Garibaldi at Squamish has filed a proposal to build an all-seasons ski resort at Brohm Ridge near Squamish. The resort would be located on provincial Crown land between Squamish and Whistler and would feature 23 ski lifts, hotels and private homes.Brian Thompson
The owners of B.C.'s Whistler Blackcomb ski resort have spoken out against the proposed Garibaldi at Squamish project, saying the project would have poor terrain and climactic conditions and that proponents have not taken climate change into account.
Whistler Blackcomb – which has expressed concerns about the Garibaldi at Squamish project since at least 2008 – also maintains the new resort, if built, would "damage B.C.'s reputation and undermine its success as a world-class ski destination," Whistler Blackcomb president David Brownlie said in a letter submitted as part of an environmental review of the Squamish proposal.
"We further contend that [Garibaldi at Squamish] will have a negative impact on Whistler Blackcomb's recognition as an iconic destination, ultimately compromising the assessed value of more than $10-billion worth of taxable property in Whistler," Mr. Brownlie said in the letter, which is dated June 19, 2015.
"While it is difficult to quantify the time, efforts and resources that have been expended since the early 1980s to make Whistler the world-renowned destination that it is today, these efforts and investments should not be jeopardized by a high-risk project with significant information gaps like [Garibaldi at Squamish]."
The letter was one of several submitted to B.C.'s Environmental Assessment Office during a public comment period that ended June 22.
Garibaldi at Squamish, a private company backed by Vancouver-based development companies Northland Properties and Aquilini Investment Group, has filed a proposal to build an all-seasons ski resort at Brohm Ridge near Squamish. The resort would be located on provincial Crown land between Squamish and Whistler and would feature 23 ski lifts, hotels and private homes.
According to documents filed by the proponent, the project would cost more than $3.5-billion over 20 years and provide 2,500 full-time jobs when fully built.
The notion of the project has been percolating for more than a decade, with an initial application filed in 2003.
Since then, the proponent has made several changes to its proposal, including scratching two proposed 18-hole golf courses that were part of the resort plan and shrinking the size of the proposed resort to provide a buffer zone between it and nearby Garibaldi Provincial Park.
In his letter to the assessment office, Mr. Brownlie says "the unsuitability of Brohm Ridge has been mentioned by industry experts numerous times over the last forty years" and that the proponent has not included detailed climate information in its proposal.
"The [Garibaldi at Squamish] proposal has been around since 1997," Mr. Brownlie says. "The fact that climatological data still has not been provided by the proponent is alarming. If Garibaldi at Squamish had been operating in the last two years, it would have offered little to no skiing." A Garibaldi at Squamish representative was not immediately available for comment.
The Squamish project is not the only massive ski resort project on the books in B.C.
Earlier this month, the province announced that the environmental assessment certificate for the Jumbo Glacier Resort had expired because work had not been substantially started, putting that project back at the starting gate. Proponents were pitching an all-seasons resort for a site about 55 kilometres west of Invermere.
Wendy Stueck