Out of the pages and pages of community feedback gathered through online questionnaires and an in-person open house during Phase 2 of the enhanced rezoning process for Whistler's 4500 Northlands Boulevard, one clear theme emerged: people want to see a racket sports facility remain in Whistler—preferably, in the village.
The rezoning process for the 5.2-hectare parcel is heading into Phase 3 following a council meeting late last month, when Whistler’s elected officials received their first official glimpse at that public input. Aside from the Whistler Racket Club that currently operates onsite, the sizable piece of Beedie Living-owned land just north of Whistler Village sits mostly empty.
Property developer Beedie doesn’t have the same obligation to maintain existing courts or to build a world-class tennis facility that the site's then-owners did three-and-a-half decades ago. Instead, the current owner envisions the project as mixed-residential housing, as was proposed in a pair of initial site proposals released during Phase 2.
In both renderings, townhouses and low- and mid-rise housing surrounded a central green space, while employee housing and community and commercial uses were proposed in a “community hub” located on the southeast portion of the site. Each plan called for underground parking and minimal roadways, and emphasized connections to the existing trail network for foot and bike traffic. What was missing from each concept was space for racket sports facilities. That omission struck a nerve with dozens of passionate WRC supporters who turned up to a June 2022 council meeting to advocate for the inclusion of a racket sport facility within the resort, and who have followed the development closely ever since.
Phase 3 of the project calls for the development of a preferred rezoning concept for the site, followed by another round of community engagement once that plan is ready to be shared. Whistler Mayor Jack Crompton is anticipating to see some form of recreation facility included in that yet-to-be-designed rezoning concept.
“I think Councillor [Ralph] Forsyth said it well for me: no less than what we have, as far as the recreation amenity is concerned,” Crompton said during the Feb. 21 council meeting. “That’s really guided my thinking as we’ve considered this.”
So, just in case there hasn't been enough public consultation already, Pique polled more than 1,400 online readers last week, asking the question: How do you envision the future of the Whistler Racket Club?
The poll ran from Feb. 24 to March 3. Of the 1,437 votes, 275 came from IP addresses within Whistler.
More than 56 per cent of local respondents said they would like to see a racket sports facility included in any the Northlands development (12 per cent of those think the Whistler Racket Club's existing facility should be maintained, while 45 per cent would prefer to see a new facility built, compared to more than 12 per cent and almost 55 per cent of total respondents, respectively.)
Thirty-eight per cent of local respondents would instead prefer to see a new racket sports facility built elsewhere in the valley, in order to maximize space for new housing at Northlands, compared to about 27 per cent of total respondents who chose the same option.
Only about 5 per cent of respondents said Whistler does not need a racket club.
The full results are as follows:
Results are based on an online study of adult Pique Newsmagazine readers that are located in Whistler. The margin of error - which measures sample variability - is +/- 2.42%, 19 times out of 20.
Pique Newsmagazine uses a variety of techniques to capture data, detect and prevent fraudulent votes, detect and prevent robots, and filter out non-local and duplicate votes.
