Project Schedule

The infrastructure and building construction at the Village was completed as scheduled in November 2009, allowing time for VANOC to complete the Olympic overlay construction prior to the Games. Development and construction of the Village was constrained by a short construction season of approximately 7 to 8 months per year, with an overall building timeframe between 2006 and 2009 of approximately 40 months.  This necessitated a fast-track design and construction process, with construction of some known elements, such as off-site servicing, site clearing, and site preparation, taking place concurrently with the design of other elements of the project.

With an eye towards sustainability, contemporary mountain architecture, and community needs, Cheakamus Crossing was zoned to allow for a variety of uses.

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Resident Housing

Most resident housing projects in Whistler have been subsidized through the inclusion of a limited number of market townhomes and/or single family lots, which provides the necessary profit in order to discount the costs of developing the resident housing.

Whistler 2020 – Moving Toward a Sustainable Future identifies the goal of continuing to house 75% of the community’s workforce in Whistler, and allocated up to 6,650 resident housing beds through to 2020 to meet this objective.  Development of Cheakamus Crossing will provide as much as 20% to 25% of the allocated resident housing beds, with future development at the site increasing the resident housing beds to up to 50% of the Whistler 2020 goal. 154 townhomes and 67 condominium units have been constructed for resident housing as well as a 55-unit rental apartment managed by the Whistler Housing Authority.

Development of Legacy Resident Housing at the Village was guided by a number of factors, including:

• The Whistler resident housing needs providing a range of housing form, tenure and size, reflecting the WHA waiting list providing a range of price points attracting previous residents back to the Whistler community.
• In addition to a housing needs assessment, financial modelling was used to determine the mix of housing types and sizes. The intent of the modelling was to balance the need for affordability of resident units at below-market price with the need to maintain project development costs within the funding and subsidies available for the development and anticipated revenues.
• The Whistler Housing Authority (WHA) is the agency responsible in Whistler for development of resident housing and for monitoring compliance with resident housing. The WHA maintains a housing waiting list for resident housing. One of the challenges in the development of the resident housing for the legacy neighbourhood was the long lead time required for this project, and the risks in predicting the composition of the housing demand in 4 years time when the units will become available as resident housing. Following some modification to the pricing and housing mix, the resident housing has proved to be successful with 97% of the homes under contract.

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