A commercial filming set and a private skateboard facility will be temporarily opening up in Britannia Beach.
The Squamish-Lillooet Regional District (SLRD) board voted in favour of a three-year temporary use permit (TUP) for Tiger Bay Development Corp.—with an amendment that includes language to leave room for a forthcoming film permitting process that would, for example, give residents near film locations more information on disruptive or noisy shoots.
Discussions on the TUP—which can be renewed for three years—spanned two meetings on Sept. 25 and 26. Director Tony Rainbow, who represents Electoral Area D, including Britannia Beach, lead concerns about noise.
"I'm not in any way opposed to the film industry," he said. "I recognize what it does for the area, including Britannia. A lot of people in Britannia work in the film industry, and I'm not suggesting that they could never have rifle salutes or gunfire at night [during a film shoot], but there should be some communication."
The TUP was ultimately approved with plans to move forward with a separate film permitting process for the SLRD. It's set to include a communications plan to let residents know, for example, when a film has gotten an exemption for existing SLRD noise bylaws.
"I just wanted to recognize and, again, reinforce that it's very important for this organization to have a film permitting process," said SLRD Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) Heather Paul. "A lot of the items that have been brought up here would be effectively addressed during that … process, including compensation to communities, notification to communities, even noises that might be outside of our noise bylaw, gunshot fired at 6 p.m. … That is definitely a large post-it note on my wall."
The temporary set, meanwhile, will still have to apply for building permits for any buildings or structures larger than 10-square-metres.
It's located on the property where a wave park and 1,050 units are set to be built, pending rezoning, in the next two years. However, the applicant says the set and skate facility are located away from the first stages of that project and won't be affected during the TUP's potential six-year timeframe.
Skate facility
The skate facility, the council report says, will be used by Canada Skateboard, the official National Sports Federation for skateboarding in Canada. The facility will be private—not open to the public—and provide training space for Canada Skateboard athletes. The report notes only 10 athletes are eligible and won't all be onsite at one time.
The facility will handle sanitary services on its own with a portable toilet, hand sanitizing, and athletes bringing their own water. The proponent has also made arrangements with the nearby Outbound Station for additional potable and non-potable water if it's needed.
No services are required for commercial film production use, the report says.
Overall, "it seems like a good temporary use of the land," said director Mike Richman, Mayor of the Village of Pemberton. "It's a good industry in our corridor, and provides some good jobs. I'm hopeful next month they don't go, 'OK, now we want a drive-in theatre.' And next month we want this or that. Warning to Tiger Bay: that's not the idea. Having a training facility where a maximum of 10 skateboarders are going to be at a time … I think that, to me, is low impact to the community. The film industry is a good one. I just want to make sure we're doing it in a way that limits the impact to the neighbours and residents nearby in terms of noise."
