Dan Harmon and his family were excited to make the move back to Whistler after being pre-approved for an employee unit at a new housing project in Nordic. They even sold their Pemberton home in October, weeks before the developer’s promised pre-Christmas move-in.
But as that date approached, Harmon still hadn’t been able to pin down the developer, Robert Velenosi, on the final sales price for the unit at 2077 Garibaldi Way, called The Landing. It wasn’t long before his alarm bells started going off.
“We had our suspicions early on, but there was never any communication from the developer in the months leading up to this that his intention was to increase the price,” said Harmon.
On Tuesday, Dec. 17, Whistler’s mayor and council flatly rejected a request from Velenosi to increase the maximum allowable price for the project’s 14 employee-restricted units by 16.1 per cent, more than two years after a binding housing agreement and covenant were inked.
“It’s been a very tough period in the building world, so I have sympathy for developers, absolutely, in this climate, but a deal’s a deal,” said Coun. Cathy Jewett, who also serves as chair of the Whistler Valley Housing Society.
Velenosi’s unprecedented request at such a late stage comes at a time of escalating costs for builders, one of the reasons the developer cited for wanting to modify the covenant. In a July 18 meeting with municipal staff, Velenosi reportedly expressed concern he had to absorb a substantial increase in construction costs since the housing agreement was finalized in 2022. The 16.1-per-cent increase he requested reflects the change in construction price indexes over that period for townhouses in metropolitan areas. If approved, the increase would have bumped the initial max sales price from $591.53 per square foot to $681.53, representing more than $120,000 in additional expected costs for prospective buyers.
“Raising the price by 16 per cent will significantly change the affordability of these homes, and it will mean we can no longer afford to purchase a unit,” said Alon Greenberg at Tuesday’s council meeting.
Buyers could have faced further headaches if a new max price was set, which would have required a new housing agreement that municipal staff said wouldn’t be possible until Jan. 23 at the earliest.
“Interested buyers have taken the necessary steps to purchase these units and are facing housing insecurity and delays that will challenge expected occupancy,” said municipal planning director Melissa Laidlaw.
In justifying such an unusual move just days before prospective buyers believed they would be signing a contract, Velenosi pointed to another mixed-use development at Nordic, 5298 Alta Lake Road. That project did have its housing agreement modified, but it was reconsidered for reasons specific to the project, “not to absorb rising construction costs,” explained Laidlaw. In that case, the agreement was modified for two primary reasons: added costs associated with the RMOW mandating the building of public washrooms in an adjacent park as a community amenity; and because of more than a year of delays in processing the application due to the RMOW not meeting its statutory requirements applicable to the Official Community Plan amendment bylaw.
Although the Landing was considered under the RMOW’s Private Sector Employee Housing Initiative, an effort to recruit developers to build resident-restricted housing on underdeveloped private lands, Velenosi argued he should be able to pass on increased costs to purchasers in the same way the Whistler Housing Authority and Whistler Development Corporation do. However, given both are municipal subsidiaries, they are unable to take on the same level of financial risk, a staff report said. As part of the housing agreement Velenosi signed, the developer also has six market units to sell as part of The Landing, along with the 14 employee units.
“This was a fully transparent procedure, and the developer was granted significant market density as part of the approval,” said Mayor Jack Crompton. “The deal is a good one, and I want to just say how excited I am to see people move into these homes. This is a good news story about a project that will see families be able to stay in this community and continue to contribute in really important ways.”
After the developer’s request was voted down, staff expect the pre-sales process for 2077 Garibaldi Way to continue as planned.
