A highway side artisan vendors market has just been approved by the SLRD board for Britannia Beach.
The application is made under a 3-year temporary use permit, which can be renewed for an additional 3 years. The organisers aim for a July opening.
The market will be located on Highway 99 at the southern entry to Britannia Beach, between the blue gate and Galileo Coffee House, on a small portion of the 200 acre vacant flat land site, said market founder John Jervis.
The large site, previously called the Makin Lands, was purchased some years ago by Tiger Bay Developments (name changed from Taicheng), and extends South from Galileo to include Minaty Bay.
“This approval is a step toward an idea I’ve had for over 12 years now”, says founder John Jervis.
“The idea is to create a very easy and effective interface for tourists entering the Sea to Sky region, allowing them a glimpse of all things Sea to Sky, particularly our arts, culture, adventure activities, businesses, and help them wayfind to get directly to those things rather than driving around randomly searching.”
The plan for the market developed after consultation with Tourism Squamish, Squamish Arts Council, and Squamish Chamber. Jervis said there would be many spin-off benefits to the market, including infrastructure to help ease the recently overwhelming arrival of recreational travellers.
There will be public washrooms, change tables, enclosed dog run, parking, and wayfinding. A bus loop has also been added, which hopes to enable a park-n-ride type bus service, a perfect solution for the congested parking lots of Murrin Lake, Shannon Falls, Chief Park and Gondola.
The market will be a catalyst for a regular transit service for Britannia Beach to Downtown Squamish, he noted.
He said the potential effect on highway traffic was very thoroughly researched by engineers and reviewed by the Ministry of Highways.
The existing intersection at the blue gate was built during the pre-olympic highway project, and provides for capacity of 5 times the highest level of traffic potentially generated by market operations, according to the engineer’s report.
