Letter Template to respond to Mayor Crompton's e mail

Please don't drop the ball and stay on this. This petition is more than just the tennis and basketball court! It is to protect valuable parkland, parkland that was never included in the Official Community Plan for housing. Please take a minute to copy and past and send this reply to

planning@whistler.ca

jcrompton@whistler.ca

corporate@whistler.ca

Dear Mayor Crompton and Members of Council,

Thank you for taking the time to respond to residents regarding the proposed amendment to the Official Community Plan (OCP) for Cheakamus Crossing.

In your response, you state that "a key motivation for this conversation is exploring opportunities to help create a more complete community at Cheakamus Crossing." We appreciate that Council has acknowledged what residents have been saying for years: the infrastructure in our neighbourhood has not kept pace with its rapid growth.

We agree that Cheakamus Crossing needs a more complete community. We support a neighbourhood grocery store, additional parking, improved services, more recreation, and more housing. We are not opposed to housing.

What we oppose is sacrificing more parkland to achieve these goals—particularly parkland that was not identified for housing in the existing Official Community Plan.

Whether the tennis and basketball courts are relocated is not the issue. The issue is preserving one of the few remaining areas of parkland in our community. Once this green space is redesignated and eventually developed, it is gone forever. Future generations will never have the opportunity to enjoy what we have today.

Before considering the loss of parkland, Council should thoroughly evaluate alternative sites. There is already disturbed and excavated land near the Train Wreck trail that appears to offer opportunities for future development without permanently removing valuable green space from the heart of our neighbourhood.

If we are truly planning for the future, infrastructure must be planned alongside growth. One of the most significant concerns for residents is the lack of a second access route into and out of Cheakamus Crossing. With increasing wildfire risk and continued population growth, relying on a single point of access raises understandable concerns about emergency evacuation and public safety. Even under normal circumstances, traffic congestion within the neighbourhood and onto Highway 99 demonstrates that existing infrastructure is already under pressure.

You have also stated that "Cheakamus needs more recreation, not less." We agree. However, recreation should reflect the needs of the people who live here. Families value accessible parks, natural green spaces, and places where children can play and neighbours can gather. Relocating recreation facilities does not replace the environmental, recreational, and community value of established parkland.

You have emphasized that Council is not considering rezoning at this stage, but rather an amendment to the Official Community Plan. While that distinction is important, the OCP establishes the long-term vision for our community. Amending it to identify this parkland for future development is the first and most significant step toward losing it.

Our message is simple: we do not want the Official Community Plan amended to allow this parkland to become a future development site.

More than 600 residents have already signed the petition, and that number continues to grow. Those signatures represent families, homeowners, renters, and neighbours who care deeply about protecting this community. We believe this is meaningful public input, and we respectfully ask Council to give it the weight it deserves.

We support thoughtful growth. We support additional housing. We support improved amenities. But we also believe growth can occur without sacrificing irreplaceable parkland.

We respectfully ask Mayor and Council to preserve this parkland, explore alternative locations for future development, and ensure that infrastructure and public safety keep pace with any future expansion of Cheakamus Crossing.

Please listen to the people who live here.

Sincerely,

The Cheakamus Crossing Parkland Petition Supporters