The Oceanfront Park is complete and expected to be open to the community on May 25. According to a staff memo to council, the completion of the park fulfils the developer’s obligation and it will be transferred to the District on May 25.
Oceanfront Park is an 11-acre park built into the ocean on reclaimed land at the southern tip of the Oceanfront Peninsula. It costs $30 million to build, according to the district memo.
The majority of Park items secured in the district agreement are now built, including the Oceanfront beach, the Windsports beach, the meadow/dune grass area, crushed rock and paved pathways, a boardwalk, as well as a Land’s End monument along with shoreline planting and intertidal habitat.
The park will also include a sailing centre with a drive-to-boat launch, a temporary parking area, a washroom facility, and boat storage facilities. After consulting with the district, a non-profit society will take over the ownership and operation of the sailing centre. The work on the sailing centre is underway, and it will be located to the northeast of the park on the Mamquam Blind Channel. It is expected to begin in 2025.
A playground valued at $250,000 and public art worth $750,000 has been installed at the Park. The permanent washroom building design work is complete, and the District has issued a Servicing Agreement to the developer to begin construction on the washroom.
Sp’akw’us Feather Park Features
Plaza area—A public-lighted plaza with a covered seating area, plantings, and benches is provided. It is located adjacent to the Presentation Centre & Brewery and at the primary Park entrance. The Presentation Centre & Brewery building has a House Post pole carved by Squamish Nation artist Xwalacktun (Rick Harry).
Washrooms –Construction is underway on the washrooms, which will be located at the park entrance and Park drop-off area. There will be four washroom stalls, an outdoor shower, a cross-laminated timber roof with a covered area, integrated benches, and an 189-square-foot Public Works maintenance room. There will be two accessible stalls and two regular stalls. All stalls are sized to accommodate changing. The washrooms will contain park map signage for the public to orient themselves.
Open space and Events area—The open grass area is where people can throw a Frisbee or kick a soccer ball. The space was designed with a ground-reinforced stage location.
Main Beach—This is the primary public beach. The developer, Matthew West, has relocated the distinctive driftwood root ball from Nexen Beach to a prominent location near Main Beach.
Watersports Beach – This area has been developed in concert with representatives from the Squamish Windsports Association. There are low plantings near the beach, so wind sports lines aren’t caught. There is a grass area that has been sized to kite lay-down dimensions.
Intertidal Marsh Bench – This is a DFO-approved intertidal planted area. Marsh plant seeds were collected from the adjacent estuary and propagated in a nursery, then re-planted on site, involving Squamish environment community members. Pinned logs create a natural habitat on the foreshore. There is geese fencing to allow the young plugs to establish. The Marsh Bench has fence and signage to prevent public access.
Playground – The Developer engaged Kinsol, a custom wood playground manufacturer, to build a playground based on design leadership and direction from Squamish Nation youth leadership students from St’a7mes Elementary
Root Garden and Cultural Garden area – This area was developed with Squamish Nation and ethnobotanist Leigh Joseph and St’a7mes School students were engaged in planting. The root garden is for the exclusive use of Squamish Nation and is located behind a gate at the Marsh Bench area. The root garden plants, however, are not for consumption. The Cultural Garden is within the public Park space and has planter boxes for public education and interaction.
Public art: “Welcome Gate” – James Harry, Squamish Nation artist and son of Squamish Nation artist Xwalacktun (Rick Harry), has created public art for the Land’s End Monument location. This will be a Welcome Gate comprised of the bow and stern of a canoe. The two pieces, which are made of fibreglass and will glow with light at night. “Lacuna” – Artist Maskull Lasserre has created several public art pieces in Sp’akw’us Feather Park of metal and rock materials. They are interactive in that the public can touch them and climb to a low height.
Ch’ém̓esh perimeter public trail – The Park has a 4 metre paved asphalt multi-use trail that will connect to Downtown Squamish as a loop trail. There is a total 6 metre clear trail width space so the trail can be widened in the future if needed. The perimeter trail has been named by the Squamish Nation with the name Ch’ém̓esh, which translates to ’herring spawn’ or ‘herring roe’. The name was chosen for the trail as herring roe is found along the entire perimeter of the Oceanfront Development site. The trail was named to celebrate the herring revival in the Sound and the cultural revival their return represents with the Squamish Nation.
Slack lines—The Open Space has a trembling aspen tree grove lining one side, which provides shade and enjoyable places to picnic. Aspens have a beautiful auditory effect in the wind. There will be slack lines in this area.
Community benches – Three custom wood benches are located in the Park. Local artist Eileen Kiyonaga designed and delivered a piece inspired by the driftwood and dune grass found in the area. Art Harry, a Squamish Nation carver, crafted a bench for the Cultural Gardens area. A third bench will be dedicated to Chili Thom, inspiring visitors to paint the beautiful surroundings.
Interpretive signage – The Developer worked with an interpretive signage content creator to create signage for the Cultural Gardens and Playground areas. The park will be lit along the perimeter trail and in the plaza.
Wi-Fi—Wi-Fi can be provided in the Park in the future if desired. Conduit has been installed throughout the Park and in the light poles.
squamishresident says
It took three years for them to do this?! They moved a bunch of gravel and built a single half-finished building. They kept the public out for three years for that?
Where will the parking be? They claim they consulted with the windsports society? It doesn’t look like they listened to them, because this is poorly set up for windsports users. Let me guess, we’ll have to pay some insane hourly rate for the privilege of parking anywhere near this beach. Gotta recoup that investment!
Try your best to avoid getting killed by the float planes that will be flying right beside it. Again, who came up with this?! It’s pure lunacy. Imagine being a beginner and having a plane coming at you! Not to mention the youth sailing that will also use blind channel. Sharing this with float planes is just asking for someone to get killed.
The DOS seems to be doing it’s best to kill windsports here, but it’s still used in all the touristry ads. They destroyed access to the spit and we have no idea if it saved a single fish because none of the fisheries studies have been made public. With the increased dredging they need to do, it’s probably doing more harm than good. But hey, at least “someone” got millions of dollars worth of riprap, it worked out well for them.
The bait and switch on this was amazing. Our MP Jordan Sturdy assured us they would remove the spit but maintain access for windsports users, but we’ve been shut out. We were barely allowed to keep using it with boat access. Will this beach be viable at all? I hope so, but the lack of simple planning is mind boggling.
Classic Squamish, no doubt there was plenty of backroom deals and secret kickbacks on this one.
There’s a pretty easy solution. Make a quality boat ramp and floating dock at Darrell Bay. There’s tons of parking already, no conflict with anyone downtown, it’s great for windsports people because it’s an easy reach to the spit. This is being used for Woodfibre, so that’ll never happen. I don’t know why they need exclusive access to it. Another thing that makes no sense here.
The almost total lack of access to the ocean is Squamish is crazy.
Chris says
The following is a copy of an article from the Squamish Chief August 13, 2014 …. What a difference ten years can make!
Oceanfront park to be built first
Officials aim to have permits in place by April
Rebecca Aldous Raldous@Squamishchief.Com
Aug 13, 2014 1:59 PM
Submitted
The developers of the Squamish oceanfront will build the park before moving on to other construction.
Squamish could have the beginning of a green park on its waterfront by the spring of next year.
Last week, the District of Squamish, Matthews Southwest (MSW) and Bethels Lands Corp. announced a final purchase and sale agreement was struck on the 59-acre property on the community’s waterfront. The developers hope to have the conditions of the sale met by spring of next year. Construction would kick off after all the “T”s are crossed and “I”s dotted, Southwest’s president Jack Matthews told the Squamish Chief. The first step of the development would be the construction of a $5 million park, an environmental requirement to cap a mercury plume left from the site’s industrial days. Initial designs included a beach for kiteboarders.
“The power of that site is the way it connects the district to the water,” Matthews said.
Developers will pay for the multitude of infrastructure need for the site, whether that’s cash over hand or through the municipality’s development cost charges.
“The good news is taxpayers won’t be paying for it.”
Southwest anticipates having the project’s permitting in place by April. The company plans to start the initial development, but isn’t closed to other companies taking on different pieces of the overall project, Matthews said.
“We generally fill in the pieces that need doing,” he said.
The oceanfront may open the door to other Southwest projects in Squamish. The development will transform the landscape of the community, inviting people to stop in town, rather than driving through, Matthews said.
“I think it starts to feed on itself,” he said.
This is a monumental step for the district, Mayor Rob Kirkham said. The project is set to transform the downtown core.
“It is something we have been looking forward to,” he said.
Unlike previous oceanfront plans, this one has the community’s vision laid out in the Oceanfront Peninsula Sub Area Plan, a scheme the developer must follow, Kirkham noted. A change in council seats following the November municipal election shouldn’t impact that component of the project, nor the direction of the project overall, he said. The plan was pieced together with the support of the community and the remaining pieces of the puzzle will all be voted on in public, Kirkham noted. New councillors will be brought up to speed on the process.
There are a lot of conditions attached to the sale, Coun. Patricia Heintzman said. These includes terms such as figuring out tax exemptions for the area, which are currently in play for the downtown revitalization program.
“Some of them might come through at the end of this [council] term,” Heintzman said, noting the municipality’s development cost charge policy is close to finished.
The community has dictated what it expects to see built on the oceanfront in the sub-area plan — which calls for one third park, one third residential and one third commercial development.
“So because we have set these parameters it is not your average sale,” she said, adding the former industrial site will be “hugely expensive” to build upon.
Tami Buck says
Where will the parking for this be? I don’t see the parking I. The plans…
Pete says
There is a private residence at Darrel Bay. That may be impacted by a public boat launch. Whereas other areas do not have private land with residence.