The B.C. Environmental Assessment Office has given the green light to the $3.5 billion Garibaldi at Squamish ski resort proposed by the Aquilini Investment Group and Northlands Properties.
The BC EAO has issued an environmental assessment certificate that attaches 40 conditions to the project.
Among those conditions is a requirement that 10% of the residential units built are set aside for employees. Several other conditions relate to the protection of groundwater to address concerns about straining the Paradise Valley aquifer.
The project will also require an amendment to the regional growth strategy, which will require approval of the municipalities within the Squamish-Lillooet Regional District.
Squamish MayorPatricia Heintzmansaid she thinksthe proponent is going to have a tough time getting the assent of those communities.
The District of Squamish is formally opposed to the project, for a variety of reasons. One of them is the concern over the congestion another ski resort would cause on the already busy Sea-to-Sky highway.
“There’s a real question over whether the ski hill is actually viable,” Heintzman added.
The project envisions a ski resort on Brohm Ridge, north of Alice Lake and just outside Garibaldi Provincial Park. It also includes a mix of residential and commercial development, including hotels and condominiums.
Former Vancouver police chief Jim Chu, who is now vice president of Aquilini Investment Group, said the development would include 5,000 residential and commercial units. About one-third of that would be hotel rooms.
According to the Aquilini Group, the new resort would create 4,000 jobs, not including the construction jobs that would be created over the project’s 20-year build-out.
The prospect of a major competitor so close to Whistler doesn’t sit well with Whistler Blackcomb, Tourism Whistler and Whistler Chamber of Commerce, which have lobbied against the project, saying it would drain off both business and strain the labour pool.
As for First Nations support, the Squamish First Nation has conditionally supported the project so far.
Squamish Chief Ian Campbell said the project as now described is somewhat “downsized” from what was originally proposed. Golf courses that were originally included, for example, have been scrapped to shrink the resort’s footprint.
Campbell said his people want to ensure that they are involved in project as it develops.
“I think this is one step in many steps that the proponent needs to continue to undertake,” he said. “It doesn’t mean it’s a done deal.
“We want to make sure that we’re involved in management plans and have a say to have our concerns seriously considered and enforced.”
In a press release, Aquilini said the next step, now that it has an environmental certificate, is to consult with the community and local governments – a process the company expects will take two years.
