Chapter 4
What it’s about
Ensuring land use and development are effectively managed to reinforce sense of place, protect the natural environment, provide a high quality of life and provide exceptional experiences for visitors.
By focusing on the qualities that make Whistler unique and special, and recognizing our limits to growth, Whistler continues to prosper and maintain its position among the leading mountain resort communities in the world. Through conscious and coordinated efforts, Whistler effectively applies its growth management framework and land use policies to maintain a special blend of community and resort, in balance, connected by mountain culture and deeply held appreciation for Whistler’s mountain environment.
The natural environment that sustains our local biodiversity, provides our connection to nature and sustains Whistler as an attractive mountain destination, has been protected by carefully managing the amount of development, its location, and design and construction, and proactively preserving sensitive areas. This has been achieved by applying a combination of the Whistler Urban Development Containment Area (WUDCA), Whistler Land Use Map and Designations (Schedule A), accommodation capacity limit, criteria for Evaluating Proposals for OCP and Zoning Amendments, and development permit area designations and guidelines, implemented through Whistler’s land use and development bylaws and processes.
Through these tools, and effective community planning (for housing, mobility, recreation, health and wellness, education, and arts and culture), Whistler is able to sustain a robust tourism economy and a highly livable community where residents are able to enjoy a high quality of life and strong sense of belonging. Whistler’s thriving community and protected natural environment provide a strong platform for sharing all that Whistler stands for and has to offer.
Whistler and Blackcomb Mountains continue to be Whistler’s biggest draw, leading the way in innovation and investment in resort recreation offerings. This investment complements the resort community and helps sustain Whistler’s ongoing attraction. The success of the resort and Whistler’s tourism economy underwrite the quality of life that community members enjoy and also contributes significantly to the provincial economy, as well as the prosperity of the Lil’wat Nation and Squamish Nation.
Through careful study, collaborative planning and adopting the concept of a balanced resort and community capacity, Whistler is able to balance the qualitative or experiential aspects of Whistler with the capacities of its infrastructure and systems. The accommodation capacity, measured in bed units, has been carefully managed, and new employee housing provides opportunity for Whistler’s employees to live and work in Whistler, attracting and retaining a stable workforce. The bed base also maintains a diverse and secure supply of high quality visitor accommodations that are available for our guests, and have sustainable occupancies, which support ongoing rejuvenation. Along with our growth management tools, Whistler’s resort and tourism partners work to optimize visitation and utilization of Whistler’s resort community infrastructure within comfortable levels. Whistler is known as a progressive community that considers the ecological footprint of its activities and seeks ways to conserve and minimize use of natural resources.
Important to Whistler’s ongoing success, the Lil’wat Nation and Squamish Nation realize economic benefits in a tangible way, sharing in Whistler’s economic activity and development. Collaborative engagement with the Nations through the Protocol Agreement has also resulted in a greater presence for the Nations in Whistler and a broader awareness of First Nations culture and history.
Community members, First Nations and stakeholders, including Whistler Blackcomb, convene regularly to review community priorities and collaboratively consider and pursue new opportunities that advance Whistler’s progress towards its Community Vision.
Endowed with tremendous natural assets, and two world-class ski mountains, Whistler’s success as a resort community is largely attributable to strong and careful planning and significant investment in infrastructure. Since its incorporation in 1975, the municipality has managed growth and development through its OCP policies and land use regulations to control the location, amount, type and character of development. The foundations of Whistler’s success included early decisions to locate a single town centre—the pedestrian-oriented Whistler Village—at the base of the ski mountains; to secure a core supply of warm beds for Whistler’s visitors; and to establish uses that supported the day-to-day needs of both residents and visitors.
Whistler has experienced tremendous growth and development over the past 43 years, establishing itself as a major international mountain destination and resort community. This period has been characterized by the development of on-mountain recreation facilities, residential and visitor accommodation, commercial and light industrial centres, service infrastructure, seasonal amenities, community facilities and restricted housing for Whistler’s employees.
The 2010 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games-related infrastructure, competition venues and legacies, as well as two new mixed-use neighbourhoods and new industrial lands, have added to the resort community’s development footprint.
Since 1993, the last update of Whistler’s OCP, Whistler’s developed accommodation capacity measured in bed units has grown from 32,085 to 55,491 bed units at year-end 2017. During the same period, the amount of developed commercial space has grown from 1.17 million square feet (108,700 square metres) to 2.56 million square feet (237,800 square metres).
Whistler’s accommodation capacity includes a mix of accommodation types dedicated to visitor accommodation, residential accommodation and employee housing. Approximately 45 per cent (or 26,000 bed units of Whistler’s bed base) is zoned for visitor accommodation. Of this, there is a core hotel accommodation bed base of approximately 7,900 bed units. Through its innovative approaches to achieving employee housing, Whistler has secured 6,430 bed units dedicated to employee occupancy, representing 12 per cent of the total bed base.
With a total approved accommodation capacity at year-end 2017 of 61,561 bed units, Whistler has now reached 90 per cent buildout of its approved development capacity. Close to 40 per cent of the remaining capacity is dedicated to employee housing, primarily in the Cheakamus Crossing neighbourhood.
After experiencing an economic downturn subsequent to the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, Whistler more recently has experienced a sustained period of record-breaking visitation, with average annual occupancy rates for Whistler’s core visitor accommodation base growing from a low of 48 per cent to nearly 70 per cent. With strong increases in summer and off season visitation, Whistler now has reached just over 3.3 million visitors per year.
Whistler has also experienced a significant increase in its permanent population, adding 2,140 permanent residents over the past 10 years, growing from a population of 9,702 in 2008 to 11,840 in 2017. Combining Whistler’s permanent population, seasonal population, overnight visitors and day visitors, Whistler’s total daily population equivalent has grown from 25,962 in 2008 to 36,306 in 2017, with a peak occupancy estimated at 55,000.
This growth in Whistler’s visitation and daily population has translated into an overall level of “busyness” that has strained some of the capacities of Whistler’s ability to accommodate this level of activity. Local businesses are experiencing a shortage of employees, which affects service levels and employee quality of life. This is largely attributable to increasing employee numbers and a shortage of housing. Traffic congestion and lack of space in Whistler’s schools for the growing student population are areas of concern. To address these concerns, the municipality has worked with community members through Council-appointed task forces and community forums to develop strategies and implement priority initiatives. Recent transportation initiatives have been impactful and further work is planned to respond to highway and local congestion. In response to community housing challenges, significant progress is being made on the development of 1,000 new employee units.
Whistler is now realizing the potential of its existing developed capacity, and community members and stakeholders have expressed concern over the ultimate size of the community and further growth, which impact the unique characteristics of the resort community; demands on the natural environment and its ecosystems; infrastructure and services capacity; economic vitality and sustainability; quality of life; and the capacity of the resort community and its surrounding area to provide enjoyable experiences for visitors and residents.
The ongoing development and improvement of summer and winter recreation on Whistler Mountain and Blackcomb Mountain are major contributors to Whistler’s success and evolution. Potential development of on-mountain facilities, as contemplated within the provincially approved Master Plan Updates and associated Master Development Agreements (MDAs) for Whistler Mountain and Blackcomb Mountain, and potential base area developments on Option Sites, are important to consider within the overall development capacity of the resort community. The integration of this activity is important to maintaining a comfortable and balanced resort and community capacity.
In addition, the municipality is working with the Lil’wat Nation and Squamish Nation to explore opportunities for their further participation in Whistler’s ongoing success.
This OCP calls for periodic review of land use and development potential, which will involve ongoing community engagement and input, as well as engagement with First Nations and stakeholders including Whistler Blackcomb. Whistler residents have expressed a strong desire to protect the fundamental framework of this OCP, including the community-determined growth management measures, while supporting Whistler’s ongoing evolution as a balanced resort community.
Click the ‘Objectives & Policies’ to display additional content.
4.1. Goal Land use and development are effectively managed to maintain Whistler’s unique sense of place, protect Whistler’s natural environment, provide a high quality of life for residents and provide exceptional experiences for our visitors.
