Vancouver-based resort developers have their sights set on Valemount for an all-season alpine resort.

On Dec. 6, Pheidias Project Management Corp., along with architect Oberto Oberti, submitted an expression of interest to the province of British Columbia for a resort, which doesn’t yet have a name.

“We hope to know in a few months if the province is interested,” Oberti said in late December.

The proposed area for the resort includes Mount Arthur Meighen and Mount Pierre Elliott Trudeau.

Oberti said the idea is for the resort to be a year-round ski area, like the ones commonly found in Europe. For the hill to be open all 12 months of the year, the developers need permission to access the glaciers in the area.

If the provincial government is interested in the project, then Oberti and his associates will begin working their way through the steps outlined in British Columbia’s All-Season Resort Policy.

When asked what the construction schedule would be if the government gives the project the go-ahead, Oberti said, “That is a very charged question because there is hopes; there is reality, and there is the good and bad reality, and I don’t know which one it will be.

“It’s just the beginning of the process. We will know by next summer a little bit better how it is going.”

Valemount Mayor Andru McCracken said the resort is a great opportunity for the village, but it also threatens the small-town dynamic that attracted many of the village’s current residents. 

“What I’m really sensitive to is other communities that have become resort towns have become virtually unliveable by all but a small percentage of the population because they’re really expensive,” he said, noting that resort towns often attract people who want to buy a second home, rather than people who want to settle into a place.

With that in mind, he said the true upside to the proposed project is that it runs all year.

“This idea of a year-round resort is a fantastic one. It’s so brilliant for a community like ours because that means you get people that are actually settled here. People are hired who are committed longest term and it doesn’t mean a new season of hires every year, which can be difficult on a community.”

The proposed project could bring an estimated 300-1,000 direct jobs to Valemount and another 250-300 temporary construction jobs.

McCracken said what the community needs to do, now that the expression of interest has been submitted, is further research into towns that have taken a similar path.

“It’s a great opportunity, but we have to work really hard to make sure that it’s good for Valemount,” he said.

Part of that is consultation.

“The village hasn’t signed on for anything official yet because we need to talk to the people,” said McCracken. “We need to see what people are saying. I know that there’s a lot of support for it. But I think process is really important. We need to ask people and say, ‘What do you think?’ because it will change their future.”

McCracken said he takes comfort in the knowing that Oberti is the developer on the project because “the guy is really interested in building an awesome resort and not destroying the town.”

Oberti is a name that residents of Valemount might recognize. He was the architect on the $70-million Valemount Village Resort and Spa that although approved by the government in October 2008, still hasn’t been built. The reason for the delay has to do with poor timing, with the global economic crisis beginning around the outset of 2008.

“We hope it will still go ahead,” Oberti said, of the spa, “but it was designed and approved just before October 2008 for an Edmonton developer and then the financing became a problem after October 2008, so we’re still waiting to see if that developer will do it or somebody else will do it.”

Oberti said Valemount is a community with a great deal of potential that hasn’t yet been capitalized on. He said he hopes both projects will come to fruition, but with the outcome of past projects in mind, he is also hesitant to say too much too soon.

“We want to be very cautious and not raise expectations at the beginning of a long process.”

The spa isn’t the only project that gave Valemount hope, only to have that hope dashed away.

There was also Canoe Mountain Resort, which was touted as “Canada’s newest four-season hotspot, with the largest gondola in North America, 27 stunning holes of golf, exclusive mountain homes, world-class cuisine and recreational attractions galore.”

The project was shelved in 2008, citing an uncertain tourism market in northern British Columbia and increased costs for infrastructure and amenities.

With failed projects in mind, McCracken said, “The way I see it, it’s not like, ‘Wow. Small town has opportunity to get resort: happy happy ending.’ My thing is, ‘Wow. Small town has opportunity to get a resort, that’s a potential world of hurt.’”

But the latest proposal for an all-season resort isn’t the be-all and end-all for Valemount, either. There are already a couple of other developments in the works, like the sled-assisted ski hill on Mount Diefenbaker, that can help the community flourish, said McCracken.

“This is not our knight in shining armour and our only opportunity.”