While B.C. Environment Minister Mary Polak’s decision in June that halted work on the $1 billion Jumbo project in the Kootenays didn’t kill plans for a smaller version of the ski resort, critics say it highlighted the “shell game” that is dysfunctional government bureaucracy.
Others fear it will create the perception that Victoria will effectively give First Nations a veto on major projects.
Polak ruled that Jumbo’s developers, Glacier Resorts Ltd. (GRL), had not “substantially started” work on the project by an October deadline, which meant that they would have to write reports from scratch and apply for a new environmental certificate.
She did not take into account that changing government policies and bureaucratic obstacles gave GRL a mere five weeks to do the work, said GRL senior vice-president Grant Costello.
Polak said in a conference call that there was no legal guideline for what a “substantial start” to construction would look like. She based her assessment on what she saw during an October site visit and compared that to what developers had said they would complete in Phase 1.
GRL was granted an environmental certificate in 2004 but did not get Victoria’s approval to start construction until 2012. That left two potential summers to get work done, but Costello said government bureaucrats stymied that development in both summers.
Project opponents complained in 2013 that GRL was breaching its environmental certificate by artificially modifying the Jumbo glacier with heavy equipment. That prompted B.C. Environment Ministry staff to spend most of the summer investigating the complaint and preventing work until the investigation was complete, Costello told Business in Vancouver.
“By the time they had completed their investigation, we had lost the construction window.”
He added that Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations staff built a culvert in April 2014 on a road to the site and barred GRL from accessing the site until late August. That killed all but five weeks of the construction window, Costello said.
B.C.’s Forests Ministry sent a statement to BIV saying that both the government and GRL have “ongoing obligations” to maintain the Jumbo Forest Service Road.
“These obligations include maintaining the road bed and structures such as bridges and culverts to ensure public safety and the protection of the environment,” the ministry said in a statement.
On June 18, Polak urged GRL to update reports and reapply to her ministry for an environmental certificate.
But, said Costello, “We don’t want to be subjected to a kind of shell game where it’s like finding the pea under the pod. Where’s the permit? Oh, it’s not here.”
GRL is considering its legal options and reducing the size of the resort so it won’t require an environmental certificate.
“If we have to downsize to get out of this pickle, we’re losing hundreds of millions of dollars in potential revenue,” Costello said. “There are damages that somebody has to be responsible for.”
GRL originally expected its completed ski resort to have 23 lifts, a 3,000-metre-high gondola and 5,500 beds.
While the Shuswap Indian Band supported the project, the Ktunaxa Nation Council opposed it.
Polak made clear in a conference call that her assessment of whether the project had met the threshold of a “substantial start” was based on work completed by GRL and not opposition from First Nations and anyone else.
She did, however, read submissions from GRL, the Ktunaxa and the Shuswap.
Business advocates argue that the B.C. government has not made it clear that the public interest outweighs aboriginal opposition when it comes to major projects.
“There is more than just First Nations at the table,” said BC Chamber of Commerce CEO John Winter. “There’s also the Crown, and the Crown has a duty, in our view, to accept and acknowledge the Supreme Court’s Tsilhqot’in decision for what it is.”
That decision last year involved the Tsilhqot’in First Nation and was deemed a game-changer because it was the first time Canada’s court recognized aboriginal title. The decision also set out a mechanism for the Crown to override that title in the public interest.
Other B.C. ski resort proposals inch closer to reality
Proponents behind several new B.C. ski resorts are determined that their dreams not litter the province’s mountains as have the aspirations of countless other development groups through the decades.
They’re aware that projects such as Canoe Mountain in the Rockies and Cayoosh Mountain between Whistler and Lillooet were long touted but ended in frustration for developers who eventually folded their tents.
(Image: Proponents of the Valemount Glacier Resort want to build a gondola that would provide access to Twilight Glacier with access to the right of this unnamed peak)
Valemount Glacier Resort (VGL) proponents are likely the group closest to getting provincial government approval to put shovels in the ground.
They have already signed an interim agreement with the B.C. government and are scheduled to hold a final open house in Valemount on July 2.
“We’re just about to submit the final draft of the master plan,” resort planner and Pheidias Project Management vice-president Tommaso Oberti, whose firm also worked to develop Jumbo Glacier Resort.
VGL proponents include investors such as longtime mining executive Stephen Leahy and real estate tycoon Hunter Milborne.
If the B.C. government is quick with the approval, construction could start next year on the $100 million project that would include a ski lift, gondola, restaurant and day lodge. Different developers would then invest to build lodgings.
(Image: This day lodge is part of a master plan that Valemount Glacier Resort proponents are readying to submit to the provincial government)
Both the community and area First Nations support the year-round glacier skiing initiative, and the project is small enough that it doesn’t need to go through the onerous process of getting an environmental assessment certificate.
“In B.C., there’s still no year-round glacier skiing,” Oberti told BIV on June 23 as he explained the rationale for the project.
“There’s also no sightseeing viewpoint anywhere in North America where you can see an impressive glacier from the top as opposed to from the bottom, which you can do in the Columbia Icefield.”
Garibaldi at Squamish Inc.’s (GAS) ski resort proposal is also inching along and has no clear First Nations opposition.
It also has the helpful backing of deep-pocketed backers at Aquilini Investment Group (AIG) and Northland Properties, whose founders have known each other for decades.
Proponents at GAS completed public hearings on June 22 and have submitted an application for an environmental certificate.
GAS vice-chairman Wolfgang Richter anticipates getting that certificate by October.
Then comes a two-track process to get provincial government approval.
The group is finalizing its master plan, which it will submit within the next year to the B.C. government and the District of Squamish simultaneously in an effort to speed the process.
It needs Squamish to extend its boundaries to include the Crown land where the resort is proposed and then to zone the area for the project, Richter said.
The zoning is required for the master plan to get B.C. government approval.
Squamish Mayor Patricia Heintzman has had reservations about the project because she doubts there is enough snow and fears that the district will be left holding the bag to maintain sewers and roads if the resort fails.
If GAS submits its master plan by mid-2016 and Squamish agrees to extend its boundaries, Richter said the B.C. government could approve the project by spring 2017. Construction could then start in summer 2017.
The third proponent group determined to realize the dream of building a new B.C. ski resort are the persistent folk at Glacier Resorts Ltd., who want to build Jumbo Glacier Resort even if it has to be scaled down from the original vision.•
