Plan unveiled for price-controlled development
Clare Ogilvie
Province
WHISTLER — The master plan for the Athletes’ Village at the 2010 Winter Olympics has received mixed reactions.
“I think it is fantastic, really fantastic, really exciting,” said Whistler resident Dave Halliwell.
Most locals are embracing the plan that would see the village turned into price-controlled housing after the Games
“When you look at the cost of real estate in Whistler, the opportunity for us to build a whole bunch of affordable housing is really incredible,” said Halliwell.
But not everyone was happy with what they saw Wednesday.
“I am absolutely, totally opposed,” said Peter Alder, who has worked in the ski industry for more than 40 years and consulted at the Calgary Olympics.
“I mean, who is going to pay for this? We don’t need a thing like this so far away from other people.”
Under the plan, the village would be built opposite Whistler’s industrial area and adjacent to the town dump, which closes in November. During the Games, the reclaimed dump will be used for parking lots. Post-Games, it will become parklands and playing fields.
The Vancouver Organizing Committee is contributing $26 million toward the village, which will house 3,000 athletes and officials, and another $13 million for the Athlete’s Centre, a permanent facility for those training at the resort.
Rising construction costs have raised concerns about whether the resort can build the housing as it promised. In a worst-case scenario, temporary facilities would be used for the Games and VANOC’s contribution would pay to service the site for future development.
Steve Matheson, VANOC’s senior vice-president of venue development, says he wants to see the housing built.
“We think there is a great opportunity to produce legacy housing, and we are going to spend a lot of our efforts working with the [resort] to see if we can make this happen,” he said.
© The Vancouver Province 2005