The "Welcome to Pemberton" sign that lies between Whistler and Pemberton may be moving—closer to Pemberton
During its Jan. 28 regular meeting, Village of Pemberton (VOP) council directed staff to move forward with a Crown land lease application to relocate the sign to a new location near the top of One Mile Lake Park hill.
During her presentation to council, Nikki Gilmore, chief administrative officer of the VOP, said the new location makes sense for the VOP and will facilitate needed maintenance of the sign.
"One of the reasons I asked staff to explore a location a little bit closer [to the Village] was so that we could potentially add some flowers and make sure we're able to do regular maintenance [of the sign]," said Gilmore.
Moreover, according to a staff report that accompanied the report, the current location (about 13 kilometres south of Pemberton) can give visitors "a false sense of arrival."
Gilmore added that there was money set aside to refurbish the sign in 2019, but due to workload constraints (in 2019 staff were very busy with the downtown enhancement project), staff was unable to get to it.
The "Welcome to Pemberton" signs have an interesting history, which was laid out in a staff report to council.
The Pemberton and District Chamber of Commerce initiated the "gateway sign project" in June 2013. The project saw signs installed at the southern and northern ends of the VOP municipal boundary and received financial support from the VOP.
However, as there was no final agreement between the VOP and Chamber, "little to no maintenance" was undertaken on the signs, and in October 2019 ownership was transferred to the VOP, according to the report.
Councillor Ted Craddock said he felt "truly disappoint[ed]" at the way things unfolded, adding that the experience should serve as a lesson to council about challenges that can arise when the VOP partners with organizations on projects
There have been a couple other times, over the years, where the VOP has entered into "good faith" partnerships, only to have the initiative end up becoming fully the responsibility of the VOP, he said.
"The sign is just another indication of how we've got to be a little bit more careful with the taxpayer money," said Craddock.
Moving forward the VOP would like to include French and Ucwalmícwts on its signage.
It also passed a motion to look into a design that would incorporate these languages.
Council chose to defer making any motions with regards to its northern "Welcome to Pemberton" sign, citing the need to carry on ongoing discussions with Lil'wat Nation.
While the wheels appear to be in motion, it could be a while before visitors see a new "Welcome to Pemberton" sign south of the community.
"Initial inquiries to the province regarding the application process suggested that timelines to obtain a Crown land tenure through the community institutional program could take up to two years," read the staff report.
VAPING PRODUCTS RESOLUTION
With teen vaping an issue in Pemberton (as it appears to across the country) VOP council received an extensive staff report outlining current regulatory efforts. It, however, declined to move forward a motion designed to curb teen vaping.
"It's becoming a very serious issue across North America and other countries," said Sheena Fraser, the VOP's manager of corporate and legislative affairs, in a presentation to council.
Fraser also noted the limited abilities local government have when it comes to regulating vaping.
(Local government does not have the jurisdiction to regulate or ban the sale of vaping products or control how they are advertised. These abilities fall within the jurisdiction of the provincial and federal government.)
Staff therefore recommended that council develop a motion for this year's Lower Mainland Local Government Association (LMLGA) meeting in May to ask the province to increase the legal age limit for purchasing vaping products from 19 to 21.
While council expressed gratitude at the in-depth report prepared by staff, it did not support staff's resolution recommendation.
Richman noted that people younger than 19 are already gaining access to vaping products, so that the age restriction would have little practical impact.
"I agree with the mayor, I don't think that raising it to 21 is going to do anything," said Craddock, who first put forward the request to have staff look into the issue. "I'm more concerned with really young teenagers."
STUDENT-BUILT HOME PROJECT
VOP Council also gave fourth and final readings to two amendments that will enable Sea to Sky School District 48 to move forward with a plan to build a single-family home on a small section of Pemberton Secondary School property, located on the corner of Poplar and Aster streets.
"The amendments together would enable the applicant to apply for subdivision which would result in the creation of a new single-family residential lot on Poplar Street that Sea to Sky School District No. 48 would develop," reads the staff report to council.
The agenda package also included the minutes from a Dec. 10 public hearing on the project and two letters regarding the project (one in support and one opposed).
The school district is seeking to use the construction of the home—which will either be used as a teacherage or sold on the market—as an educational opportunity for students.
Students will be given the opportunity to gain hands-on learning experience in multiple trades such as design, construction and landscaping, prior to being involved in the sale, marketing and staging of the new home.
For more information about the project see: Pique, "Council supports school board's plan to subdivide Pemberton Secondary School lot despite reservations," Dec. 14.)
FOURTH QUARTER RESULTS
Council also received quarterly updates from several VOP departments during the meeting. The purpose of the reports is to update council on fourth quarter activity (Oct. 1 to Dec. 31).
Development services issued a total of 19 building permits in the fourth quarter, with the total amount of construction valued at $5,625,385.37.
In 2019, the department processed a total of 83 building permits, permitting $34,732,988.42 in construction. That's up from 78 such permits issued in 2018, for a total of $25,054,114 in construction.
The VOP's operations department was mainly focused on winter snow and ice removal in the fourth quarter.
A major component the department's work involved addressing issues that resulted from the new downtown core configuration.
Staff communicated the requirements for business owners to "refrain from using salt on new concrete sidewalks," and built awareness around appropriate snow dumping areas, said a staff report from Tom Csima, manager of operations and projects.
Recreation services reported an increase in program registrations, with 944 total registrations (representing a gross revenue of $58,135) from September to December 31, 2019.
The VOP Fire Rescue again reported a busy quarter. For the fourth quarter, it responded to 100 incidents, an increase of seven calls over the same period in 2018.
For the year ending in 2019, it responded to a total of 459 incidents. This represents an overall increase of seventy incidents compared to 2018.
