Cheakamus Crossing

Board ‘actively monitoring’ Cheakamus sales

Jennifer Miller jmiller@whistlerquestion.com

The amount of available units and the pace of real estate sales in Whistler is a concern for the board members of the Whistler 2020 Development Corp., the group behind the new Cheakamus Crossing neighbourhood, Mayor Ken Melamed said this week.

Whistler council received an update on the Cheakamus Crossing development at its Tuesday (July 20) meeting, and sales efforts for the market townhouses and building lots was one of the aspects discussed.

One of the 20 available townhouses has been sold to date, as well as two of the 24 single-family lots.

Eric Martin, chair of the development corp. board, said with construction almost complete the main focus of the board is now sales and marketing. The market has been slow lately, but the sales targets for 2010 are not “overly ambitious,” he added.

The goal is to sell three more townhouses and two more building lots before the year’s end, Martin said. The remaining market product is projected to sell by the end of 2011, but that could go into 2012, depending on the market.

After Tuesday’s meeting, Melamed said everyone in the local real estate market is concerned about the pace of sales. With about 900 units of all types available, there’s ample supply, he said.

Even though there’s similar product on the market, Cheakamus Crossing offers higher value, Melamed said.

“Our price point is well positioned,” he said.

Melamed said the Whistler 2020 board, of which he is a member, is “actively monitoring” the progress of sales.

Martin said there’s a possibility to modify the market offerings to adjust the price point if necessary. For example, smaller lots could be offered, he said.

“We need to be very nimble. We need to adapt to conditions,” Martin said.

There’s also a surplus of serviced sites at Cheakamus Crossing not currently earmarked for development that could be sold if more money needs to be raised, he added.

Martin also provided some updated financial information to council. Since November 2008 the total cost of Cheakamus Crossing has gone from $161 million to $168.4 million, mostly because of additional works carried out for the 2010 Olympic Organizing Committee (VANOC), Martin said.

By the end of the year it’s expected that $125,000 will remain in the project contingency.

“We’re on target to be close to break even… by the end of the year,” Martin said.

Significant savings have been realized in interest payments on the $100 million loan issued by the Municipal Finance Authority to fund the neighbourhood’s construction. In November 2008 the estimated total interest was $7.78 million, compared to an updated projection of $1.95 million by December. The current interest rate is just over one per cent.

Martin said repayment has already begun on the loan, with the balance owing currently about $91.7 million. By October, after all the employee-restricted units sales have been finalized, the balance should be about $16 million, he added.

“We’re going to knock off the vast majority of the debt by October,” Martin said.

The Whistler 2020 board is also seeking a tenant for the commercial space in the new neighbourhood, after an offer wasn’t carried through. Melamed said a request for proposals was issued and the preferred applicant backed out at the last minute.

The operator wasn’t willing to take on the financial risk — another apparent impact of the economic downturn, he said.

The board is trying to generate new interest for the commercial opportunity, and it’s expected that once the neighbourhood is occupied it will draw potential operators, he said

Whistlerites snag first market lots at athlete village

Sale of River Bend properties will help offset neighbourhood construction costs

By Claire Piech

Whistlerites aren’t only buying the resident-restricted homes at Cheakamus Crossing.

Locals are also picking up the market units on sale in one of Whistler’s newest neighbourhoods, according to the president of the Whistler 2020 Development Corporation, Joe Redmond.

Both of the two serviced single-family lots sold so far have gone to Whistler residents, said Redmond, along with the only market townhome sold. Deals on all three units in the athletes’ village neighbourhood closed about four months ago.

“You have to remember that it is only people from Whistler that know about it,” said Redmond. “No one else has been able to get on site.”

Whistler Real Estate Company is selling the market townhomes and lots, which are all located in the River Bend area of Cheakamus Crossing.

Twenty townhomes are designed by AKA Architects and Design and listed for sale between $800,000 and $900,000.

Nine of a total 24 serviced lots are also on the market, priced between $450,000 and $550,000. The lots currently listed for sale are located on Madely Place.

But while the first three market units went to Whistlerites, that trend may not last.

Over the past month, the Whistler 2020 Development Corporation has started to ramp up advertising, and Redmond is starting to see interest from people living in Victoria and Seattle.

“We only marketed the townhomes and lots for a very brief time in October of last year, just before VANOC took exclusive use of the site,” said Redmond.

“We really didn’t advertise them very much at all. All we did was let people know they are available. We didn’t do any advertising or promotions until just recently.”

Revenue from the market housing has been earmarked to go towards the entire neighborhood’s construction costs.

Redmond said there is about $17 million worth of market townhomes being sold. The serviced lots are expected to bring in about $16 million.

“I am expecting that probably 75 per cent of the townhomes will be sold by fall,” he said. “And the lots will probably take a bit longer, because there is an awful lot of product on the market right now in Whistler. The lots will probably take until 2012.”

Meanwhile, the asphalt plant situation has not hampered sales of the market units significantly, said Redmond.

Over the past six months, 24 potential buyers weren’t able to close because “their situation had changed,” he said. And another three people said they had a concern over the asphalt plant and decided not to close.

“I think that may in fact be an excuse,” said Redmond. “It is a lot easier to say, ‘I don’t like the asphalt plant’ then to say, ‘I’ve lost my job and I can’t afford it.’ But I don’t know about that for sure. I am guessing.”

He said everyone right now is speculating on what the air quality will be like in the neighbourhood a year from now, but every indication is that people won’t notice it at all.

“Certainly we haven’t had any concerns about reselling them,” said Redmond about the homes people have decided not to close on. “The homes that people said they couldn’t close have all been sold again.”

Cheakamus residents organizing into political force

By Jesse Ferreras

Cheakamus residents are massing into a vocal political force in their bid to run an asphalt plant out of Whistler.

A cacophonous meeting at the Hilton Whistler Resort and Spa saw just over 20 residents gather to provide feedback and ideas how to move forward with their plan.

The meeting was led by Tim Koshul, who presided over a buzzing room of future residents at Cheakamus Crossing who feel they’ve been “lied to and betrayed” by the municipality because it has plunked a neighbourhood of employee housing near an asphalt plant.

All residents were informed of the plant when they signed disclosure statements, but they were also told that Whistler council was looking at options for moving it.

Among other things, the group has obtained a series of documents that indicate staff at the Resort Municipality of Whistler (RMOW) haven’t always been keen on allowing an asphalt plant in their midst.

The documents included minutes from a meeting of the Advisory Planning Commission (APC), which used to advise council on land use and zoning bylaws.

Discussing a 1998 attempt by Sabre Transport Ltd. to obtain zoning that would allow asphalt and concrete plants on a land tenure it held in the Cheakamus area, commission members were cool to the idea, saying that Whistler’s Official Community Plan was drawn up to encourage “clean” industries and that asphalt and concrete production were “questionable” in a resort setting.

Other memos obtained by the group include an email from Planning Technician Chris Bishop to Sandra Smith, who now works in the municipality’s bylaws department. It warned that Sabre didn’t get much support at the APC and that it could try to operate concrete and asphalt plants illegally.

The memos appear to contradict a legal opinion obtained by the RMOW, which states among other things that the plant’s operator, Frank Silveri, would have a strong case in court if he were asked to move.

Aside from weighing these documents, the group is also looking to rebrand itself. They’re loosely known as NAP, an acronym for “No Asphalt Plant” and a reference to the idea that they believe someone at the RMOW was “napping” when they allowed to asphalt plant to operate at the site.

One option they’re considering is Whistler Air Quality Advocates, or WAQA for short. That was the most popular suggestion at the Thursday meeting but the group didn’t settle on anything by the time it was over.

The central aim of the group is to stop the asphalt plant from running in Whistler but there’s also an appetite among some members to eliminate all heavy industry within the community. Others, however, argued that the group should narrow its focus.

Beyond a debate about its name and mission, the group discussed other steps they could take to stop the asphalt plant from operating. The group may contract a lawyer to serve the municipality with a Letter of Intent stating that the asphalt plant does not have a right to operate in Whistler, but that could cost them about $2,500.

Koshul told the meeting that he’s contacted Ecojustice Canada, a non-profit environmental law firm that works to protect and strengthen environmental regulations. He added, however, that Ecojustice is busy working on issues around the oil sands and didn’t have the resources to assist in the asphalt issue.

One of the last comments of the meeting came from future resident Sebastien Fremont, one of the more prominent voices advocating against the asphalt plant. He said there’s a view in the municipality that Cheakamus residents are “just complaining” and that they “must change that perception.”

“When I talk to a lot of people that bought into the athletes’ village, when I talk to people that I work with, the view that is out there right now is that we are still just complaining,” he said.

“It’s great to be talking about lawyers and spending $2,500 but if we don’t change that, we will always just be (seen as) the whiners in the dark corner.”

‘No Asphalt Plant’ open house today

Residents to discuss ways to handle rezoning application

By Claire Piech

Impassioned future residents of the Cheakamus Crossing neighbourhood continue to push forward their concerns over a nearby asphalt plant.

On Monday, homeowner Tim Koshul announced his plan to hold an open house at the Hilton Whistler Resort and Spa Hotel today, Thursday, June 10. The open house will start at 7 p.m.

“I am not comfortable with this thing,” said Koshul. “Something is not right, and we will get to the bottom of it.”

At the public meeting residents will discuss how to formally organize themselves to protest the deal between the Resort Municipality of Whistler and Frank Silveri, the owner of Whistler Alpine Paving Ltd. and Whistler Aggregates Ltd.

Through the deal, signed on May 13, the plant will be relocated behind a hill 150 metres south of its current site. The agreement also includes a stringent new air quality bylaw to be implemented by Oct. 31.

The resident group will likely be called No Asphalt Plant (NAP), said Koshul, to comment on the fact “someone was napping at the municipality and Whistler Development Corporation” when the decision was made to allow the asphalt plant to continue operating near the neighbourhood.

During the open house NAP residents will also flesh out ways to handle the rezoning application when it comes before council later this summer.

Koshul explained many of the residents would prefer to keep the asphalt plant at the present location, since Silveri’s tenure currently ends in 2017. No timeline has yet been proposed for the new location, however, but many believe the compromise will extend his stay beyond 2017.

“If you rezone him then he is there forever,” said Koshul. “But if you leave him where he is, I think we have a good opportunity to have him moved out of Whistler.”

To keep tabs on the air quality, Koshul is also working to bring in an air quality specialist.

Koshul wants to use a “Bucket Brigade,” an air sample device housed inside a five-gallon plastic budget. The apparatus was developed in Northern California in 1995 as a cheap way for communities to test for toxic gases.

Either the Louisiana Bucket Brigade or Global Community Monitor will likely be hired to carry out the tests.

“We are arranging to fly them up here so we can start doing some air quality tests this summer,” said Koshul. “I think it is a good idea because people are moving in this fall… If he (Silveri) has nothing to hide then he has nothing to worry about.”

The NAP residents also have created 300 pins to draw attention to their protest. The simple black and white pins read: “I heart clear air – No Asphalt Plant in Whistler!” and were handed out during Enviro Fest.

“They were gone like hot cakes,” said Koshul, who only had seven left after the festival.

Koshul put the final pins into marked envelopes, which he then delivered to the six Whistler councillors as well as Mayor Ken Melamed on Monday at Municipal Hall.

Cheakamus owners outraged over asphalt decision

But 150-metre relocation was the only realistic option, says mayor

By Claire Piech

After listening to outraged Cheakamus Crossing homeowners vent their concerns regarding the nearby asphalt plant for nearly three hours Tuesday night, a visibly tired Mayor Ken Melamed said there was one thing he would like to stress.

“We are quite sympathetic,” Melamed said following Tuesday’s council meeting.

“We are not in an argument with the community. We agree with the community and we are not debating the issue. We were faced with one decision and one decision only, and that option goes a long way to address it. It may not go as far as council wanted, but it goes a long way to addressing the issue.”

The municipality announced May 13 that it has entered into an agreement with Alpine Paving Ltd. to relocate its asphalt plant 150 metres south of its current site. The agreement includes a stringent new air quality bylaw, to be implemented by the municipality by Oct. 31, that Alpine Paving must comply with.

At the end of the day, council believes Cheakamus Crossing will be a great neighbourhood and a happy place for people to live, said Melamed.

“We have learned about the science and the health and safety, and we hope that people come to terms with their choice and the legacy will prove itself out.”

But the deal didn’t satisfy many people who will move into their new homes in Cheakamus Crossing this fall.

The anger was tangible during Tuesday’s animated meeting which saw 50 emotional homeowners come to MY Millennium Place armed with reasons why an active asphalt plant should not be allowed to operate near their new neighbourhood.

Concerns ranged from the zoning, to how will the new emissions bylaw will be enforced, to the number of trucks travelling the road near Cheakamus Crossing in the summer. Over the course of the evening, 15 individuals got up to the podium to ask their questions – many of them repeatedly.

Patricia Westerholm, one of the most persistent voices throughout the night, expressed her severe disappointment the following morning over mayor and council’s decisions.

“I think they paid us lip service in the fall so we would pay our deposits and not make a fuss during the Olympics,” said Westerholm, a mother of three who purchased in the Cheakamus Crossing neighourhood. “They have turned around and defied us, and I feel blind-sided, and defeated, and sad.”

For her, the issue now goes beyond the asphalt plant.

Among her concerns, she pointed to the fact that council has held 31 public meetings and 45 closed meetings in 2009 and 2010.

“Discovering that this council holds more closed meetings than they do regular council meetings was shocking for me,” said Westerholm. “There are problems with the process that need to be dealt with as well.”

At council’s April 20 meeting nine options for the asphalt plant were presented. Council referred the report back to staff, who were expected to come back with recommendations.

But at a closed-door session last week council agreed on the deal with Alpine Paving. According to Melamed, the deal is finalized and the paper work has been signed.

Through the deal, Frank Silveri, the owner of Alpine Paving, has agreed to pay $1 million to upgrade the plant, with the municipality contributing approximately $400,000 so far in legal costs.

Alpine Paving will cease most of its operations by September and the plant will be completely moved by April 30, 2011.

The plant will also have to reduce its emissions to meet a proposed air quality bylaw, and the municipality will test the air at Cheakamus Crossing and post the results online by next summer.

Many residents have been rallying regarding the politics surrounding the asphalt plant.

The Cheakamus Crossing Facebook group has seen a flurry of activity and residents met privately in a “closed door” session on Monday night to discuss their options. They have started sending out letters to national media and they plan to come out again with their concerns at the municipality’s open house today (May 20).

While last week’s move appeared to go against council’s statement to the community last month, that they were reviewing the nine options, Melamed said there was no alterative.

“This was a very sensitive negotiation and it needed to be signed to ensure our ability to deliver on this option,” said the mayor. “The alternative was the status quo and that was not a place we were prepared to go.”

Even though the municipality is not allowed to release the vote at last week’s closed-door session, two councillors at the table on Tuesday night expressed their frustration with the process.

“I am not going to support this one going forward,” said an angry Councillor Eckhard Zeidler.

“All we are doing is ensuring more and more of something that is going in the wrong direction. There seems to be two Whistlers. There is one Whistler where things at one point in time that are possibilities become impossibilities. What I have heard tonight is that something is impossible, or that it can’t happen, or that it is out of the question.

“In the Whistler I live in, we don’t do end-of-pipe solutions. We get to the source.”

Councillor Ralph Forsyth shared his sentiments.

Despite Forsyth and Zeidler’s objections, the majority of council voted to go ahead this week with the 150-metre move. Staff was directed to prepare an emission control bylaw and start an ambient air testing program in the spring of 2011.

Municipal staff also said once these measures are in place, the air quality at Cheakamus Crossing will likely be better than at Meadow Park Sports Centre.

Today’s open house starts at 5 p.m. at Cheakamus Crossing and will include a tour of the asphalt plant and rock quarry. Representatives from the Ministry of Environment, Alpine Paving and the municipality will be on hand to field questions.

Agreement details

The asphalt plant agreement states that Alpine Paving must move the plant to its new site by April 30, 2011; complete major paving projects by Sept. 30 of this year; and cease manufacturing asphalt at the current site by Nov. 30, 2010.

Alpine Paving is also being directed to carry out site preparation for the facility so that the company is ready for the 2011 paving season. The municipality will implement a zoning amendment by Oct. 31 to allow the relocation.

The municipality will also adopt a new emissions control bylaw by Oct. 31 this year. The bylaw will set the same emission criteria as Metro Vancouver, which the municipality calls the “strictest in the province.” Ambient air testing will begin at Cheakamus Crossing in the spring of 2011.

To meet the new emission standards Alpine Paving will upgrade its facility with a baghouse and other infrastructure or equipment. The new baghouse – a fabric filter system – removes and collects dust from the plant. According to the RMOW’s release this system is considered 90 per cent more effective than the current wet scrubber system, which involves droplets of water being sprayed into the exhaust to remove particulates.

The municipality has spent between $30,000 and $40,000 on background studies into the possibility of moving the asphalt plant.