As 2023 comes to an end, The Squamish Chief sat down with Mayor Armand Hurford at Municipal Hall for over an hour during our annual interview about a wide variety of topics, including housing, industrial projects, infrastructure, and more.
A condensed version of that conversation follows, which has been edited for length and clarity.
Housing
Question: The District has put forth steps this year to bring housing more efficiently. What are your overall feelings about implementing these steps to bring that new housing?
Answer: We are taking many proactive steps to not only streamline but do our best to incentivize development of below-market rentals in particular. As well as look for other efficiencies in our processes that could be exasperating any affordability challenges and matching or complying with provincial regulations.
All the while ensuring that the community has the opportunity to have the appropriate amount of oversight and scrutiny of the projects as well.
It’s not about a free-for-all from a development perspective, but making sure the process is as streamlined as possible while still having the appropriate level of oversight.
Q: How do you balance densifying Squamish and ensuring its history?
A: We’ve seen an increase [in density] throughout the community. We’re at a point in time now where that increase is happening quite rapidly. But it’s totally appropriate we see sort of an evolution over time towards slightly denser forms of living.
One of the things that is really challenging for a lot of people, including myself, to think about is the aspect of over time. So when a change or a policy of the municipality comes into effect, occasionally you’ll see a little spike. But really, the actions are more of an over time piece and that is challenging to understand how things will evolve.
Many of our existing areas are zoned for a higher level of density than we’re seeing because areas don’t develop to a maximum allowable immediately and sometimes ever. It’s really hard to understand those pieces when we’re talking about these concepts around the council table or particularly in the community, where people's first emotional response sometimes is that there’s going to be 100 units where there used to be one house. It’s actually highly unlikely that’s what the outcome is going to be.
Q: What type of housing community do you envision when you’re nearing the end of your term? What do you hope it looks like?
A: There’s a long list of challenging things with elected official positions and one of them is the lag time. So, it’s really challenging to pick a built-form desired outcome in the general sense, but I really hope that we’ve moved the needle on affordable housing. We need a lot more below market units.
I don’t know what the maximum number of units that I would like to have people actually living in by the end of the term, but really setting the tone of what’s expected in Squamish and we’re a great place for people working in the below market housing space to come and have a successful project as fast as possible.
Capilano University
Q: What are some of your overall thoughts on having Capilano University takeover Quest University?
A: When Quest came to the community and really changed Squamish, I think it was one of the inflection points for our community. Now, for a long list of reasons, it was really sad to see them go through basically losing control of their facilities over time. And it was really sad to hear that they were going to step back from operating.
I am quite excited though about where we are today with CapU. Not many residents of Squamish went to Quest. We’re going to see a huge difference here with the CapU model. As we look at the cost of living and the cost of post-secondary education, I think this is an absolute game changer for the residents of not only Squamish but the corridor to have access to university at home.
Cap has done a lot of work to understand the needs of the community as they’re putting together their programming, so seeing an early childhood educators program there is great. We have a massive need for childcare spaces, but childcare spaces don’t just happen when we create space. It takes educators to be there and expertise to run those businesses as well. That’s something that I’m really excited that CapU will be able to move the needle on.
Q: When they announced the purchase, they said they hadn’t purchased the dorms. Some students are coming who already live in Squamish, however, they’re aiming to have around 120 in the fall. Do you have any concerns about not having dorms available yet for them?
A: The university will absolutely need a plan for student accommodation. I’m agnostic as to who owns the accommodation that is involved in the plan, but I will absolutely be pushing to ensure that there’s a plan for the students that do need accommodation. And I know there’s work happening behind the scenes to figure out what that can look like.
FortisBC and Woodfibre LNG projects
Q: With the work camps with FortisBC and WLNG, the EAO said these companies need to implement a gender and cultural safety plan with consultations with the District, Squamish Nation and others. How do you feel about those conditions being placed on the projects’ work camps?
A: The social impacts of work camps, up until these EAO amendments were issued, the provincial guidelines around workforce accommodation and work camps were absolutely silent on the social impacts of adjacent communities or nearby communities.
I feel strongly that it’s incredibly important that these things are considered and addressed as fulsomely as possible when there’s the need for a temporary workforce. The proof will be in the pudding as you read those requirements. As I read them deeper, there’s a lot more detail needed to see if it’s enough. Frankly, at this point, I’m having a hard time defining what enough is. But prior to this, it was absolutely silent. And it was very clear that that’s not enough.
Q: With both projects, the District has the Temporary Use Permits (TUPs) that will need to be approved. (The WLNG application is currently under review by DOS staff). The province has approved the camps. What do you think about the province, at least somewhat, forcing the hand of the District or even council?
A: We end up having the pieces that aren’t fulsomely addressed by the other orders of government come out the bottom of the process to us as well. And I find that incredibly challenging.
So the EAO, in regards to the FortisBC work camp, it’s not specific to the site, it speaks to the land; the amount of land that would be required. We’re being asked a specific question on the specific piece of land, and all the subsequent questions that come out from that. I think that’s an important distinction.
The municipality, when we’re looking at land use or planning even on a temporary basis, it’s really important that we have the space to do that work. The timelines associated with all of the processes—one driven by the proponents, the second the EAO coming in with approval at different times—it makes it incredibly challenging to actually have the space to do the work that we need to do as a municipality to understand whether these land uses are appropriate even on a temporary basis.
There’s lots of room for improvement in the process. We’ll be seeing those [TUP applications] back again as soon as possible in the new year for the next touchpoints. The public will have the opportunity to address council on the specific proposals.
Q: The EAO approves this size but they’re not approving this specific numbered parcel. The municipality is also talking about the overlap of some of those areas.
A: We go into looking at traffic management, waste management, fire interface with the community, adjacent property owners. That’s why these processes take time so we can understand what it means and can go back and forth with the proponents. This isn’t just unique to the work camp, but any rezoning.
Anytime we’re considering a change in land use, it’s thoroughly vetted as to what the impacts would be. Proponents are pushed to address as much as possible the potential negative impacts. There’s a lot of detail involved and that’s the detailed work that’s been underway.
Infrastructure and Brennan Park
Q: One of the goals that council has is improving infrastructure. The need for that goal was highlighted in January when the Queensway lift station failed. How do you think the District has made steps toward that goal in 2023?
A: The lift station failure was something that we saw coming in some ways where we were hours from addressing and even before that. We just weren’t able to get the project in an approved budget, weren’t able to get bids that matched the budget in the year prior.
Those utilities, we do a lot of work to ensure there's going to be some funding going forward and that’s where we look at utility rates every year. The development cost charges come into this as well as far as a funding mechanism. We’ve reviewed the development cost charges and in the last review, we committed to a shorter timeline [now only two years] on the review as a response to the changing market conditions and things changing faster. The idea there is that growth pays for growth. We do have wastewater treatment plant upgrades underway right now, which is a big part of setting us up for the future.
Nearly all of our facilities are essentially over capacity and near or past the end of life. This is a huge facilities deficit that the past council and this council has been taking quite dramatic action on. Fire Hall No. 1 is up and running. It’s a huge achievement moving our EOC [Emergency Operations Centre] out of the floodplain and up to a post-disaster building is huge for public safety in our community. Fire Hall No. 2 construction is well underway, soon we’ll see completion. The Public Works building is moving ahead as well.
We’ve got massive projects planned at Brennan Park. We’ve got $21 million of funding secured and budget approved and you should start seeing shovels in the ground. And we have a grant application for an additional $14 million for projects at Brennan Park. In our five-year financial plan, you’re starting to see additional expansion of swimming pool and ice rink facilities as we’re moving towards the phased approach of renovation and expansion at Brennan Park.
We still have work to do. We’re sitting in Muni Hall, which is over capacity and at the end of life. Those are some of the next needs, along with the library.
Q: Sticking with Brennan Park, can you help me understand why the pool and ice rink are in 2027/2028 versus 2024/2025?
A: Other orders of government support recreation facilities through granting programs and that’s where we’re looking for the majority of funding for these projects. We’re increasing the efficiency and the operations of the existing space to make sure that the backbone of the facility can handle having additional pieces put onto it. Because we’re advancing the planning, it puts us in such a better position to apply for grants. So some of the order of operations will also depend on where the funding is available so we don’t have to fund it exclusively through taxation. These are big ticket things and we need to do it in a mindful way so that we’re respectful of taxpayer dollars.
Personal finances
Q: I know you may not have a lot to add to this question but I do need to ask. There are some who have scrutinized your personal finances over the last year, do you have anything to say to those people who are upset by the way you’ve handled your personal finances?
A: After 16 years of business and going through a really challenging time with COVID and all the disruptions, I think that making the decision to close the business is a huge thing for anybody that’s had to do that. And it’s incredibly challenging to wrap up all the moving pieces. As to how things could have or should have gone, it’s always easier to be a Monday morning quarterback than it is to be standing on the field and experiencing the reality of the situation. So I really feel for members of our business community that have had similar challenges.
We’re going to have criticism in our roles but in this particular aspect, it’s something that I have had members of the business community come up and tell me they understand. Of course, there’s going to be feedback from folks that feel different things should have happened and they have the right to that opinion. But without having gone through it, it’s a hard time to give it too much weight.
I will say those pieces are entirely separate from my work here at the municipality. But of course, we bring all of our experiences to the table as we do our work. But I’ve been doing my best to stay focused on the tasks that I’ve been elected to do by the people in the community. That’s where my focus has been and I’ll continue to do that.
Highlights from 2023
Q: Are there highlights from the past year that I may not have asked about that you want to share?
A: One of the things we didn’t touch on that is quite important is the Wa Iy̓ím ta Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish Strong) protocol agreement between the municipality and the Squamish Nation. It’s a really meaningful piece of work that advances our relationship and I’m really proud of being a part of. To actually fomalize this in a meaningful way with the Nation is great and we can move forward on addressing a lot of work that we have to do.
The advancements of Squamish Community Forest is really exciting. We’ve been going through a planning phase, we’re going to start to see some operations there and a lot of good things flowing from that. That’s the first joint venture between the District of Squamish and the Squamish Nation and allows a platform for our communities to work together on seeing our values really represented in the forestry operations in the community and also sharing the benefit of that.
The Squamish Community Housing Society has been doing such good work. To have an entity that has a board and staff working on housing 40-plus hours a week is something that the community needs.
