Project Scope
4,901 hectares (Squamish currently encompasses 11,730 hectares)
2 (18 hole) golf courses
25 ski lifts (more than Whistler & Blackcomb combined)
22,000 bed units, including 5,739 new housing units
(about 6,000 homes exist in Squamish today)
500,000 sq feet of commercial space to be built on highway
Issues
- Population increase – could almost double the population of Squamish in a relatively short period
- Urban sprawl – GAS proposal completely discordant with Smart Growth principles as outlined in current growth management plans for SLRD and District of Squamish
- Greenhouse gas emissions – huge CO2 generation in construction and operation, especially servicing of resort and ski visits up to the ridge
- Climate change - Helm Glacier in Garibaldi Park has reached its greatest annual snow melt. It is projected that snow cover in the next 20 years will radically shrink.
- Loss and fragmentation of wildlife habitat – Brohm Ridge, Brohm Lake and Cat Lake wildlife areas permanently lost due to 5,739 housing units, ski runs, commercial development and golf courses
- Integrity of Garibaldi Provincial Park compromised – construction of ski hill and increased access to park threatens sensitive ecosystems and wildlife populations such as grizzlies and mountain goats in park area
- Golf course chemicals – fertilizers and pesticides pose serious health risk to humans and wildlife, result in pollution of waterways, potential drinking water contamination
- Air quality concerns – increased traffic on highway and up to Brohm Ridge; decreased CO2 absorption from loss of large forested area
- Insufficient info on water supply – only 1 full year of stream flow data collected; knowledge of amount and consistency of water availability therefore insufficient. Lack of water flow data means that the impact on fish further downstream cannot be calculated by Department of Fisheries and Oceans
- Possible water shortages – projected per person consumption unrealistically low; emergency firefighting requirements and dry periods not accounted for
- Fish habitat threatened – insufficient data to determine impacts of water withdrawal on fish habitat in Brohm and Cheekeye Rivers; proposed mitigation measures inadequate
- Waste water effluent released into Cheekeye – just north of where it joins the Cheakamus; a river already loaded with effluent from Whistler
- Lack of research – studies on effects of development on sensitive ecosystems and threatened species inadequate
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