Tag: Trevor Roote

Early Days at Municipal HallEarly Days at Municipal Hall

June 25, 2024 Whistler Museum 4 Comments

When the Resort Municipality of Whistler was formed in 1975, the organization was small enough that the for the first couple of years employees numbered in the single digits. According to Kris Shoup, when she was hired in 1977 as the secretary of the building inspector (Jim Murray, employee number one), she thinks she became the RMOW’s fourth employee.

Shoup arrived in Whistler for the summer in 1976 and never left. There were just over 500 residents in the valley at the time and, as Shoup put it, she “absolutely adored it” and “thought it was great.” A vet technician, she ran the vet clinic located in Alpine Meadows, though there was no vet living in Whistler full-time. The vet would come to Whistler once a week and do all the surgeries and appointments booked by Shoup, who did as much as she was able for the rest of the week. She got to know a lot of the residents working at the clinic as “everyone had a dog” and, in the case of an emergency such as a dog hit by a car, Shoup would try to stabilize the animal as much as possible so they could be driven to Squamish.

Whistler Council in its first formal portrait. (l to r) Alderman Bill Peterson, Alderman David O’Keefe, Administrator Geoff Pearce, Mayor Mark Angus, Municipal Clerk Kris Shoup Robinson, Alderman Bernie Hauschka and Alderman Terry Rodgers. Whistler Question Collection, 1983

In 1977, during a particularly bad winter for skiing, Shoup was hired as Jim Murray’s secretary, though she continued to work at the clinic for another year or two as well. About six months later, she became deputy clerk and then, when Geoff Pearce was promoted from municipal clerk to administrator, was told by Carleton, “Congratulations, you’re the new clerk.” Shoup held the position of municipal clerk until the mid-1980s.

During her tenure with the RMOW, Shoup worked out of a variety of locations, including the lunchroom of the original Myrtle Philip School, trailers, the “little green building” built using a government grant, and, finally, the current Municipal Hall after the Keg building was relocated.

Before the Keg could move the old municipal hall building had to be moved off the site. Whistler Question Collection, 1981

The Keg building was relocated from its original site on Alta Lake to its Village location in 1981. It would take three years, however, before municipal staff and council were able to move in and in the interim, Shoup and others worked out of the previous Town Hall, which had been moved down to Function Junction. During this period, Shoup recalled being able to run up to Loggers Lake at lunchtime for her daily swim. After the move to the Village, she continued her lunchtime swims but now in Lost Lake.

Municipal Clerk Kris Shoup Robinson packs it in Friday for the big move to bigger and better facilities at the new municipal hall in Whistler Village. Staff have been waiting in anticipation for the move. Whistler Question Collection, 1984

Whistler saw a lot of change from 1977 to the mid-1980s. According to Shoup, one of the most exciting things to happen while working at the RMOW was the day when Pearce, who was still the municipal clerk at the time, came out of a meeting and told her, “Hang on to your hat, we’re gonna build a town.” She also worked with Trevor Roote organizing public access along with the sewer system in order to build the Valley Trail, witnessed the planning and construction of the training wall along Fitzsimmons Creek (for flood prevention), and saw first-hand Mayor Pat Carleton’s excitement when they found out that a Delta Hotel would be built in the Whistler Village, Whistler’s first big branded hotel.

Connecting the ValleyConnecting the Valley

September 19, 2023 Whistler Museum 0 Comments

No matter the time of year, there are sure to be people out on the Valley Trail, whether biking, rollerblading, skateboarding, walking, jogging, or skiing. The popular multi-use trail system runs throughout Whistler and, for decades, has been used by many for both practical and recreational purposes.

The origins of Whistler’s Valley Trail go back to 1976, just one year after the Resort Municipality of Whistler (RMOW) was formed. A Rec Report prepared by representatives of the Whistler Developers Association, the Alta Lake Ratepayers Association, the Advisory Planning Commission, and the RMOW looked at existing recreation infrastructure within the municipality and made recommendations for future recreation development. These recommendations included “a main valley trail of a minimum 12 foot wide, dust-proof surface” connecting the existing recreational and community facilities and residential developments for cyclists and pedestrians.

*Winter commuting along the Valley Trail. Whistler Question Collection, 1996.*

This call for a trail system through the valley was echoed four years later in the 1980 Recreation Committee Report and by the Whistler Outdoor Recreation Master Plan Study prepared for the RMOW by Professional Environmental Recreation Consultants Ltd. in 1980, often referred to as the PERC report.

One reason that the PERC report prioritized the development of a bikeway was in order to make travel safer within Whistler. According to the report, “the [then] current system of bicycling on Highway 99 through Whistler is unsafe due to the heavy traffic and especially due to the number of logging and other heavy vehicles using the highway.”

To address this issue, the PERC report proposed building about 13 km of paved bikeway over five years to create a north/south spine that began at the RV campground at the south end and terminated in Alpine Meadows to the north. Along the way, the bikeway would link subdivisions and other developments, including the Village. The master plan also included plans for a Lost Lake Loop and a Fitzsimmons Creek Loop that could be added to the trail system, as well as an extension of the spine north to Emerald Estates along Green Lake.

*A newly paved section of the Valley Trail heading towards Alpine Meadows in 1983. Whistler Question Collection, 1983.*

Over the next four years, the Advisory Parks and Recreation Commission (ARPC), guided by its chair Trevor Roote, led public consultation meetings, passed a referendum to fund their master plan, and negotiated rights of way throughout the valley for the Valley Trail. By 1982, the trail was paved from the Village to Alta Vista and from the River of Golden Dreams to Rainbow Drive. According to Roote, the trail “immediately became a popular commuting route, particularly with school children who no longer had to ride their bikes to school along Highway 99 playing dodge’m with logging trucks.” In 1983, the trail was paved from the Village to Whistler Cay and from Rainbow Drive through Meadow Park.

Many elements of the trail system described in the PERC report are part of the Valley Trail today. The ARPC did incorporate the trail right of way into the negotiation of sewer rights of way and the general location of the trail matched much of what the PERC report proposed. The next five year plan of the ARPC (1985 – 1989) included the expansion of the Valley Trail out towards Emerald Estates. The physical design of the trail, however, is not quite as the PERC report envisioned.

Steve Martin? No, this wild and crazy guy is parks worker Ted Pryce-Jones who was out last week painting arrows and yellow lines on Valley Trail curves and bends. The new lines and arrows are designed to give cyclists and pedestrians warning and keep users to one side. Whistler Question Collection, 1984.

While most Valley Trail users are accustomed to a mix of walkers, cyclists, skateboarders and more, all keeping to the right of the yellow line except to pass (and then using their bell or calling out to alert those they’re passing), the PERC report proposed a 6′ two-way paved bikeway with a separate but adjacent 3′ gravel pedestrian trail.

The importance to the community of developing recreation and in particular the Valley Trail was recognized quite early on. For his work as the chair of the ARPC, Trevor Roote was named Citizen of the Year in 1981 and was awarded the Freedom of the Municipality in 1984. Since then, the Valley Trail has continued to expand throughout Whistler and continues to be a popular commuting and recreational route for residents and visitors alike.