Dear Editor,

As a 40-year resident of Whistler I feel it is high time to weigh in on the tiresome subject of the Whistler asphalt plant. This has been one of the most emotional and hysterical issues ever to hit Whistler and the debate lacks truth and common sense.

History of Function Junction — Function Junction has a very interesting history. In fact, Myrtle Philip told me that John Millar was one of Whistler’s first residents and he lived in Function Junction near what is now called Millar Creek. John was apparently a Texan on the lamb from the law in the USA. I first visited Function Junction in the late ’70s with Roger the Dodger Grantham, one of the most colourful residents we have ever had and I also lived part time with Lyle Featheringston and Rene Paquet in a geodesic dome. Later, Brian Allen and Sue Quigley became squatters on the Cheakamus River and after living non-conforming residential use for many years, they were able to purchase Crown lands and get zoning for the house and shop that Brian built. I participated in the first Official Community Plan where we put Service/Commercial in the Function Junction area as it was obvious that there were few other places in the valley with road and rail access, gravel deposits, water etc. In 1975, the first RMOW Council wisely chose to put the sewer treatment plant in Function Junction. In 1978, my firm Ecosign designed the Whistler Industrial Park, which is now Function Junction. At Function you can hire a lawyer, buy some hardware or even take home some concrete for the weekend.

Community Needs — We need industrial uses and products in our own community. The sewage treatment plant, gravel extraction, concrete production and yes, asphalt are among these needs. There is nothing sustainable about moving all of our “dirty laundry” to other communities. What is sustainable about trucking in our needs long haul from other communities? Sort of like flying in bottled water from Italy.

Employee Housing — I have worked on some 350 different mountain resorts in 35 countries of the world and I can assure you that Whistler has the most aggressive target of all mountain resort towns to house 75 per cent of our workers and their families. In Colorado, these folks would be living 30 to 50 kilometres down valley in a trailer park in Basalt, Carbondale or Avon. I think what we have accomplished at Cheakamus Crossing is a tremendous benefit to our community.

Olympic Legacy — Whistler got three huge legacies from the 2010 Olympic Winter Games:

• A safe Highway 99 with shorter travel time and more capacity;

• Whistler Olympic Park, a new offering for Nordic sports for our community which matches perfectly with the demographics of the aging baby boomers. A great venue which we are all proud of;

• Cheakamus Crossing. For those of you who don’t know the history, in 2003 VANOC had a need to house 2,600 athletes, coaches and technicians and so they knew they had to find land, build all basic infrastructure and the original concept was to put temporary housing in modular homes. The Whistler Housing Authority saw an opportunity to use the land and the infrastructure and with some additional funds from VANOC made a “kick ass” athletes’ village that would become resident housing afterwards. I had a number of friends on the Swiss Olympic team that told me the Whistler Athletes Village was the best accommodation in the history of Winter Olympic Games. The Whistler 2020 Development Corp. designed and built over 300 high-quality housing units, 91 per cent of which are for purchase or rent for qualified residents and just nine per cent are market housing to help pay the bills. The RMOW taxpayers supported this great idea with commensurate great risk to the tune of a $100 million loan, which still has tens of millions of dollars owing. This tremendous opportunity and the financial risk taken by Whistler taxpayers has been rewarded by the whines and screams of a very small but extremely vocal self-interest group. To me, it is so disappointing that such a great project has been denigrated by the few lucky souls who get great housing for $235 per square foot, which is between 25 and 50 per cent of market rates. Where is the justice in all of this madness?

Natural Product or Toxic Poison — I am not sure how gravel and asphalt have gotten such a bad name here in Whistler. Asphalt, more commonly called bitumen, is a naturally occurring material in almost all natural petroleum products and also occurs in natural deposits. Asphalt or bitumen was used by the ancient Egyptians to embalm mummies. So, this is a product that is natural and has been around for a long time. Asphalt, along with concrete, is one of the most commonly used building materials in first, second and third world countries. Everyone touches asphalt. I ride my bike daily on asphalt, my wife and dog walk on it and kids play hockey in the streets on it. The screams of “toxic airborne particles landing on our homes and children” is in my mind hysterical bunk. This is not plutonium being stored by the CIA from America. The rhetoric is obviously a ploy to enhance the lives and importantly the investments of people who read the disclosure statement in bold, black oversized lettering that the asphalt plant has been there for several decades and it will remain there. This self-interest group now demands that RMOW taxpayers move the asphalt plant and any and all costs. Sweet deal if you can get it.

Weather — I find the discussions about weather in Whistler to be comical to say the least. Perhaps these potential new residents simply have not had the opportunity to live in Whistler. Let’s get one thing straight: Whistler is not really a valley; it is actually a high mountain pass. Alta Lake is the pass between rivers that flow south to Squamish and north to Pemberton. I have lived on Alta Lake for 39 years and I see very well the few times when the wind is not blowing in our valley. High pressure brings strong north winds, low pressure systems bring south winds and even on nice summer days, convection heating and cooling stirs up the winds in our “pass.” This is one windy valley and is not like the box canyons of Aspen or Telluride that trap particulates of all kinds. The residents of Cheakamus Crossing can be assured that the air will be exchanged in their community at least 10 times per hour on most days and it will never be completely calm for more than about four hours.

I disagree vehemently that we taxpayers need to provide even more subsidized lifestyles to the workers and their families that we have helped so much to bring into our community. We need to get our fiscal house in order. The RMOW has spent like drunken sailors for the Olympics and our muni staff costs have doubled in just eight years. The party is over and we need to work toward economic sustainability to match our environmental record.

If the Cheakamus Crossing purchasers want to move the asphalt plant for $20 million and pay all damages, then they should pay to move it, not us taxpayers. We have already played a most significant role.

In summary, I fully support the Official Community Plan Amendment Bylaw (Material Extraction) No. 1931, 2009 and the Zoning Amendment Bylaw (Asphalt and Aggregate Processing) No. 1930, 2009.

If the SUBNIMBYs (Subsidized Not In My Back Yards) do not want to live in Function Junction, Whistler’s historical industrial site, then they don’t have to. Period!

Paul Mathews

Whistler