Canadian owners who treated them like second homes.

Elaborating on that point after questioning from his own local MP, Patrick Weiler, Brown explained the sale of the properties to Canadians is a bad thing for the local economy because they are zoned for tourism accommodation, and therefore inappropriate for housing, so a Canadian buying them would use the property more as a second home and as a result keep it out of the pool of tourism accommodation for longer periods of time.

“B.C. second-homeowners typically visit on weekends and holidays adding to the busy weekend congestion, whereas international

second-homeowners and nightly vacation renters typically support longer stays, filling the needed mid-week periods,” said Brown.

“Instituting the UHT on resort land properties would therefore not add to the local tourist housing stock, not support increased residential usage, but rather, take away from needed tourist accommodation inventory and resort-wide tourism business revenues, while harming Whistler’s real-estate industry.”

According to Brown, there are approximately 6,600 tourist accommodation units on resort lands—of which, approximately 12 per cent are owned by foreigners that would be affected by the UHT.

“For every sale that results in one unit leaving the tourist rental pool to become a B.C. second home, Whistler could stand to lose, on average, 305 unique visitors to Whistler, 788 visitor days, $90,870 in accommodation revenue, $2,726 in MRDT revenue, $7,270 in PST, $4,544 in GST and approximately $280,000 in annual resort spending,” he said.

The complete loss of all that inventory could result in a shortfall of more than $100 million in annual visitor spending, explained Brown.

Tourism Whistler played a major role in facilitating the presentation and general advocacy on the issue, though president and CEO Barrett Fisher wasn’t able to attend to speak herself.

“Tourism Whistler has been actively advocating for exemption of the residential UHT tax on tourist-zoned accommodations for more than a year now, meeting with our federal MP, two different tourism ministers, and staff positions within Canada Revenue and the Finance Ministry,” Fisher said. “I very much appreciate realtor Dave Brown attending, and presenting Tourism Whistler’s submission. He is a passionate advocate, and did an excellent job.”

Fisher also thanked Weiler for being a “steadfast supporter of Whistler’s interests.”

Speaking to Pique after his presentation, Brown said the reaction was positive.

“When we’ve made our presentation to various departments, they can definitely see where the argument is coming from and the importance of getting an exception for Whistler,” he said.

“It doesn’t make sense for Whistler to have this imposed… it has negative consequences that may not have been thought about when this legislation came into effect.

“We’re turning our back on people that invested in our resort,” Brown added.“It’s not an insignificant change, and I think this just gives Canada a bad reputation, and Whistler a bad reputation as a place to own property.”

The federal budget implementation act is due to be tabled in Ottawa in the coming weeks and will include legislative measures that would give effect to the budget. Whether the concerns raised by Brown and the Whistler real-estate sector are addressed will be seen then.

-with files from Braden Dupuis n

Public Notice

Notice of ProposedZoningAmendment No Public HearingtobeHeld

NOTICEISHEARBY GIVEN under section467 of theLocal Government Actthatthe Village of PembertonCouncil will consider first readingofZoningAmendmentBylaw No.957, 2024 (Nkwukwma Neighbourhood)duringthe specialcouncil meetingtobeheldat 5:30pmonTuesday,May 14, 2024 Council is authorized undersection 135 of theCommunity Charterand section480 of theLocal Government Act, to give thebylaw up to threereadings at this meeting.

Purpose: The proposed bylawamendment will addComprehensive DevelopmentZone8 (CD-8) (NkwukwmaNeighbourhood)tothe VillageofPemberton Zoning BylawNo. 832, 2018.The Nkwukwma Neighbourhood CD-8 Zone is intendedtoprovide fora mixofresidential,commercial, andcommunity uses,integratedwitha networkofparks andopenspacesbased in theNkwukwmaSub Area Plan

Subject Lands: The lands currently subjecttothiszoningbylaw amendmentapplicationare Crown lands ,legal as BlockA District Lot 8556,Block JDistrictLot 202, Block| District Lot 202.

BylawReadings: Considerationoffirstreadingofthe proposed bylawisscheduled at theSpecial Council Meetingonat5:30pmon Tuesday, May14, 2024.Final adoption will follow afterthe third readinghas received approval from Council.

HowdoI getmoreinformation?

Acopyofthe proposed bylawand relevant informationmay be inspectedatthe Village of PembertonOffice,7400 Prospect Street from Tuesday, April23, 2024, until thebylawsare adopted, duringoffice hours9:00amto4:00pm (closed12:00pm-1:00pm), MondaytoFriday (closedonstatutory holidays),and onlineat: https://www.pemberton.ca/departments/ development-services/skenkenamdevelopment-benchlands-nkwukwma

Pemberton council settles on 9.8% tax increase

AFTER YEARS OF CAUTION, ‘AGGRESSIVE’ APPROACH NEEDED TO SHORE UP INFRASTRUCTURE

BY RÓISÍN CULLEN

Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

THE VILLAGE OF PEMBERTON (VOP) is taking an “aggressive” approach to shoring up its infrastructure by way of a nearly 10-per-cent tax increase in 2024.

Pemberton’s mayor and council gave first, second and third readings to the 2024 Annual Tax Rates Bylaw and the Five-Year Financial Bylaw at a council meeting on Tuesday, May 7.

The bylaws were up for adoption at a special council meeting on May 9, after Pique’s weekly deadline.

Council previously discussed a staffrecommended 9.8-per-cent tax increase during a committee of the whole meeting on Tuesday, April 30, during which councillors acknowledged the increase would be a leap from previous years. Pemberton’s council approved a five-per-cent tax increase in 2022, and an eight-per-cent increase in 2023.

Manager of finance Thomas Sikora said the VOP is trying to reframe its strategy from “let’s keep taxes low,” to “let’s keep assets healthy,” (while still considering affordability).

The committee of the whole meeting was council’s fourth budget session of the year. According to staff, a one-per-cent municipal property tax increase would equate to $23,862 in revenue for the VOP. The 9.8% tax increase

would bring in $233,848.

The estimated 2024 municipal tax rate for the average family is $1,518.27, before the tax increase. An average family would pay an extra $144.02 with the proposed hike. The average residential property would fork out an added $100.90, whereas businesses in the downtown core would face a $581.79 bump. Businesses in the Industrial Park would pay $210.38 more.

In a presentation, Sikora outlined the pressures council is currently facing, including: Increasing expenses to maintain aging infrastructure; continued impact of deferred

threshold is reached, that figure could climb to more than $1 million. Provincial COVID-19 grant funding received in 2021 will also run out before the end of the fiscal year.

Some of the projects planned for 2024 include: Construction of a new amenity building at Den Duyf Park; the Lot 13 multimodal hub (which will include bays for BC Transit buses as a second phase to the project); upgrades to the water treatment plant; and airport runway crack sealing.

Staff have tried to decrease costs in any way they can, Sikora said. Those measures included but are not limited to the

“It’s a reflection of inflation and pressures put on communities.”

- MIKE RICHMAN

maintenance; increase in price of goods and services; deteriorating road conditions and road-maintenance requirements; equipment reaching end of life; staff retention; limited alternative revenue streams; and airport crack sealing and other one-time projects.

Council is also looking at future transit expansion and recreation costs, not to mention the looming spectre of increased policing costs once Pemberton’s population hits 5,000, after which the village will be on the hook for 70 per cent of the spend. In 2023, the VOP police budget was $288,447—once the population

confirmation of Small Communities Grant Funding (awaiting formal communications), savings for website upgrades, deferral of paving on Aster Street, and $50,000 from the Resort Municipality of Whistler to support transit commuter service.

Councillor Laura Ramsden said she preferred a gradual tax increase over the coming years instead of bringing in really large increases down the line, stressing council is already playing catch up.

“Communities are being hit with increases over 30 per cent,” she said. “I am mindful that

money is very tight for people right now. We know that we have issues with infrastructure, and we have limited reserves. It’s never fun asking people for more but I don’t like the idea of us kicking it down the road.”

Mayor Mike Richman acknowledged the approach is more “aggressive” than residents are used to.

“We have over the last 10 years or so been a little overly cautious,” he said, acknowledging councillors’ and staff’s efforts to keep the tax increase as low as possible. “We have never been this aggressive before in shoring up our infrastructure.”

Coun. Katrina Nightingale said the public is concerned about infrastructure, and how ready Pemberton is for a boom in population.

“I really feel for businesses. I know last summer, businesses really struggled because it was quiet,” she said. “That does concern me. We are paying the price for historically low taxes. We can’t just keep kicking the can down the road.”

After giving both bylaws all three readings on May 7, Richman said he was confident everyone found the right balance.

“This tax rate bylaw includes the highest tax rate that I’ve been a part of,” he said. “I know that it’s going to be a little bit challenging for some of our residents because affordability is a challenge right now. It’s a reflection of inflation and pressures put on our communities.”

Details on the proposed tax increase and council’s Five-Year Financial Plan can be found at pemberton.ca. n

GOING UP Pemberton residents will see a big tax increase in 2024.

Two housing developments up for public consultation in Pemberton

WHILE NKWÚKWMA AND PARKSIDE DEVELOPMENTS WILL INCREASE HOUSING AVAILABILITY, QUESTIONS REMAIN AROUND LIVEABILITY

BY LIZ MCDONALD

TWO HOUSING developments, Nkwúkwma and Parkside, were up for first and second reading at Pemberton council last month, and once complete, they could bring close to 500 new housing units to town.

Both proposals align with Bill 44, provincial housing legislation which aims to make it easier for developers to build smallscale, multi-unit homes and streamline the permitting process for housing developments.

While the developments will add muchneeded housing stock, discussions around the overall impact on Pemberton took centre stage for some councillors during the April 30 council meeting.

NKWÚKWMA DEVELOPMENT

Nkwúkwma, formerly known as the Benchlands, is a development proposal by Skénkenam Development Limited Partnership, a partnership between the Lil’wat Nation’s Lil’wat Capital Assets and the Pemberton Benchlands Development Corporation. The Village of Pemberton’s (VOP) mayor and council is in the process of rezoning the parcel from residential to a comprehensive development zone, which includes specific zoning regulations for the area.

The 450-unit project involves three phases of development, which could see up to 1,350 residents at full capacity. The hillside neighbourhood features residential single-detached, carriage homes, townhomes, apartments, and commercial and community buildings with parks and trail networks.

The developer will provide amenities and benefits amounting to $12,688,000, according to a staff report to council. Possible amenities include public art, affordable housing and a recreation site.

A major concern voiced by council last year was around affordability, and in response, 15 per cent of the houses are now rental units targeted at local workers. The April 30 presentation highlighted 30 townhomes and

six apartment units with rent set at 30 per cent below market rates, an amenity that amounts to $7,200,000.

The affordable housing will require that at least one person occupying the home works in Pemberton or Area C of the Squamish-Lillooet Regional District.

The recreation facility contribution is $1,800,000 cash, and could be merged with other funding opportunities to create a more significant recreational amenity, according to the report.

While the project would help ease the housing crunch, Councillor Jennie Helmer raised concerns around significant population growth and its impact on services, from policing to health-care and education.

“As this particular development will be contributing to a significant population growth, where that cost is going to obviously show up is the pressure on our services,” she said.

Services that will see increased pressure include RCMP, fire, health-care and education, and specific projections on taxes to fund these services weren’t included in the presentation. Planner Cameron Chalmers noted only new developments outside the Official Community Plan require a socioeconomic impact assessment that would cover such considerations, and the broader Official Community Plan already incorporates the projected growth from Nkwúkwma.

Chalmers also stressed the development will happen in phases, so growth won’t happen overnight.

Coun. Katrina Nightingale brought up concerns around whether the hillside development will provide appropriate options for active transportation by virtue of its location. While the development was originally envisioned in 2007, considerations around climate, community and liveability are major factors in Pemberton today.

“It is on a hillside ... As we look to become a more climate-resilient community, a more walkable community, and lower our greenhouse gas emissions, I do have my concerns around this kind of density in this

OFF THE BENCH A view of Pemberton’s Benchlands area from above. IMAGE COURTESY OF SKÉNKENAM DEVELOPMENT LP

Public Hearing:

Public Notice

Official CommunityPlanAmendment (NkwukwmaSub Area Plan)Bylaw No.957,2024

Tuesday, May14, 2024,5:0 0pm, in-personatCouncil Chambers,740 0Prospect Street,Pemberton,BCorVir tual viaZoom WebinarID: 840 0997 7920, (https://us02web.zoom.us/j/840 09977920)

NOTICEISHEREBYGIVEN underSection464 of theLocal GovernmentAct that theVillage of Pembertonis to holda public hearingfor theOfficialCommunity Plan AmendmentNo. 957, 2024 at 5:00 p.m. on Tuesday, May14, 2024 Council is authorized under Section135 of theCommunity Charterand Section465 of theLocal GovernmentAct that apublic hearingmustbeheldafterfirst readingofthe bylawand before thirdreading. Purpose: The proposedbylaw amendmentwill amendthe Official Community Plan (OCP) to accommodate the Nkwukwma SubAreaPlanand land useamendments

SubjectLands: The lands currently subjecttothisOCP bylawamendmentapplicationare Crownlands,legal as BlockA District Lot 8556, BlockJDistrictLot 202, BlockI District Lot 202.

BylawReadings: Considerationoffirst readingofthe proposed bylawisscheduled at theRegular CouncilMeeting on Tuesday,May 7, 2024. Finaladoptionwill followafterthe thirdreadinghas received approval from Council

HowdoI providefeedback?

Allpersons,who believe theirinterest in thepropertyisaffected by theproposed Bylaw, shallbegiven a reasonable opportunity to be heardbyCouncil at thePublic Hearing. Writtencommentsmustbeaddressed to “Mayorand Council”and maybesubmittedatthe Public Hearingorthrough one of thefollowing methods prior to thePublic Hearing(by noon on TuesdayMay 14, 2024):

Email: admin@pemberton.ca

Fax: 604.894.6136

Mail: Corporate& LegislativeSer vices, VillageofPemberton, P.O. Box100, Pemberton, BC, VON2L0

In Person: Corporate& LegislativeSer vice Department 7400 Prospect Street,Pemberton BC

HowdoI get more information?

Acopy of theproposed bylawand relevantinformation maybeinspected at theVillageofPemberton Office, 7400 Prospect Street until Tuesday,May 14,2024, duringoffice hours9:00amto4:00pm (closed12:00pm-1:00pm), Monday to Friday (closedonstatutory holidays),and onlineat: https://www.pemberton.ca/departments/developmentservices/skenkenam-development-benchlands-nk wukwma

units rented out.

Planning your perfect Whistler wedding? PICK UP YOUR COPY TODAY!

area,” Nightingale said.

Chalmers highlighted the creation of varied trail terrains, an active-transportation spine and parks with specific pedestrian and e-bike use as a solution.

“I think it’s about as inclusive as we can be on a hillside site,” he said, noting the neighbourhood’s design isn’t car-centric.

Last year, residents of nearby neighbourhood Eagle Drive voiced concern the only access road to Nkwúkwma would run through their subdivision, and Coun. Ted Craddock brought the issue up once again.

“Originally there was talk of a second access route trying to move the traffic flow,” he said. “Where are we at?”

Chalmers highlighted that, from an engineering standpoint, the single-access road isn’t a problem.

“There is not an engineering problem as per the traffic impact assessment. The upgrades that are required to accommodate this neighbourhood at full build-out amount to intersection improvements and light timing at the highway,” he said.

However, another relevant analysis is perceptions around how traffic changes the character of a picturesque small town like Pemberton.

“It will feel different, and it’s a tough one to manage because a lot of people choose to live in small towns so that they can get where they need to go,” Chalmers said.

“As it grows, one of the growing pains is going to be a little extra time in traffic.”

The rezoning and OCP amendment bylaws for the development head to public hearing on May 14.

PARKSIDE DEVELOPMENT

The updated plans for Parkside—a proposed subdivision of 7362 Pemberton Farm Road East—includes 32 residential lots and one commercial unit on 2.4 hectares. Council heard about key changes relating to housing types, but some councillors had concerns around affordability, parking and green space.

The housing options at Parkside include single-family or houseplexes, co-housing, duplexes and triplexes. Houseplexes and co-housing are new housing types for Pemberton.

The houseplex is four units on the same lot, providing options for multiple strata titles on the same plot or single ownership with

Co-housing options are like dorms with shared amenities, including kitchens, living rooms, laundry, social spaces and bathrooms. The buildings would have 10 to 16 micro-suites.

The commercial area includes convenience stores, coffee shops or cafés, health-care centres and other uses based on neighbourhood needs.

The land is on a floodplain, which is “presenting some significant geotechnical challenges,” according to the report presented by planner Colin Brown.

Another concern brought up in previous meetings by council was affordable housing in the new development.

However, Brown said the development is proving too small to effectively offer the same affordable options the Nkwúkwma development put on the table.

Nightingale noted the SLRD requires 15 per cent of all housing developments to include affordable options. She also referenced the Land Use Advisory Commission which previously endorsed the Parkside development while recommending the development proceed with a 15-per-cent affordable threshold.

Brown said affordable, non-market housing was in the pipeline for other developments and not necessarily well-suited to Parkside, but he highlighted the co-housing options as a balance.

“We see that 15 per cent being accommodated elsewhere, not necessarily at this site,” Brown said.

Councillors questioned whether the subdivision had adequate parking considering the high-density of the development, and whether there was enough green space. Brown noted parking and green space often compete for real-estate, meaning one will be sacrificed for the other.

Helmer stressed the lack of green space in the subdivision creates a long-term issue for liveability, one which continues to be brought up by council as the proposal develops.

“I’ve heard twice that these [parking and traffic issues] are growing pains. Growing pains imply that you work through something and come out the other side,” she said.

“This is not a growing pain in my opinion because it won’t change.”

Helmer went so far as to propose deferring the plan before it goes to a public hearing, but council chose to approve the first two readings and forge ahead.

Parkside goes to public hearing May 28. n

A LOT DIVIDED A map showing the layout of Pemberton’s Parkside subdivision from above.

OF THE VILLAGE OF PEMBERTON

Back in the saddle

GIVEN THIS will be the last Outsider while the alpine lifts are still spinning on Whistler Mountain, it’s as good a time as any to reflect on the season that was 2023-24. At risk of rewriting the annual ski-season review penned

BY VINCE

by my Pique colleague G.D. Maxwell, I’ll do my best to keep it short.

To sum this past winter, it was a season of one-hit wonders. No ongoing storms that kept on giving. Very few snowfalls followed by heroic, high-pressure weather (the sunny days that actually stay somewhat cold). Unseasonal warming events were par for the course, turning pow to sun-baked mush and destabilizing snowpacks before anyone really got the chance to ski it properly.

The locals got some, of course. If you had the luxury of easy access to the hill mid-week, you probably got a handful of the hero days. But timing was everything. When we missed the window, we threw our arms up in the

air and patiently waited for another reset. A couple of those resets came in hard and fast, burying us temporarily, but leaving creeks and crevasses still lurking for most of the season. Again, it was pretty good on the day, but by the time the storm subsided, temperatures were again through the roof.

While I did my darndest to make the best out of a—let’s face it—pretty poor winter, I did fire up my sled more than I was expecting given the decimation the rain caused earlier in the season. I learned the humbling experience of trying to get a snowmobile unstuck on deep powder days; digging, pulling, rolling, digging

more dismal than 2014-15, though some may disagree), but the best thing about living in Whistler is even in the worst years, you’ll always get more than zero days of great skiing. So thanks Whistler Blackcomb for keeping the mountain running as well as you did throughout all the rain events. The idiot YouTubers who kept posting videos of the snowless base areas (when it was pow in the alpine) don’t deserve these amazing mountains.

Spring has been a more definitive shift for me this year. With the winter trend of high freezing levels carrying on into April and May and the access to many ski-touring and sled

The idiot YouTubers who kept posting videos of the snowless base areas (when it was pow in the alpine) don’t deserve these amazing mountains.

again... But these days also had their high points, namely managing to immerse my entire body (plus a 200-kilogram machine) in one of the most surreal white rooms I’ve ever experienced. And yes, all the money, all the hassle and all the backbreaking work of sledding was worth it.

The 2023-24 season was the worst snow year in 20 years (I still think 2004-05 was

zones drying up, it’s given me the opportunity to reunite with my mountain bikes a little earlier than usual. Biking is a bigger deal for me this year given my two shoulder surgeries in 2023 sidelining me for the entirety of spring, summer and fall. And wow does it feel good to be rolling again.

I’m not sure what’s got me more excited. Maybe it’s the fact I have a new bike getting

put together in the coming days. Maybe it’s the brand-spanking-new, bike-ready chairs getting loaded onto the new Fitzsimmons Express prior to the Whistler Mountain Bike Park’s opening day. Or maybe it’s just getting back to riding my bikes four or five times a week. After a summer of downtime last year, I’d almost forgotten how uplifting it can be to climb and descend the West Side trails after work.

Like many who come back after injury and extended periods of rehab, the hardest part of getting back into biking isn’t the fitness to climb or the upper-body strength to handle Whistler’s relentlessly steep descents. It’s confidence. Rock slabs and chutes I’ve hit dozens of times over the years are all of a sudden getting into my head. There comes a point when you simply have to take a deep breath, roll in, and remember all the other times you came booking out of the line with a big-ass smile on your face.

Besides getting comfortable with the gnar again and getting ready for a big year of riding the Bike Park’s 25th season of operation, I’m also excited to participate in WORCA’s 2024 Back Forty race. There’ll be more on that after I’ve put my body through the ringer on June 8, so until then, I’d better keep up on these afterwork training laps.

Damn it feels good to be back in the saddle.

Vince Shuley is feelin’ it. For questions, comments or suggestions for The Outsider, email vince.shuley@gmail.com or Instagram @whis_vince. ■

SHULEY

SADDLE UP The transition from ski season to bike season is nearing completion.

PHOTO BY VINCE SHULEY

As Whistler gets busier by the year, some locals seek greener pastures

By Adelaide Tiller

Ina Jan. 12, 2023 letter to the editor in Pique, Ken Mason expressed concern Vail Resorts is “destroying the soul” of Whistler Blackcomb.

Mason first started skiing Whistler in the ’60s, he wrote, reminiscing about the simplistic earlier days of the resort.

“Life was great, and I was hooked on skiing, Whistler Mountain and Alta Lake, Whistler,” he wrote.

But over the years, that little upstart resort, powered by passionate locals, evolved into one of the largest ski-area operations in the world, and changes in ownership led to changes in offerings.

“It’s so sad to see all the things we used to have now gone, such as the hot-dog stand, outdoor barbecues, bands playing up top, amateur competitions, special events, etc.,”

Mason wrote.

“It’s shameful how Vail Resorts has hollowed out our great resort. I used to have so much pride and connection to our hometown hill, and now I’m losing it and feel Whistler is becoming just another corporate town.”

That sentiment isn’t ubiquitous, but it’s also not isolated.

Most complaints about an encroaching corporate atmosphere are made in the context of Whistler Blackcomb and Vail Resorts, but others say the vibe is extending throughout town.

While there is justifiable praise for Vail Resorts’ support for local non-profit initiatives, criticism has typically overshadowed any applause.

Locals are loud in voicing their opinions on busyness in town, or the lack of housing, and aren’t shy about using a favourite play-on-words to describe the Epic Pass and the Vail Resorts operation as an “Epic fail.”

In early March, Mayor Jack Crompton attempted to

squash these concerns at a State of the Municipality hosted by the Whistler Chamber of Commerce. In doing so, he quoted American travel writer Arthur Frommer: “‘Tourism does not go to a place that has lost its soul.’”

He later told Pique in an interview that looking to Whistler’s “good old days” is not productive, and instead, we should focus on the ingenuity of the present and feel excited by the future.

Nostalgia is a persistent emotion, though. Mason and others reminisce about the days when Whistler Blackcomb executives could be seen helping out in the lift lines, and a burger and fries didn’t set you back nearly $30.

While Crompton is grateful for what Whistler has been, he doesn’t share the view something irreplaceable is being lost. Rather, the mayor voices excitement for what’s still to come.

“We’re building something tremendous together,” he says.

“One of the tricks of survival is seeing the great benefit of a new contribution because you mourn the loss of friends who leave. There are new restaurants and businesses and people, but the geography is unchanging.”

The mayor notes “smart tourism” is a priority for the Resort Municipality of Whistler (RMOW), and he acknowledges the importance of attracting visitors sustainably—meaning tourism that is both sensible for the environment and residents.

At the same time, “if you don’t want to be a part of the tourism industry, this is a strange place to live,” he notes. “We’re purpose-built with the intention of being a British Columbia superpower, and we are. Visitation comes with living out that mandate.”

Dave Clark, a longtime local known for starting the Whistler Half Marathon and producing Balding for Dollars, along with a long laundry list of other local volunteer contributions, echoes the same mentality.

“Whistler has been built to be a busy place. In order to support all the businesses in town, we need to have a certain level of [activity],” he says.

“We’ve got a great year-round destination here that we

want to share with lots of people, and that’s ultimately what the business of the community is all about.”

‘It’s

just a lot of noise’

While Clark has no trouble looking past the hecticness in town, he and his family are relocating to Sechelt on the Sunshine Coast this coming summer.

After 24 years in Whistler, it’s not a push out of town but rather a pull toward the ocean. He grew up in North Vancouver, and his wife, Wendy, grew up in Tsawwassen—so they feel they are returning to their roots.

The Clarks moved to Whistler for the natural landscape and outdoor lifestyle—they stayed for the people.

“There is far more beauty in the people than we ever would have expected when we first moved here; the unique characters and culture that is created by everyone’s personal investment in the community,” Clark says.

“It’s pretty unique that way.”

For others, the lines and crowds were enough to drive them out of town. Kathryn Lord, a registered massage therapist who lived in Whistler for 27 years, said her frustration drove her all the way to the southern Interior. She now lives and works in Rossland.

Lord felt stimulated by her work treating elite athletes— even Olympians—and recognizes she wouldn’t have had that opportunity in many other places. But she saw the resort becoming “a Disneyworld,” with what she views as superfluous additions like the Cloudraker Skybridge atop Whistler Bowl attracting many visitors.

“It’s just a lot of noise,” she says.

Lord feels like she has “gone back 40 years with the ski lifts at [RED Mountain],” but the trade-off is she has regained that “quaint, small-town” environment she initially moved to Whistler for when she was 22.

The transient nature of the community seems to be an accepted part of living here.

Crompton spoke about his own friends leaving town at the State of the Municipality. Those friends also relocated to the southern Interior, but the Sunshine Coast seems to be another top contender for former Whistlerites.

Cheryl and Vincent “Binty” Massey packed up their successful pottery business and traded the mountains for the ocean after living in Whistler for 37 years.

Both Masseys grew up in West Vancouver but didn’t cross paths until they met on Whistler Mountain at the original Roundhouse Lodge in 1980. At the time, Cheryl was visiting her friend who had recently moved to Whistler, and Binty was on a school break from the West Surrey College of Art and Design

in Farnham, England.

The rest is history; the two bought land in Whistler five years later—the same year they wed, bought a puppy, and welcomed their son, Tyler. Being adventurous and dexterous people—Binty, a potter, and Cheryl, a basket-weaver— naturally, they built their own home.

The Masseys’ property housed their 1,500-square-foot studio and gallery space, two brick kilns, and their home, which included a rental suite.

“[Having a rental suite] was important for us to survive financially, but also to know we were providing accommodation for the long-term locals, who are the vital force of this community,” says Cheryl.

‘The Whistler spirit’

While it might feel like the housing shortage in Whistler is at its apex, Binty says history would indicate this is nothing new.

“It’s always been a struggle to get affordable housing in Whistler,” Binty says.

Regardless of past, present, and future challenges in securing affordable housing in the ever-popular destination, the Masseys believe people have, and will continue, to find a way to live here.

“When you really want something, you make it work. That’s the Whistler spirit. There were people here who squatted and made it work,” says Cheryl.

Binty recounts the dedicated Whistlerites in the 1960s and ’70s who “went up and built cabins in the woods.”

“A number of our past notable councillors,” notes Cheryl.

“And [longtime locals like] Andy Munster and Charlie Doyle,” adds Binty.

The list of notable Whistlerites who once squatted includes former mayor Nancy Wilhelm-Morden and her husband, Ted Morden, who built a modest cabin along Crabapple Creek after their landlord booted them out.

If it wasn’t the woods, it was under a staircase or in saunas, as photographer Carin Smolinski’s Living the Dream exhibit depicted.

Francis Deshaies, a Whistlerite of 28 years, slept under a pool table when he was in between houses. Deshaies, known as Frank, was one of many locals who handed over a $20 bill in the morning to Seppo Jalmari Makinen in exchange for sleeping in his log house, which operated as a casual lodge.

“[In Makinen’s house], you slept wherever you could find a spot,” says Deshaies. Deshaies moved to Whistler at age 22 from Kingsey Falls, Quebec. It was a cross-

country move few from his small town could imagine. His first job was at the Southside Deli, now known as the Southside Diner. He has worked and lived in a few different spots along the Sea to Sky corridor, but today he can still be found cooking and making people laugh in the Southside kitchen in Creekside.

Makinen’s house burnt down in 1998, but people’s dedication to finding a way to live in Whistler did not burn down with it. Nowadays, fewer people are content with using outhouses in the bush, but people continue to find creative ways to live here.

Mayor Crompton says housing is always top of mind.

“We are working with our building department to cut our permit processing times in half,” he says. “We need to continue to push, and we intend to continue to push.”

The Masseys got lucky with real estate, but not everything about their Whistler life was easy. As Binty reflects on making a career out of his craft, he says he felt supported by his local commercial clients, including some prime hotels. At the same time, it was a struggle to get customers out of the village and to their home-based gallery in Alpine Meadows.

“The municipality was not on board with having any homebased businesses like [ours]. Even though what we thought was an asset to the art scene in Whistler, the municipality never saw it that way,” says Binty.

Part of their impetus to move to Sechelt was to join a larger arts community where home-based businesses and art studios are commonplace.

The Masseys beam with pride as they reflect on raising their family and growing their business in Whistler. While they marvel at Whistler’s abundant opportunities for playing in the mountains and forests, they agree with Clark that the people and atmosphere are equally as special.

“A melting pot of fun-seekers,” says Binty.

“Care-free souls,” adds Cheryl.

‘Your heart doesn’t leave’

One of their favourite memories includes the winter of 1998-99. On top of a powder-filled season, the Wailers played in February at the Longhorn.

“It dumped two feet of snow [during the concert]. That night was so energized with so many local people. The music, the vibe, it was so memorable. It was a Whistler moment over the top,” says Cheryl.

Deshaies has a plethora of stories in his back pocket, too.

He has prepared pizza for Prince Andrew at the Rendezvous; lived with professional snowboarder, Johan Olofsson; and has cooked breakfast for comedian Chevy Chase. But Deshaies is arguably as legendary as each of the famous people he has come across.

He used to attach his discman to an amplifier while cooking at the Southside Deli. Pearl Jam, the Pulp Fiction soundtrack, and Frank Zappa were some of the preferred tunes.

“It was rocking,” he says.

Deshaies is all about ensuring everyone is having fun. But he equally prioritized, and continues to prioritize, supporting those around him. He believes kindness is integral to the ethos of Whistler.

He says Creekside used to be a place where everyone who lived there also worked in the community, and neighbours felt like family.

“The spirit is still a bit there, but not like it used to be in the ’90s,” he says.

While he says conviviality isn’t the same, it’s apparent he has maintained a generous demeanour and loves helping others out. No one goes hungry around Deshaies.

Cheryl believes they lived in Whistler “when it was cool,” but she and Binty agree the heart of Whistler will always endure.

“Yeah there are high-speed lifts and more ants on the ant hill, but there’s still the same vibe,” Binty says. “When you get to the top of the mountain on a powder day, and you’re the first down something, you can’t beat it. That vibe is never going away.”

After graduating high school, Binty spent a year in Whistler skiing and working in construction before pursuing further studies. He sees the influx of young people still doing the same thing.

“Where are they going to go have fun? They go to Whistler. That hasn’t changed,” he says.

Older Whistlerites also seem to be revelling in all Whistler has to offer.

The Masseys’ former long-term tenant is the grandchild of 90-year-old ski instructor George Tjelios-Nicholas, who can still be spotted teaching on Whistler Blackcomb.

While they don’t regret their move to Sechelt, they frequently return to Whistler to visit friends.

The Masseys, like Crompton, endorse the age-old adage that change is the only constant. Whistler may be changing, but the consensus seems to be its essence is unwavering.

“Yeah, we moved out, but in some ways you never really leave,” Cheryl says.

“Your heart doesn’t leave.”  n

Eighty-year-old snowboarder crushes powder laps with aplomb

SHANNON MCJANNET HAS BEEN SKIING AND RIDING IN WHISTLER FOR MORE THAN 55 YEARS

BY DAVID SONG

SHANNON MCJANNET is not your average octogenarian.

Shannon and her husband Jim have been skiing in Whistler since 1968, though their home has largely alternated between North and West Vancouver. She took up snowboarding later in life, when her son Kevin and daughter Christie decided to go from skiing to what some call “the dark side.” She wasn’t content to merely watch, however.

At 53 years of age, Shannon traded in her 180-centimetre skis for her first board.

Her journey began in the shadow of Cypress Mountain, amidst throngs of riders who were half her age or less. One young man complimented her snowboard—a locallymanufactured REV product, same as his—but turned away in embarrassment when he saw her age.

Spring weather and logistical constraints didn’t help, either. Icy snow exacerbated the unavoidable beginner falls, and the Cypress bunny hill’s old rope tow proved hard on her aging muscles.

As Shannon reached her 67th birthday, she underwent a total hip replacement. For many, that would have been the definitive end of their riding era, but to this day—in her eighth decade—she still logs about 25 days per season at Whistler Blackcomb (WB). Recently, she and Jim were invited to experience the late Mike Wiegele’s heli-skiing operation, where she proved capable of crushing powder laps in the Monashee Mountains.

THE EARLY ADOPTER

Why has Shannon been able to keep Father Time at bay?

Maintaining an active lifestyle for fourand-a-half decades certainly helps. She was one of West Vancouver’s first aerobics instructors in the 1980s, and played squash for more than 25 years, travelling across British Columbia for tournaments and even going to a World Squash Championship (though she didn’t have to qualify for her division).

This level of sharpness and activity extends to her mind, too. Shannon picked up her first Rubik’s Cube before the internet took off, and applied herself until she could complete it in under 60 seconds.

“Both my parents, married now for over 50 years, have meant everything to my two siblings and me,” said Kevin McJannet. “They’ve been wonderful parents, devoted to our family, role models for long-term relationships, and great examples of staying

active through their passions and adventures.

“I’ve always referred to my mom as an ‘early adopter’ of all the cool things throughout the decades, and she was incredibly passionate about all of them.”

Shannon remains humble and understated about herself, and takes a grounded approach to snowboarding in her old age.

Her first core principle is to be realistic in setting boundaries, as trying something beyond your capabilities (even if encouraged to do so by well-meaning people) can lead to injury.

No. 2: do not accept new challenges unless your physical condition feels right and healthy. Shannon knows this first-hand, having rushed back onto the mountain seven weeks after hurting her ankle in December 2023. It wasn’t disastrous, but she acknowledges she should have done more rehab beforehand.

Finally: surround yourself with friends and loved ones who keep you focused on the positives. Confidence may be an issue for any elderly person, and Shannon intentionally connects with other seniors who get what she’s going through.

GENERATIONAL MEMORIES

Having said all that, why does Shannon still love snowboarding?

“In the early days, it was wonderful to persevere in this new challenge with some success, to experience the new sensations

of gliding and turning with feet fixed, and to participate in a ‘trending’ sport alongside my kids and grandkids,” she said. “At this stage, I’m content just to be able to spend the day outdoors and be able to conquer blue and green runs!

“I admit to now being a fair-weather rider. Ice, blizzards and poor visibility are my enemies, and on those days I turn to the treadmill, stationary bike or a swim for exercise.”

Whistler, of course, is no longer the mountain Shannon and Jim knew from the late 1960s. Back in those days, they would rise at 4:30 a.m. to brave the old Sea to Sky highway—arriving before 7 a.m. would net them a hefty $1 discount on a day pass. Creekside Village was a gravel parking lot at the time, often bearing witness to great, winding lineups.

Now, Shannon and Jim enjoy the benefit of a quarter-share condo for one week a month, with full amenities and various places to explore off the mountain: from restaurants and retail stores to art galleries, the public library and the Squamish Lil’wat Cultural Centre (SLCC). Whistler’s super senior pass for those over the age of 75 affords them a welcome measure of flexibility.

They’ve got four grandchildren (two skiers, two snowboarders), and very few things bring more joy to Shannon’s heart than to see three generations of McJannets riding alongside one another.  n

STILL SHREDDING Shannon McJannet is still carving up the mountains in Whistler at 80 years old.

PHOTO COURTESY OF SHANNON MCJANNET

Skye Clarke, Aidan Mulvihill earn 2024-25 World Cup berths

EACH FREESTYLE WHISTLER SKIER WON AN OVERALL NOR-AM TITLE

BY DAVID SONG

SKYE CLARKE and Aidan Mulvihill: welcome to the World Cup.

Both Freestyle Whistler alumni vaulted themselves atop Nor-Am overall rankings with torrid seasons. Clarke won four out of five events outright in Copper Mountain, Aspen and Stoneham to go with a solid fifthplace result in Mammoth Mountain. Likewise, Mulvihill finished red-hot with two gold medals and a bronze.

Each had high praise for the other.

“We grew up skiing together,” said Clarke about Mulvihill. “I think [our performances] are a testament to the amount of freestyle talent in Whistler and the Sea to Sky. It’s really exciting that two skiers from this area won the Nor-Am circuit and will be at the World Cup next year.”

Adds Mulvihill: “Oh my gosh, I’m so stoked for Skye. She’s been killing it all year and really deserved this. She’s one of the most humble, amazing people I’ve met, and to see her on top is huge.”

SURPASSING EXPECTATIONS

Clarke has poured blood, sweat and tears into her competitive endeavours for as long as she can remember. She hasn’t had a full season since before COVID-19 due to a few untimely injuries, which makes her Nor-Am title that much more gratifying.

“Definitely didn’t come into this season expecting that,” Clarke admitted. “I was just looking to be consistent and put down runs I was happy with, and I exceeded my expectations. Adversity makes you a stronger person, and therefore a stronger athlete.”

The Vancouver native began her freestyle journey at age nine and trained in all three disciplines for about half a dozen years before focusing on slopestyle and big air. She thinks her moguls days helped her become that much better overall.

“Strict” may not be the right word, but everything tends to be by-the-book in moguls. A majority of girls in Clarke’s generation got used to that—including former running-mates Maia Schwinghammer, Jessie Linton and Maya Mikkelsen. Clarke herself discovered a level of precise execution she continues to aim for today.

That said, she loves the freedom slopestyle can bring.

“What really drew me to it was just how every course is different and how every skier sees the course in a different way,” Clarke explained. “I think slopestyle is the most creative discipline in the freestyle world, and I just love trying to figure out new runs.”

It’s been a breakout year for the first-time Canadian NextGen athlete, who’s thrilled to debut on her grandest stage yet. Along the way, she hopes to inspire whoever might be paying attention.

“There’s not that many female role models in sport—particularly freestyle skiing—so the more girls we can have at the World Cup, I

think the better,” said Clarke. “Representation matters so much.”

STEADY PROGRESSION

Mulvihill had to overcome an inauspicious start to his own campaign.

Eleventh place at Copper Mountain was not the way he envisioned kicking things off. A disastrous 38th in Mammoth dealt an even stiffer blow to his Nor-Am title hopes.

“I was really stressed out, because I thought my comp season was basically over,” Mulvihill remembered. “So I put it all on the line, dropped everything at home and put all of my focus onto skiing for the next couple of months.”

The 19-year-old essentially needed three medals in his final three events to have any hope of securing his spot on the World Cup. Victory in Aspen gave him a spark of hope, fanned into flame by a slopestyle gold in Stoneham. That meant it all came down to his last contest: big air, also in Stoneham.

Three jumps lay before Mulvihill.

He botched the first. The second he landed: a right double cork 1440 mute, but it wasn’t his cleanest. His concluding attempt would be a left double 1620 featuring a Japan grab, and it would need to be almost flawless.

Mulvihill threw it down for bronze in the event and an overall championship.

“I put a lot of work into just getting onto the Nor-Am circuit,” he said. “I never thought I would quite make it to the top because I saw these people doing 1800s in their slope runs … but I really tried to put my head down and work through it.

“I learned that not looking at what other people are doing and just focusing on your own skills will help your progression the most.”

Like Clarke, Mulvihill wants to use his platform to impact future generations. He’s off to a good start in that department, with several locals including newly-minted Nationals silver medallist Jude Oliver citing him as a role model.

“It means the world that people like Jude look up to me, because when I was a lot younger, I would look up to those who were higher up in the club like Luke Smart, Chase and Anders Ujejski,” said Mulvihill. “I just want to create the positive environment that I had for kids, and it really helps people progress as a skier.” n

TOP OF THE WORLD Aidan Mulvihill during a slopestyle ski session.

PHOTO COURTESY OF AIDAN MULVIHILL

Fast food facts and other quirky bits to chew on

YOUR HANDY INDEX FOR INSPIRED LIVING AND FUN CONVOS, AS NEEDED

SPRING HAS SPRUNG and with it, that eternally springy, young impulse to run outside and “play,” whatever form that takes and no matter what age we are. Who wants to sit and read a long, boring column, or even a scintillatingly lively one, when the weather’s

BY GLENDA BARTOSH

On that sprightly note, here’s my latest collection of quirky fast facts focused on the things we care about most—the food we fuel ourselves with, the environment it all flows from and, given the timing, our dear moms we’re about to celebrate on Mother’s Day right around the corner. After all, they were the first ones to nourish us.

Have fun, eat well, and hug the ones you love, or maybe even make them a delicious meal—including yourself!

• Increase to the average daily caloric intake in the U.S. between 1970 and 2009, (with other Western countries following

suit), according to a study conducted at the University of Bergen in Norway and based on the Global Burden of Disease Study: 20 per cent, for a total of 2050 calories

• According to the study, if you start at age 20, the number of years that can be added to average life expectancy following the Bergen study’s recommended longevity diet—which largely avoids excessive release of insulin by emphasizing plants and whole grains and avoiding sugars, refined starches and saturated fats: More than 10 years for women and 13 years for men.

• Number of years that can be added to average life expectancy by following the diet starting at age 60: Eight years

• At age 80: 3.4 years

• Extension of average life expectancy that mice on caloric restriction gain: 50 per cent

• Number of years of life expectancy that would translate to for humans who follow caloric restriction: 120

• Number of researchers and number of countries involved initially in the Global Burden of Disease Study commissioned by the World Bank in 1990: 3,600 researchers in 145 countries

• Number of volunteers in Whistler who pitched in and collected trash for, you guessed it, the 33rd Annual Pitch In Day: More than 500

• Amount of trash those communityloving volunteers collected from ditches, forests and streams: 860-plus kilograms, and still counting

• Percentage of the world’s population

who have no garbage pick-up in any form: 67

• Number of garbage trucks full of plastic that are dumped into the world’s oceans, rivers and lakes every day: 2,000

• Amount the production of plastic, which is largely made from fossil fuels and chemicals, has increased in the past two decades: Doubled, from 200 million tonnes in 2000 to 400 million tonnes in 2019

• Ratio of early samples from U.S. dairy herds that, according to the FDA’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, contained viral fragments of bird flu, or the highly pathogenic H5N1 virus: 1 in 5, with higher ratios in areas with known infected herds

• According to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, number of chickens killed in B.C. alone due to bird flu since the first case was detected in April 2022: 5 million

• According to the World Health Organization, number of countries that have reported rare, sporadic cases of bird flu in humans: 23, mostly in Asia and Africa

• Number of human cases reported worldwide from Jan. 1, 2003 to Feb. 26, 2024: 887

• Year that Mother’s Day was proclaimed in the U.S.: 1914, with Canada following a year later

• Number of white carnations Anna Jarvis, who’s considered the “mother” of Mother’s Day, sent to an Episcopal church in West Virginia in 1908 in honour of her late mother: 500

• Percentage of children in Appalachia who died before their first birthday in the 19th

and early 20th centuries: 15 to 30

• Percentage of children who died in Canada before age one during the same period: About 20 to 33

• In Canada, infant mortality rate in 2021 for non-Indigenous infants under one year, and Indigenous infants under one, respectively: 4.4 deaths per 1,000 births and 9.2 deaths per 1,000 births (or about double)

• Number of meals the average stay-athome housewife in Canada in the mid-20th century would have prepared in 20 years of traditional marriage, given she likely made three meals a day, seven days a week, but let’s give her one meal off a week, like when hubbie might have barbecued something or prepared breakfast: 20,800

• In 30 years of traditional marriage: 31,200

• Number of calories in an average two-egg brunch with bacon, toast and hash browns, for Mother’s Day or otherwise: About 1,200.

Sources: New Scientist; Nature; Resort Municipality of Whistler; BBC; United Nations Environment Programme; CBC National News; Washington Post; Time Magazine; World Health Organization; fitbit; and my mom.

With thanks and a nod to the legendary index in Harper’s Magazine , founded in 1850 and one of the finest publications on the planet.

Glenda Bartosh is an award-winning journalist who always wanted a partner who would cook 50/50 and got one! n

MOTHER DEAREST Have fun, eat well, and be sure to give mom a big hug this weekend for Mother’s Day.

PHOTO BY FRESHSPLASH / E+ / GETTY IMAGES

MEADOW PARK SPORTS CENTRE

Walk Off The Earth headlines 2024

Whistler Summer Concert Series

LOCAL ACTS CAN APPLY TO TAKE THE STAGE UNTIL MAY 13

BY LIZ MCDONALD

WHISTLER’S FAN-FAVOURITE summer concert and movie series is returning this summer, with free live events in July and August at Whistler Olympic Plaza.

The 2024 Whistler Summer Concert Series kicks off Monday, July 1 with Canadian indie pop band Walk Off The Earth and opening act DJ Foxy Moron. Events run the first two weeks of July and return for four weeks in August, with opening acts at 6:30 p.m. and headliners taking the stage at 7:30 p.m. Bike parking is free for anyone who pedals to the show.

This year organizers are adding two extra afternoons of live music on Sundays, pairing touring acts with local performers. The Resort Municipality of Whistler (RMOW) is accepting submissions from interested local musicians until May 13.

“It wouldn’t be summer without the Whistler Summer Concert Series, and this year’s lineup of headliners is one of the most impressive yet,” said Whistler Mayor Jack Crompton, in a press release. “On top of that, the addition of the Sunday Sessions will give our talented local musicians the chance to perform their original sets on the Whistler Olympic Plaza stage. Year over year, this series has presented a diverse array of headliners

from around the world, and we are thrilled to see the opportunity for our locals to get up there, too.”

THE LINEUP

Mon., July 1 - Walk Off The Earth,

OPENING DJ FOXY MORON

Walk Off The Earth is a JUNO Award-winning multi-platinum musical phenomenon. In the past few years alone, they have headlined Red Rocks Amphitheater and Wembley Arena, sold out the historic Sydney Opera House, notched a top-10 single in Canada for 30 straight weeks and made it all the way to the top of the Pop Albums chart in the U.S.

Wed., July 3 - Movies in the Plaza

EDDIE THE EAGLE

Thur., July 4 - Aysanabee

OPENING DJ PEACEFROG

Aysanabee is a two-time JUNO awardwinning alternative indie artist, multi-instrumentalist, producer, and singersongwriter. He is Oji-Cree, Sucker Clan of Sandy Lake First Nation, a remote fly-in community in the far reaches of Northwestern Ontario. With a swirling mix of indie, soul, and electronic sounds, and pulse-quickening fingerpicking, the music is both hypnotic and melodious and has been compared to Bon Iver, Matt Corby, Hozier, Kim Churchill, and Kings of Leon, among others.

Fri., July 5 - The Sheepdogs

OPENING DJ WHITNESS

Built on the solid, classic-rock foundation

of three-part harmonies and dual guitar leads, Canada’s JUNO award-winning Sheepdogs blend Southern rock, groovebased psychedelia, and bluesy barroom swagger into a modern rock ‘n’ roll revival. From Canadian roadhouses to global music festivals, their on-stage and on-road hours are countless, underscoring their endurance in the music scene.

Sat., July 6 - Movies in the Plaza

EDDIE THE EAGLE

Wed., July 10 - Movies in the Plaza 500 DAYS IN THE WILD

Thur., July 11 - Ibibio Sound Machine

OPENING DJ DOC RHYTHMO

Ibibio Sound Machine’s signature style, epitomized in their latest album Pull the Rope, defies categorization, blending an eclectic mix of genres into a vibrant and infectious sound. Led by the dynamic duo of Eno Williams and Max Grunhard, the band seamlessly fuses elements of Afrobeat, funk, house, postpunk, and disco, creating a kaleidoscopic sonic landscape that transcends cultural boundaries.

Fri., July 12 - New Breed Brass Band

OPENING DJ VINYL RITCHIE

New Breed Brass Band’s sound, as showcased in “Made In New Orleans,” is a vibrant fusion of second line music deeply rooted in the rich cultural tapestry of their hometown. Drawing inspiration from diverse sources, their music pulsates with joyful chaos and infectious vitality.

Sat., July 13 - Movies in the Plaza 500 DAYS IN THE WILD

Sun., August 4 - Sunday Sessions LINEUP TO BE ANNOUNCED MAY 21

Wed., August 7 - Movies in the Plaza NEXT GOAL WINS

Thur., August 8 - Astrocolor OPENING DJ SURGEON

Astrocolor, named Instrumental Artist of the Year at the 2022 Western Canadian Music Awards, pioneers a genre they aptly term “AstroJazz.” Inspired by jazz, psychedelia, and electronica, their experimental soundscapes evoke the spirit of ’90s electronic acts like Air and Massive Attack.

Fri., August 9 - The Suffers OPENING DJ SOUL CLUB

The Suffers’ musical style, showcased on their latest album It Starts With Love , is a potent blend of Gulf Coast Soul and socially conscious lyricism. Their sound, described as a fusion of ’70s R&B, disco, jazz, and contemporary gospel, resonates with audiences as they navigate themes of love, growth, and self-acceptance.

Sat., August 10 - Movies in the Plaza NEXT GOAL WINS

Wed., August 14 - Movies in the Plaza BOB MARLEY - ONE LOVE

Thur., August 15 - Fort Knox Five LIVE WITH SPECIAL GUEST DUNKS

WALK IN THE PLAZA Canadian indie pop band Walk Off The Earth kicks off the Whistler Summer Concert Series on July 1.

Fort Knox Five is bringing D.C. to B.C.! Expect a night of bass, funk, disco, boogie, house and breaks! Special opening set from Dunks (The Funk Hunters) playing an exclusive all 45 vinyl set to get the vibes going.

Fri., August 16 - Colin James

OPENING DJ MIXMASTERFAB

Colin James, hailing from the prairies of Saskatchewan, has carved a legendary career spanning over 30 years in the Canadian music scene. With a string of accomplishments including 20 studio albums, eight JUNO awards, and induction into the Canadian Music Industry Hall of Fame, James is a true icon.

Sat., August 17 - Movies in the Plaza

BOB MARLEY - ONE LOVE

Wed., August 21 - Movies in the Plaza

MRS. DOUBTFIRE

Thur., August 22 - Trans-Canada Highwaymen

OPENING DJ SHOTSKI

The Trans-Canada Highwaymen (TCH) is a supergroup consisting of Moe Berg (The Pursuit of Happiness), Chris Murphy (Sloan), Craig Northey (Odds) and Steven Page (ex-Barenaked Ladies). Four guys who have known each other for decades now, all of whom have written songs that have contributed to Canadian culture, like “I’m An Adult Now,” “The Other Man,” “It Falls Apart,” and “Brian Wilson.” The TCH live show includes selections from their album Explosive Hits Vol. 1 along with the Barenaked Ladies, The Pursuit of Happiness, Sloan &

Odds tracks everyone knows and loves.

Fri., August 23 - Ocie Elliott

OPENING DJ LAZY FNGZ

Victoria, B.C. duo Ocie Elliott—Jon Middleton and Sierra Lundy—dream up dusty folk painted in broad strokes of acoustic instrumentation and lyrical eloquence meant for nights under the stars, long drives with no destination, and quiet moments of reprieve.

Sat., August 24 - Movies in the Plaza MRS. DOUBTFIRE

Thur., August 29 - Drag in the Mountains

OPENING DJ NAT MOREL

The Whistler Summer Concert Series is proud to present a family-friendly night full of amazing drag performances starring Canada’s Drag Race season 4 winner VENUS alongside season 2 stars Kendall Gender and Synthia Kiss.

Fri., August 30 - Boy & Bear with special guest Boo Seeka

OPENING DJ LDA

Boy & Bear has attained a level of staying power that most artists could only dream of while maintaining their authentic vision and driving love for their craft. In addition to their five consecutive top 10 albums and over 250 million streams, Boy & Bear’s live show is a uniquely compelling experience that has earned the band a glowing reputation as one of Australia’s most outstanding live acts.

Sun., September 1 - Sunday Sessions LINEUP TO BE ANNOUNCED

SUMMER SESSIONS The Whistler Summer Concert Series kicks off July 1 and runs through the last weekend of August.

PHOTO BY JUSTA JESKOVA / COURTESY OF THE RESORT MUNICIPALITY OF WHISTLER

PIQUE’S GUIDE TO LOCAL EVENTS & NIGHTLIFE

Here’s a quick look at some events happening in Whistler this week and beyond. FIND MORE LOCAL EVENT LISTINGS (and submit your own for free!) at piquenewsmagazine.com/local-events

HEATHERS THE MUSICAL

NEW WINTER WHISTLER MAGAZINE IS OUT!

SPRING CREEK COMMUNITY SCHOOL 20TH ANNIVERSARY

On Sat., May 11, join your friends and neighbours at Spring Creek Community School from 2 to 5 p.m. to celebrate the school’s 20th Anniversary!

Hosted by Whistler’s own legendary DJ Ira, the event will include a dance party at 3 p.m. followed by a cake cutting at 4 p.m.

Community sponsors include Nesters, Fresh Street Market and the Whistler Real Estate Company—come out and join the fun at the dunk tank!

> May 11, 2 to 5 p.m.

> Spring Creek Community School

> Free

HEATHERS THE MUSICALPERFORMED BY WHISTLER SECONDARY SCHOOL

Join us for an unforgettable night of music, drama, and teenage angst at the Maury Young Arts Centre. Get ready to be blown away by this electrifying performance of Heathers The Musical, specially adapted for a teen audience. Experience the raw emotions, catchy tunes, and dark humour that have made this cult classic a favourite among young audiences worldwide.

> May 10 and 11, 7 p.m. (plus 11 a.m. matinee on May 11)

> Maury Young Arts Centre

> Student: $10; Adult: $20-$25 depending on show date/time

PHOTO BY MEGUMI TAKAISHI

GAMES NIGHT

Join the Friends of the Library for fun and games. Bring a friend, play an old favourite or learn a new game, and win prizes! Games available to play include Scrabble, Risk, Sorry, Ticket to Ride, Settlers of Catan, Bananagrams, Pictionary, Trivial Pursuit, Monopoly, Clue, Backgammon, Boggle, the Game of Things and more! Feel free to bring your own game to play. No registration required, drop-ins welcome!

> May 13, 7:30 to 9:30 p.m.

> Whistler Public Library

> Free

WHISTLER MEN’S CIRCLE

A weekly meeting held on Thursdays for men who want to explore their experience of being a man through sharing and holding space in a supportive environment. The peer-led group offers an opportunity to share what is alive for them, what they may be struggling with and which areas of their life they are grateful for. This series is presented in partnership with Whistler Community Services Society and Whistler Public Library.

> May 16, 6 to 8 p.m.

> Whistler Public Library

> Free

Catchall

Volume on forALL Canadian teams! Wear your team’s colors when youcomein to watchplayoff hockey andreceive aballot fora prizepack

Giveaway at theend of each playoffround GO CANADA!

DAILY DOSE OF WHISTLER

Looking for Answers in Whistler

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Board of Directors

The Whistler Housing Authority (WHA) is seeking interest from individuals for an opportunity to join the WHA Board of Directors.

The WHA Board of Directors provides a valuable governance role and strategic oversight of Whistler’s Employee Housing Programs. WHA Board members make an important contribution to the organization and community in this volunteer capacity

The Board is comprised of passionate and engaged community members who want to dedicate time and provide direction into the future evolution of Whistler’s Employee Housing Programs. The WHA believes that diversity in decision making is key to ensuring that everyone with an interest in housing is represented. We are seeking applications from people with diverse backgrounds and lived experiences with housing insecurity We are also inviting those with legal and risk management expertise and all who are interested in contributing to Whistler’s Employee Housing Programs to apply Directors’ terms are typically for a 3-year term

Board Meetings are held bi-monthly at RMOW Municipal Hall Attendance is mandatory, and virtual attendance can be accommodated.

For further information, please consult: whistlerhousing.ca Questions may be directed via email to: meredith@whistlerhousing.ca Applications will be received until May 23, 2024

BY ALLYN PRINGLE

FIFTEEN YEARS after the Whistler Answer released its first issue, the Answer returned as a monthly magazine in April 1992. The first run (April 1977 to 1982) ended as those involved gained new priorities (such as mortgages and kids) or left town and, for some, the Answer became part of Whistler’s past. According to publisher Charlie Doyle, he “more or less forgot about it” until Answer editor Bob Colebrook (Bosco) returned to Whistler and talked him into a second run.

In some ways, the Answer of 1992 looked very different than that of earlier years. As Doyle put it, “We were dragged kicking and screaming into the computer age, so we got a computer and someone to teach us how to use it,” but it featured quite a few familiar names. The first issue brought back comics including The Peak Bros. and Localman while continuing to focus on stories about things that affected the people living in Whistler alongside fiction pieces, sports profiles, music reviews and more.

At first it appeared the return of the Answer, or “The Second Coming” as it read on the cover, was going to be a relatively quiet affair. In the Whistler Question’s “Notes From All Over” of March 26, 1992, readers were told to “watch for the return of The Answer next week on April Fool’s Day,” and an official opening party was planned for April 13, but there doesn’t appear to have been a lot more publicity in the lead-up to the publication. This quickly changed, however, following the release of the first issue.

Not long after it went on sale, businesses

CALL AND RESPONSE The Whistler Answer issue that prompted talks of protest and quite a few headlines, April 1992.

by the group.

Colebrook contacted a reporter he knew with The Province who thought it was an interesting story. On April 13, the same day as the opening party, The Province ran a headline that read “Angry Moms on Rag, Say New Mag” and reported the group was “livid” and “planning a full-scale protest tonight.” Colebrook reportedly spent the day fielding calls from CBC, Maclean’s, Reuters and other news outlets, taking subscription orders from across the country, and hearing from some large advertising agencies. Thanks to the Mothers for Morality and a phone call made by Colebrook, the Answer

“We were dragged kicking and screaming into the computer age, so we got a computer and someone to teach us how to

- CHARLIE DOYLE

that advertised in or sold the Answer began receiving phone calls from a group calling themselves Mothers for Morality warning them about the content of the magazine. According to the spokesperson for the group, they were offended by instances of nudity and glorification of drug use found in the issue, specifically the image of a nude male skier used on the subscription form and the mention of marijuana use by a skier in a fictional story by Peter Vogler.

Though it appeared the telephone campaign met with little success (Hazel Ellis, the owner of Armchair Books, reportedly told them she would not remove the magazine from the shelves, and advertisers continued to support the publication), there was also talk of a demonstration outside the opening party

use it.”

received a ton of free advertising over the next few days as the story appeared in other newspapers throughout Canada.

As it turned out, there was no demonstration against the Answer at the opening party, which, from the photos in the May issue, appeared to have been thoroughly enjoyed by those who attended. Though the spokesperson for Mothers for Morality claimed to represent 27 Whistler mothers, only two members of the group were ever identified. The Answer kept on publishing its second run through August 1993, and continued to include some nudity alongside interviews with politicians and local groups, news about World Cup races, profiles of Whistler athletes, artists and musicians, articles on local issues, and some more satirical features. n

Dear Customers,

ASTROLOGY

Free Will Astrology

WEEK OF MAY 10 BY

ARIES (March 21-April 19): When my friend Jessalyn first visited Disneyland as a child, she was smitten by its glimmering, unblemished mystery. “It was far more real than real,” she said. “A dream come true.” But after a few hours, her infatuation unravelled. She began to see through the luster. Waiting in long lines to go on the rides exhausted her. The mechanical elephant was broken. The food was unappetizing. The actor impersonating Mickey Mouse shucked his big mouse head and swilled a beer. The days ahead may have resemblances to Jessalyn’s awakening for you. This slow-motion jolt might vex you initially, although I believe it’s a healthy sign. It will lead to a cleansed perspective that’s free of illusion and teeming with clarity.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Keizoku wa chikara nari is a Japanese proverb that means “To continue is power.” I propose you make that your motto for the next four weeks. Everything you need to happen and all the resources you need to attract will come your way as long as your overarching intention is perseverance. This is always a key principle for you Tauruses, but especially now. If you can keep going, if you can overcome your urges to quit your devotions, you will gain a permanent invigoration of your willpower.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Do you believe there are divine beings, animal spirits, and departed ancestors who are willing and able to help us? If not, you may want to skip this horoscope. I won’t be upset if you feel that way. But if you do harbour such views, as I do, I’m pleased to tell you that they will be extra available for you in the coming weeks. Remember one of the key rules about their behaviour: They love to be asked for assistance; they adore it when you express your desires for them to bring you specific blessings and insights. Reach out, Gemini! Call on them.

CANCER (June 21-July 22): I’m taking a gamble here as I advise you to experiment with the counsel of visionary poet and painter William Blake (1757–1825). It’s a gamble because I’m asking you to exert a measure of caution as you explore his daring, unruly advice. Be simultaneously prudent and ebullient, Cancerian. Be discerning and wild. Be watchful and experimental. Here are Blake’s directions: 1. The road to excess leads to the palace of wisdom, for we never know what is enough until we know what is more than enough. 2. If the fool would persist in his folly, he would become wise. 3. The pride of the peacock is the glory of God. The lust of the goat is the bounty of God. 4. No bird soars too high if it soars with its own wings. 5. Exuberance is Beauty.

ROB BREZSNY

upside-down and inside-out—by which I mean, make it work with more grace and benefit for everyone concerned.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): In my fairy tale about your life in the coming weeks and months, you will transform from a crafty sleuth to an eager explorer. You will finish your wrestling matches with tricky angels and wander off to consort with big thinkers and deep feelers. You will finish your yeoman attempts to keep everyone happy in the human zoo and instead indulge your sacred longings for liberation and experimentation. In this fairy tale of your life, Libra, I will play the role of your secret benefactor. I will unleash a steady stream of prayers to bless you with blithe zeal as you relish every heart-opening, brain-cleansing moment of your new chapter.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): In the coming months, I will encourage you to keep deepening and refining the art of intimacy. I will rejoice as you learn more and more about how to feel close to people you care for and how to creatively deal with challenges you encounter in your quest to become closer. Dear Scorpio, I will also cheer you on whenever you dream up innovations to propitiate togetherness. Bonus blessings! If you do all I’m describing, your identity will come into brighter focus. You will know who you are with greater accuracy. Get ready! The coming weeks will offer you novel opportunities to make progress on the themes I’ve mentioned.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): You could offer a workshop on the perks of wobbliness. Your anxious ruminations and worried fantasies are so colourful that I almost hesitate to tell you to stop. I’m wondering if this is one of those rare phases when you could take advantage of your so-called negative feelings. Is it possible that lurking just below the uneasiness are sensational revelations about a path to liberation? I’m guessing there are. To pluck these revelations, you must get to the core of the uneasiness.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): During the last 11 months, life has offered you unprecedented opportunities to deepen and ripen your emotional intelligence. You have been vividly invited to grow your wisdom about how to manage and understand your feelings. I trust you have been capitalizing on these glorious teachings. I hope you have honed your skills at tapping into the power and insights provided by your heart and gut. There’s still more time to work on this project, Capricorn. In the coming weeks, seek out breakthroughs that will climax this phase of your destiny.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Naturalist and author Henry David Thoreau declared, “We need the tonic of wildness.” Amen! In my view, you Aquarians especially need this sweet, rugged healing power in the coming weeks. Borrowing more words from Thoreau, I urge you to exult in all that is mysterious, unsurveyed, and unfathomable. Like Thoreau, I hope you will deepen your connection with the natural world because it “it is cheerfully, musically earnest.” Share in his belief that “we must go out and re-ally ourselves to Nature every day. We must take root, send out some little fiber.”

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Cosmic energies are staging a big party in your astrological House of Ambition. It’s a great time to expand and intensify your concepts of what you want to accomplish with your one wild and precious life. You will attract unexpected help as you shed your inhibitions about asking for what you really want. Life will benevolently conspire on your behalf as you dare to get bolder in defining your highest goals. Be audacious, Leo! Be brazen and brave and brilliant! I predict you will be gifted with lucid intuitions about how best to channel your drive for success. You will get feelers from influential people who can help you in your quest for victory. (PS: The phrase “your one wild and precious life” comes from poet Mary Oliver.)

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Is it possible to be too smart for your own good? Maybe, although that won’t be a problem for you anytime soon. However, you may temporarily be too smart for some people who are fixated on conventional and simplistic solutions. You could be too super-brilliant for those who wallow in fear or regard cynicism as a sign of intelligence. But I will not advise you to dumb yourself down, dear Virgo. Instead, I will suggest you be crafty and circumspect. Act agreeable and humble, even as you plot behind the scenes to turn everything

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): I have four questions and homework assignments for you, Pisces. 1. Is there a person in your inner circle who is close to ripening a latent talent that would ultimately benefit you? I suspect there is. What can you do to assist them? 2. Is there a pending gift or legacy that you have not yet claimed or activated? I think so. What would be a good first step to get it fully into your life? 3. What half-dormant potency could you call on and use if you were more confident about your ability to wield it? I believe you now have the wherewithal to summon the confidence you need. 4. What wasteful habit could you replace with a positive new habit?

Homework: What’s your favorite subject to fantasize about? Newsletter.FreeWillAstrology.com.

In addition to this column, Rob Brezsny creates

In-depth weekly forecasts designed to inspire and uplift you. To buy access, phone 1-888-499-4425. Once you’ve chosen the Block of Time you like, call 1-888-682-8777 to hear Rob’s forecasts. www.freewillastrology.com

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Fairmont Chateau

Whistler Resort is growing its Housing portfolio and sourcing additional Chalet and Condo Rental contracts for our Hotel Team Members. Our leaders are mature, career driven drivers that know the word respect. Contract terms for property Owners are stress free with no commissions and includes representation from our 4 person fulltime Housing Department working with you 24/7; maintaining all aspects of the tenancy including quarterly inspections. A great next move for Whistler property Owners that have tired with the Airbnb game or Property Fees. Let’s see if we can make a match and develop a long-term relationship here. General inquiries please email mark.munn@fairmont.com

General Contractor & Construction Manager with work locations in Whistler & Pemberton performing high end custom renovations and new residential and commercial builds. Hiring for the following positions:

Labourer - previous construction experience preferable but not required, ability to perform physical work, positive attitude, great smile $30p/h+

Apprentice Carpenter - own vehicle and basic tools, ability to take direction with a strong attention to detail, team player, hard worker, fun to be around $35p/h+

Project Coordinator - knowledge & experience with estimating, plan reading & quantity takeoffs, Microsoft project & corecon (sageCM) a benefit, construction knowledge and ability to talk to trades, strong people skills, ability to multitask, calm under pressure $35p/h+

Pay rates for all positions depends on experience. Potential use of company vehicle. Regular performance-based pay reviews.

If you’d like to be part of an honest, hard-working, and fun team that appreciates its employees, email us your resume today!

• Duties include prepping/portioning/cooking steaks, seafood and pan cooking.

• Imagine working in a well respected fine dinning bistro which is well run, fun, and does 60-70 covers a night.

• Wage is $25-$28/hour based on experience, plus tips. Medical & Dental benefits and staff discounts in Roland’s Pub.

The Museum is currently seeking:

The Museum is currently seeking:

Marketing Coordinator

Marketing Coordinator

Support the Marketing Manager with advertising, social media, content creation, media relations, sales, and digital engagement.

Support the Marketing Manager with advertising, social media, content creation, media relations, sales, and digital engagement.

• Full-Time

• Full-Time

• $55,000-$57,500 per year

• $55,000 - $57,500 per year

Accounting Assistant

Accounting Assistant

Support with tasks including audits of daily sales, preparations of deposits, data entry, statement reconciliation, and filing.

Support with tasks including audits of daily sales, preparations of deposits, data entry, statement reconciliation, and filing.

• Part-Time

• $25 to $27 per hour based on experience

• Part-Time

• $25 to $27 per hour based on experience

Information Technology Manager

(Regular, Full-Time)

Looking to contribute to your local community?

Consider a career in local government. Join the SLRD’s team of dedicated staff who work together to make a difference in the region

Headquartered in Pemberton, the Squamish-Lillooet Regional District (SLRD) delivers a wide range of regional, sub-regional and local services to its residents. The SLRD is a BC Regional District consisting of four member municipalities (Squamish, Whistler, Pemberton, Lillooet) and four electoral areas. Services include land use planning, solid waste management, building inspection, fire protection, emergency preparedness, 911 services, recreation, water and sewer utilities, regional transit, trails and open spaces as well as financial support for various community services. The region contains some of the most spectacular forests, waterways, and mountains in the province and affords an endless range of opportunities for outdoor adventure, making it an exceptional place to live, work and play.

The SLRD is seeking a strategic and collaborative Information Technology (IT) professional to fill the position of IT Manager. The IT Manager is responsible for leading and guiding the effective operation of the SLRD’s IT systems and processes including IT business planning, hardware and software projects, data security management, resource management, and supervision of IT staff and contractors. The IT Manager plays both a strategic and hands-on role, managing IT projects and overseeing the identification, selection, and deployment of the appropriate IT solutions that support the SLRD’s strategic priorities.

The ideal candidate has a minimum of 5 years of related IT experience, at least 2 years of supervisory experience, and a post-secondary degree or diploma in Computer Science, Business IT Management or a related discipline. For further information, please refer to the full job description at www.slrd.bc.ca/ employment.

The salary range for this position is $115,520 - $130,019 annually. A comprehensive benefits package, participation in the Municipal Pension Plan, compressed work week (9-day fortnight), learning and career development and the eligibility to work from home in accordance with the SLRD’s Remote Work Arrangements Policy are available with this position. Interested candidates are invited to submit their cover letter and resume (preferably in pdf format) by email tocareers@slrd.bc.ca. This posting will remain open until filled, with application review commencing on June 3, 2024.

We sincerely thank all applicants for their interest, however, only candidates under consideration will be contacted.

Our team of people is what sets us apart from other builders. As we continue to grow as the leader in luxury projects in Whistler, our team needs to expand with us.

We are currently hiring: Experienced Carpenters $30 - $45.50/hourly. Wage based on experience. Red Seal is a bonus, but not mandatory.

EVR is committed to the long-term retention and skills development of our team. We

We offer:

• Top Wages

• Training & Tuition Reimbursement (Need help getting your Red Seal?)

• $500 Annual Tool Allowance

• Extended Health and Dental Benefits (Also includes Family Benefits.)

• Flexible Schedule - Work Life Balance. (We get it. We love to ski and bike too.)

• Assistance with Work Visa and Permanent Residency (We can help.)

• Positive Work Environment

We promote from within and are looking to strengthen our amazing team. Opportunities for advancement into management positions always exist for the right candidates. Don’t miss out on being able to build with the team that builds the most significant projects in Whistler. Send your resume to info@evrfinehomes.com We look forward to hearing from you!

CIVIL CONSTRUCTION

or

No weekends or evenings

Locally

and operated family practice

"Best Dental Office 2023 as voted by readers of Pique Newsmagazine"

CAREER OPPORTUNITIES

TRUCK DRIVER - Valid Class 1 or Class 3 with air brakes required. Manual transmission. 2 years experience preferred. $32-$40.45 per hour.

HEAVY EQUIPMENT OPERATOR, Squamish - Minimum 5 years or 5,000 hours operating experience on excavator. Full-time, Monday – Friday. $33-$42 per hour.

HEAVY DUTY EQUIPMENT MECHANIC, Whistler – Red Seal Certified, Commercial Truck & Transport, Transport Trailer required. CVSE Inspector’s ticket, Air Conditioning ticket, Class 1 or 3 with air brakes preferred. Toolbox available for rent. $39.70-$47.90 per hour.

CONSTRUCTION LABOURER – Great opportunity to learn on-the-job. Stamina for physically demanding work and perseverance to brave inclement weather required. Previous experience preferred but not required. Training provided. $25-$32 per hour.

coastalmountain.ca/careers instagram.com/coastalmountainexcavations

Please send your resume and a little about yourself to: managercreeksidedentalwhistler@gmail.com.

· Lifeguard/Swim Instructor

· Legislative and Privacy Coordinator

· Skate Host

· Program Leader

· Lifeguard/Swim Instructor

• Program Leader - Myrtle Philip Community Centre Casualpositionwithastartingwageof$27.57anhour. ThisopportunityispartoftheCanadaSummerJobsprogram,andall applicantsmustbebetweentheagesof15and30years. • Records Digitization Assistant Casualpositionwithastartingwageof$27.57anhour. • Village Host Team Assistant Permanentpart-timepositionwithastartingwageof$27.57anhour.

· Wastewater Treatment Plant Process Supervisor

· Labourer I – Village Maintenance

· Solid Waste Technician

· Youth and Public Services Specialist

· Accountant

Resort Municipality of Whistler whistler.ca/careers Resort Municipality of Whistler

we offer: Nice work environment, monthly bonuses, Extended Health Benefits, staff discounts, flexible schedule and the opportunity to work where you live.

opportunity to grow with the business for the right applicant. $16.75 to $24.50 p/h depending on experience

Lil’wat Nation Employment Opportunities

Ullus Community Centre

• Resource Support worker ($80,371.20 - $91,673.40 per year)

• Receptionist ($17.40 to $20.90 per hour)

• Human Resources Manager ($93,475.20 to $101,556.00 per year)

• Language Resource Worker ($46,683- $63,973 per year)

• Social worker ($80,371.20 - $91,673.40 per year)

• Housing Administrator ($46,683.00 to $63,973.00 per year)

• Transition House Support Worker ($20.90 -$29.45 per hour)

• Employment Advisor LEAT & WorkBC ($38,038 - $53,599 per year)

Xet’òlacw Community School

• Social Worker/ Counsellor ($80,371.20 -$91,673.40 per year)

Lil’wat Health & Healing

• Nurse Manager ($85,685.60- $117,280.80 per year)

• Health Care Assistant ($38,038 - $53,599 per year)

• Maintenance Worker ($20.90 to $29.45 per hour )

• Custodian ($17.40 to $20.90 per hour)

The genie is out of the bottle, in Whistler and beyond

LET’S SUPPOSE you were walking along one of the trails around Lost Lake on a nice spring day. We’ve been having quite a few nice spring days lately so this shouldn’t be too much for you to imagine. In fact, if you haven’t walked around the Lost Lake trails yet, you probably should. And while you’re at it, heed the esteemed Leslie Anthony’s advice and kick over some stacked rocks left behind by Instagrammers.

Where was I? Oh yeah, nice spring day, walk around Lost Lake... so let’s suppose you weren’t really paying much attention to where you were stepping, distracted as you were by

BY G.D. MAXWELL

the olfactory assault of spring—thawing earth, uncovered leaf mould and doggie presents, emerging skunk cabbage, the simultaneous drying and composting of last autumn’s riot of death. Not paying attention, you stumble, regain your balance and composure, and catch a glimpse of something tarnished but vaguely shiny protruding from the path from whence you just came. The culprit!

In a momentary fit of pique, you kick at whatever it was that nearly slapsticked you, stub your toe but partially unearth, what else? A lamp. Not a nondescript table lamp with a flickering compact fluorescent bulb, but an oh-sweet-Jesus-there-must-be-a-genie-inthere kind of lamp. You know... like in the fairy tales.

What would you do?

Well, you’d rub it of course. Duh. Maybe after sneaking a look around to see if anyone was watching, but nonetheless, you’d rub it. Hope for the best.

Poof! Vapour oozes out of the lamp, reminiscent of the B.C. bud you just smoked and coughed out, and you assume you’re hallucinating as it coalesces into the shape of, well, what else? A Genie.

You: “Whoa, dude!”

Genie: “Thank you; I’ve been cramped in there since the Before Time.

You: “You… you’re a genie?”

Genie: “How observant of you, Einstein.”

You: “So, like I get three wishes.”

Genie: “No, that’s like only in fairy tales.”

You: “Well, what do I get?”

Genie: “Why do you assume you get anything? Everybody’s so greedy. Grant me a wish, grant me a wish. Tiresome.”

You: “Because I released you from the lamp, dude.”

Genie: “Right. Thank you. Now that I’m free at last, free at last, it’s your turn. You get to live in the lamp now, like forever, dude!”

You: “What!? That’s not the way it’s supposed to work.”

Genie: “Just yankin’ your chain.”

You: “Whew. You had me goin’ there. So what do I get?”

Genie: “You don’t get anything. But I’ll tell you what I’ll do instead. I’ll unleash the biggest real-estate development this town’s seen since, well, since this town itself was built. It’ll increase the population by, say, 20 per cent... for a start... assuming it all works according to plan. And you won’t have to worry about whether it fits within the Official Community Plan, the outdated Whistler 2020, the—muted laughter—bed cap or any of the other nonsense you think is going to save your town from becoming much, much larger. Whaddya think?”

You: “Are you shittin’ me? You sure I can’t have just one wish? A little one? Maybe a new bike.”

Genie: “Take it or leave it. But hurry up and make a decision. Just kidding. The decision has already been made.”

Bills 44 and 47. The former amended housing statutes concerning residential development. We’ll ignore the latter for the time being.

The purpose of Bill 44, according to Ravi Kahlon, B.C.’s Minister of Housing, is to deliver more homes for people, faster. The way it does that is not to conjure more home builders out of thin air. Instead, the bill removes pesky municipal and community roadblocks—like zoning—that have historically been used to control the way those communities grow. An intended or perhaps unintended consequence has been to give homeowners, particularly owners of single-family homes, a louder voice in blocking rezoning decisions.

As though Minister Kahlon had his own genie, poof, those impediments are gone.

Bill 44 requires municipalities of more than 5,000 people to allow redevelopment on

I’m pretty sure the province wasn’t aiming to provide more second homes in resort municipalities for people who could afford them.

And with that, the genie rose into the sky laughing and slapping his vaporous knee.

So that’s a no-brainer, right? We’d leave it, right? There’s nothing in the collective consciousness of Tiny Town that envisions, embraces or supports that kind of growth, right?

Not so fast. We may not have much of a choice in the matter.

At the end of November last year, the provincial legislature gave royal assent to

lots currently zoned for single-family homes. Lots smaller than 280 square metres will be permitted to build three housing units. Those larger than 280 square metres will be allowed four units.

How does that affect Whistler? Good question. Almost entirely. Every lot will be permitted three and a significant percentage of lots will be permitted four units.

Oh, and those tedious, lot-by-lot public hearings where homeowners would get up

one after another and claim they were in favour of more housing... just not anywhere near their house? Gone. Through the Official Community Plan, blanket rezoning for what is deemed Small-Scale Multi-Unit (SSMU) housing is the new norm. No need to do more than give public notice.

So, questions, questions, questions. Let’s say you own a home in a part of town currently zoned for tourist accommodation, that is, short-term rentals. And your lot is large enough to allow four housing units. Will all four be zoned for tourist accommodation? I imagine all those hotel-like structures on the resort lands would be very unhappy were that the case.

Regardless of whether the new SSMUs were on resort lands or not, would any of the four or three be restricted to employee ownership or rental, depending on whether they were redeveloped as strata-title or not? If so, would there be any price or rental restrictions on the units designated for employees?

There is no language in the Bill permitting a municipality to impose such restrictions. There is another designation that allows up to six units to be built on the larger lots if they’re close to transit stops with frequent service. Apparently none are in Whistler, but in the case of a six-unit re-development, municipalities may designate one of the six for “affordability” purposes. That might be considered a leverage point. Time will tell. This is all happening pretty fast and it may be a good thing. Or maybe not. While the goal of providing more homes for more people is a good thing, I’m pretty sure the province wasn’t aiming to provide more second homes in resort municipalities for people who could afford them.

Here’s hoping for a benevolent genie. ■

CAPTAINSECRET / ISTOCK / GETTY IMAGES PLUS