The developers behind the revamped Klahanie resort proposal, should it go ahead, want to revive Darrell Bay as a go-to waterfront location in the Sea to Sky Corridor.
Representatives for the resort proposal, including landowner Bahadur Karim, appeared before the District of Squamish community development standing committee on Tuesday afternoon.
“Klahanie is not only a development application that is being pursued, but it is a new way of thinking about Squamish,” said Paul Fenske, of Vancouver architecture firm Ekistics, which has designed the plans for the Klahanie resort.
“Part of that is the need to rethink the way we currently understand Darrell Bay.”
To attract “the level of investment needed to pull this off” the project needs certainty that the District is open to selling or leasing the land at Darrell Bay to the Klahaine project, Fenske said.
Darrell Bay, which has a decommissioned ferry pier south of the Klahanie property, is currently a “derelict space,” Fenske said.
“Can we kind of reinvent Darrell Bay waterfront and in doing so, can we transition Darrell Bay from industrial ferry access to more of a civic concept, something that can become sort of a landmark destination for the public?”
The District of Squamish put out a request for proposals for the Darrell Bay property in November.
Klahanie representatives have met with Sea to Sky Gondola management to work out possible parking solutions for the tourist attraction, which currently uses the Darrell Bay parking lot for its overflow parking, Fenske said.
The 35-acre Klahanie property includes a kilometre of Howe Sound waterfront and is currently home to the Klahanie campground.
The $400-million, “five-star” resort proposal includes plans for a hotel, high-end seafood restaurant, possible cooking school, vacation residences, luxury camping suites, single-level “garden” suits, waterfront villas and a 10,000-square-foot spa and pool area that would have room to expand up to 24,000 square feet, Fenske said.
“Becoming the largest destination spa in Western Canada,” he noted.
A $50,000 feasibility study is currently underway to look into moving the three BC Hydro circuits that cut through the property, according to Fenske.
The completed resort would employ 80 to 100 full-time staff, he said.
Coun. Peter Kent asked if the planned Woodfibre LNG plant slated across from the Klahanie lands would influence the proponents appetite for the project and Fenske answered that it would not.
“Howe Sound doesn’t change, the mountains don’t change, the nine million people on the Sea to Sky don’t change with that,” Fenske said.
“I think what is better with the LNG, as opposed to an operating mill such as Woodfibre was, is very little traffic and very little coming and going. From my understanding, it will be almost invisible.”
The Squamish Chief became part of the presentation when Fenske mentioned The Chief’s recent front-page article, “Klahanie development plans questioned.”
