A highly contentious proposal to house hundreds of Woodfibre LNG (WLNG) project workers at a floating hotel, or “floatel,” in Howe Sound is facing a reset.
Earlier this week, the District of Squamish Council voted not to reconsider a rejected motion to issue a Temporary Use Permit (TUP) to WLNG, pending further information gathering by district staff.
“Before this reconsideration, we received, I don’t know, hundreds of emails,” Squamish Mayor Armand Hurford told CityNews.
“It needs to go back to a public hearing before we can revisit it correctly and procedurally,” he added.
With the TUP referred back to staff, they have been directed to gather information from the proponent on four points.
Those include an $8 million security deposit increase, identification of the risk that Henrietta Lake poses to the floatel, collaboration between Woodfibre LNG and FortisBC in identifying cumulative impacts resulting from their projects, and “an understanding of current compliance with project conditions.”
Regarding potential issues surrounding Henrietta Lake, Hurford pointed to a study showing some seismic issues with a dam above the site.
“The risk of that dam and failure hasn’t really been evident in the documents we’ve seen so far,” Hurford said.
Hurford emphasized that community impacts around the WLNG and Fortis projects are also a “crucial piece.”
“What we’re asking for here is coherent planning…this is a struggle we’ve had from the beginning, and we’re hoping this matter can be addressed. This is not news to the proponent or the proponents in that case.”
Currently, the timeline for the TUP being referred back to staff remains unclear.
In response to the district council’s decision earlier this week, WLNG told CityNews on Thursday it is “dismayed by the ongoing delay.”
WLNG added that, apart from security funding, “The additional matters raised are outside District Council’s jurisdiction, are unrelated to the TUP, and do not require a Committee of the Whole or a public hearing. It is concerning that District Council seems to be trying to delay the temporary zoning authorization for an already-approved workforce housing solution that will accommodate 652 workers outside the community while simultaneously asserting the possibility of ‘cumulative impacts’ on housing. Any such impacts would be the direct result of Council inaction.”
“Woodfibre LNG remains committed to the floatel as the Provincial and Squamish Nation approved housing solution for the Project, consistent with years of District of Squamish requests to house the Project workforce outside the community. We will review the path forward with district staff and other levels of government.”