Is Squamish Already a Boomtown ?

By Gagandeep Ghuman
Published: July 1, 2015

The summer is often a busy time at the Little Caesars Pizza store in downtown Squamish and the owner Pinder Dhindsa likes to chat with people as he readies their pizza. By now, he knows the demographic he is serving: Out-of-towners on their way to Whistler stopping in downtown Squamish for a quick bite. But this year, there are some surprises. He’s seeing people who aren’t merely stopping in Squamish for a quick lunch but those who are here just for Squamish. He recently talked to a family who told him they came up to Whistler for a trip to the Shannon Fall and then there was the elderly couple from Alberta who told him about their plans to retire in Squamish as they ordered pizzas.
With a warning that he’s not making this up, Pinder tells about a phone call he received a few days ago. It was someone from Alberta wondering if there was a job available at the pizza store. Traffic to his store has doubled and he knows the condo he bought before the Olympics can fetch a lot more now.
“It’s not what I’m used to in Squamish, this never used to happen here but people seem to have discovered the beauty of Squamish,” he said.
At the Watershed Grill, a meandering Squamish river burbles by as patrons enjoy a beer. But Brandy Wilmot and her staff get hardly enough time to drink in the views. This perennially busy restaurant is already defying its own business expectations. Last May, Wilmot thought she had reached a plateau for business but this May has exceeded that cap and summer is hardly over yet. Compared to last year, sales are up by 25 per cent.
“We are beating our own numbers already,” says an excited Wilmot.
“This year, we have been busy right from April and we are seeing a lot of tourists from Europe and Whistler and we see a lot of families dining out,” she says.
At the local Canadian Tire store, the owner Grant McMillan has a hunch that this week would be the busiest week. But as he tells you with a smile, he would probably prove himself wrong.
“We say this would be the busiest week, and then it gets even busier the next week,” he says.
The owner of the Canadian Tire store has seen business grow since he moved here two years ago to take over the store. When he decided to move to Squamish, he was apprehensive for what they told him was an over-developed market with no room for success. Those concerns are a distant memory now as sales soar and he hires more people. This summer is proving to be better than the last and he has added five to six full-time jobs since he took over the store two years ago. “Customers just keep coming and it just seems to be continuous growth and you don’t really expect that kind of growth. I’m so happy that I came to Squamish. I think this is the luckiest best decision I have ever made,” he said.
Squamish’s luck, it seems, is on the turn. From being a small sleepy town that people passed by on their way to a world-famous resort, Squamish is being rediscovered as a destination in itself and an attractive place to live and raise a family. From The New York Times to LA Times to Business Insider, generous press coverage has slowly but steadily enabled Squamish to emerge from the shadows of its two mighty neighbors. The opening of the Sea to Sky Gondola, the relocation of Pink Bike and astoundingly high real estate prices in Vancouver have done their part in turning heads towards Squamish. The more people go up the gondola and take a day trip to bike and hike the trails, the more they realize that Squamish is a desirable place to call home.
Enshrining this sentiment in broader public view is the ranking of Squamish in the MoneySense magazine’s Best Places to Live in Canada list. Their revision tells the story of our revival. Merely three years ago, Squamish was at the bottom of the heap, ranking 182 out of 190 cities surveyed by the magazine.
This year, however, Squamish was ranked 74 out of 209 best places to live in Canada. Compared to last year, Squamish’s overall rank rose by 59 places. It was ranked 133 in 2014. 
The town is also among the five cities termed as ‘biggest gainers’ in the 2015 ranking. Squamish joined Barrie, Ont, Kenora, Ont, and Brooks Alberta, and Port Hope, Ont as cities that were the biggest gainers. Unemployment is down, average discretionary income is up, we are buying new cars and even more luxury cars, crime is down, and more of us are biking and walking to work and using public transit. There is more Squamishers working in the health industry and we have robust sports and arts communities, the survey finds.

About five years ago, Doug Hackett, the vice-president of the Squamish Terminals, started biking to work after being part of the Bike to Work week.
“When I was in high school, I rode a bike everywhere and I thought there is no reason I can’t ride my bike to work now,” he said.
Doug said he has noticed more people biking to work and the bike racks installed by the Terminals is well-used by his colleagues. The biggest hindrance to more people biking to work is fewer bike paths that are still considered secondary to car. In the winter, Doug said the snow removal crews pile the snow on to the bike paths, indicating that it’s not a priority.
“If they crumble, no one cares and I have complained to the district for a few years about that,” he said.
According to the MoneySense, Squamish has done quite well in reducing crime, which the local RCMP has been working diligently on, said Insp. Neil Cross, the regional head of RCMP. Last year, he said the RCMP focused on four areas—property crime, drug-related incidents, youth engagement and traffic violations. Compared to 2013, there was a 58 per cent reduction in bike thefts, 30 per cent reduction in break-ins, and 13 per cent reduction in property crimes.
“With the focussed work of the officers and volunteers through crime stoppers and bike patrols, we have had very good results in crime reductions,” he said. Overall, in criminal code offences, Squamish was down almost 8 per cent in 2014 when the lower mainland has seen an increase of 13 per cent in criminal code offences.
Insp. Cross said there had been fantastic work going on in the last few years for crime reduction. If Squamish RCMP had more officers, more crime reduction could be achieved, he said.
And yet, we are still not among the top 25 percentile of 209 cities in crime, affordability, employment, or access to health care, but the survey shows we are making steady progress in all these fields.
Since the Olympics when unemployment soared, there have been fewer people looking for jobs in Squamish every year, according to the number provided by Training Innovations, which provide support and guidance to job seekers.
The years 2009 and 2010 were the busiest, with unprecedented number of clients accessing the Training Innovation offices but the number of people looking for work has been on a downward slide since. There are more jobs in market as the town grows but there is also more competition, at least according to one job seeker.
Rova Peters has been on a job hunt for the last few weeks. He has experience in a fast food restaurant and private security but he’s aiming for a fresh start. Social media and online job postings have made finding a job easier, Peters says, but the easy access to job postings means more people applying for the job.
“I think there are lot more jobs out there in Squamish now, but it’s really hard because you have to get there fast enough to get hired,” says Peters.
Peters says he would keep looking for a job but adding another layer of worry for him is the increasing rent. He would ideally like to live alone in a one-bedroom unit but he has to share the home with a family member to split rent.
“If you don’t have a solid job or housing, this can be a difficult place to live. Wherever you see, rent is going up,” he said.
Squamish is seeing gentrification at this moment, with more educated and affluent people moving up to town to make it their home, says Chris Pettingill, a director on the board of Squamish Chamber of Commerce.
At Inside Edge, an association of knowledge-based industry workers, Pettingill says it’s common for him to meet consultants who have moved to town with a young family.  The relocation of Pink Bike and 7Mesh to Squamish has added to the momentum Squamish is seeing, he says. Optimism, he says, is in the Squamish air.
“The retail people are seeing an increase in traffic, the gondola has brought a lot of attention and all the big US publications are talking about Squamish so we are becoming an attractive place to live,” he says.
But the influx of lower mainland buyers looking for affordable housing will also have an undesirable ripple effect of edging locals out of the housing market, he adds.
“There is no rental vacancy and home prices are moving up and there are lots of people moving here. We are probably becoming more of Whistler as we become a tourism destination,” he said. Councillor Ted Prior thinks we might soon need some kind of a commuter ferry to Vancouver as the Highway gets more clogged. On any given weekend, Highway 99 going north is backed up and not all of them are headed for Whistler. Squamish is growing at a frenetic pace, says Coun. Prior. “People can get cranky at the city hall because we can barely keep up with all the applications. Construction is booming. We have 2,000 units approved and we are adding 300 housing units every year and it seems we still can’t keep up,” he says.
Construction, although cyclical, pushes the economy into an upward drive as it creates jobs for trades and sub-trades which also increases spending on products and services, he says. Prior says he has lived in the town long enough to see the ups and downs and feels a slump in construction eventually slows down the town’s economy. There are lots of young families moving here who are pulling in their own parents to Squamish. Prior says he’s optimistic Squamish would stay on this growth path. The district, he says, hasn’t been very smart when it comes to promoting economic development and has done nothing more than regurgitate old reports. Besides implementing broad policy decisions such as tax exemptions and streamlining permits, the district works best when it comes to focusing on smaller things that make the town livable.
“We are now focussing on the Safe route to school, food security and community gardens because those are the thing that actually make the town liveable,” he said.
For Mike Bosa, the vice-president of Solterra, the long-term confidence his company placed in Squamish has always paid off. Bosa says it is only a matter of time before the lower mainland market started to escalate, piquing interest in Squamish. Add a spectacular surrounding and more attention-grabbing events like Test of Metal and Live at Squamish music festival, and it is natural that Squamish would boom, he says. “There are more young people and young families who feel Squamish is a great place to buy affordable real estate with its access to nature and outdoor recreation,” he says.
Solterra sold out its townhome project Nature Gate in just five months, and another project, The Falls, is 75 per cent sold out, even though construction has yet to start on that project. But residential projects aren’t the only ones that are selling fast. The company’s Sea to Sky Business Park in the business park area is also garnering tremendous interest, Bosa says.
As much as 80 per cent of the first phase, 30,000 square-feet of industrial space has already been preleased with queries constantly coming in from businesses who want to build a business there.
“It’s doing extremely well. There has never been a time in Squamish when so much industrial space has been preleased. The demand is very high and it’s coming from a lot of young entrepreneurs who are starting new businesses and existing ones who plan to expand,” he notes.
As the town’s population grows, Bosa feels, commercial and retail businesses would boom and create more entrepreneurs in town. Commercial and industrial growth is driven by foot traffic and more people that come to live in Squamish, the more those businesses will expand. Kandace Keith’s business isn’t your typical retail but it’s been on a growth path. Keith is a former book keeper who decided she wanted to pursue a full-time career as an acrylic painter in 2013. And it’s working out for her. She has a waiting list for individual commissions and is busier in the past three months than she was last Christmas, usually an extremely busy time for her. She has also noticed that there are more clients from Squamish, young families who have disposable incomes, for a pet portrait or commissioned family paintings. 

“The gondola and the news publicity have people flocking to Squamish and it’s going to grow and with its popularity my business is going to grow,” she says.

This year isn’t over yet but it’s already turning out the best for local realtor Liane Van Raalte.  The real estate prices started to rise quickly from this January onwards with growing demand and limited inventory.  It’s more work and longer hours for Raalte but she isn’t complaining.
“I’ve already doubled to where I was at this time. My referrals have grown exponentially. And part of that is the people I have sold homes have a lot of friends moving here,” she says.
It’s not unusual, she says, to see homes that have multiple offers on them especially homes in the price range of $700,000 to $750,000. It’s also much more common to hear of sale of a million dollar home than it used to be.
The real estate boom was propelled by the gondola and the generous media attention that came with it, but it was a long time coming, she says. Looking at the red hot real estate market, she has noticed more people renovating their homes.
“For me, this boom in real estate was always expected but it didn’t happen sooner when you see how inexpensive Squamish has been compared to other lower mainland communities,” she notes.
While it’s true that Squamish has seen a lot of positive media attention and more people seem to be moving to Squamish lured by a relatively affordable real estate market, is this growth meaningful, wonders Vickie Nickel, the owner of Glacier Interior in the business park.
Squamish needs lower commercial taxes which can create an inviting business environment for people who come to invest, create jobs and actually live here rather than commute to Whistler or Vancouver.
While residential property taxes are reasonable, Nickel says, commercial taxes are high and not competitive when compared to Vancouver and the region. Squamish’s proximity to the big city also has its disadvantages as local merchants lack the client base but still have to offer the same competitive price. More people commuting to Vancouver means they have better access to a bigger market.
“We are not an isolated little community. We are linked to Vancouver and if our business taxes are high, business won’t come here,” she says.
The council, she says, also needs to focus on providing better public amenities such as a boardwalk, beach access, public washrooms and better parks. Even smaller communities such as Parksville and Gibsons do a much better job of providing those facilities than Squamish. It doesn’t help either that we lack a cinema hall and a bowling alley — common amenities in smaller-sized towns. Squamish has also seen three restaurants and Capilano University close down in the last one year, she adds.
“We need better amenities, lower business taxes, and we need solid investment in the community which leads to meaningful growth,” she said.