The latest in the struggle over Revelstoke’s proposed treehouse hotel on Camozzi Bench is a new website that was launched this week opposing the development.
The website, www.developrevelstoke.com, is being advertised on local news websites like the Revelstoke Current and the Revelstoke Mountaineer.
Revelstoke Development is a basic website that argues the potential risks to the viability of Revelstoke Mountain Resort should the city approve a rezoning application to allow for development on the Camozzi Bench.
“The content of this website is intended to promote informed decision-making on Revelstoke development issues,” the unattributed Revelstoke Development website states.
The result could be a stalled ski resort with no growth, and a village center and real estate development nowhere near the lifts or the lands where they were intended, in accordance with the Master Development Agreement.
— Northland Properties & RMR CEO TOm Gaglardi
The website’s message is clearly against the treehouse development, and follows the same line as the letter the Revelstoke City Council received from Northlands Properties Corporation lawyer Rob Toor, stating that the development will take away hotel guests from RMR’s accommodation, crucial to its future development, and pave the way to allow for a second downtown that will detract from the resort village.
The website includes links to a number of letters denouncing the development, including one from RMR’s CEO Tom Gaglardi.
“We recognize this Council wants to be ‘business friendly’ but supporting this rezoning, which is contrary to the City’s Official Community Plan and contravenes the Master Development Agreement between the Resort, the Province and the City, could have tragic and irreversible consequences to the future of downtown Revelstoke and the future of Revelstoke Mountain Resort,” Gaglardi states on the website. “The result could be a stalled ski resort with no growth, and a village centre and real estate development nowhere near the lifts or the lands where they were intended, in accordance with the Master Development Agreement.”
The treehouse hotel rezoning application is in mid process, and is scheduled for a public hearing and key city council vote later this month.
They talk about what a stalled resort may look like, we all know what that looks like as we have had one for the last eight years.
—Treehouse Hotel developer David Evans
Treehouse hotel developer David Evans said he was developing a response to the website, noting the similarity to public comments made by Revelstoke Mountain Resort representatives on a City of Revelstoke website that contains information on ongoing development processes, including the proposed amendments for the treehouse hotel.
In an email to the Revelstoke Mountaineer, Evans said he was working on a response to the new website. “Obviously this yet again shows Northlands’ reluctance to work with anyone and refusal to provide any updates on the master plan as requested by me, [and] the city for over five years, and of course most important of all the province.”
Evans continued: “[The province] has been requesting this since Northlands took ownership in 2008, so that is now eight years overdue, with nothing on the horizon. They talk about what a stalled resort may look like, we all know what that looks like as we have had one for the last eight years.”
The city will hold an open house on this proposed development on Tuesday, July 19 from 5–7 p.m. in the Macpherson Room at the Revelstoke Community Centre. The public hearing is one week later on Tuesday, July 26 at 7 p.m. at the Revelstoke Community Centre.
Read the Mountaineer’s previous gallery of articles on this story.
What did you think of this story?
Your feedback after we publish a story helps ensure we're always improving our reporting to better serve you
