Oceanfront Peninsula Main Road (R-20)

The Oceanfront Peninsula Main Road project (historically referred to as “R-20”) is a multi-year, multi-phase road construction project connecting the Oceanfront Peninsula to Downtown Squamish and the rest of the community. Due to flood protection requirements, the road needs to be built to a 5m elevation. Initial construction began in 2017, and the first portions of the main road fronting the first residential and first commercial/industrial buildings will be completed with parking lanes, curbs/gutters, sidewalks, street trees, etc. The interim road is expected to be completed by the end of 2023. The project will be fully complete once all of the properties adjacent to the road have developed.

The Oceanfront Peninsula Main Road project is included in the District’s Development Cost Charges (DCC) Bylaw, along with numerous other road, water, sewer, drainage, and parks projects anticipated to be required throughout Squamish. DCCs are monies collected from land developers by a municipality to offset some of the infrastructure expenditures incurred to service the needs of new development.

The District and the Oceanfront developer, Matthews West, have entered into a number of agreements to facilitate construction of the development and associated municipal infrastructure.

• Two of these agreements, the Phased Development Agreement (PDA) and DCC Frontender Agreement, require the developer to construct the Oceanfront Peninsula Main Road project on the District’s behalf, and spell out details as to how the developer will be reimbursed over time for their work to advance construction of this DCC project.
• As the District does not have the capacity to undertake the Oceanfront Peninsula Main Road project independently, the developer agreed to construct the project at their own cost, with the understanding that they would be reimbursed from the District’s DCC reserves (i.e., money collected by new development in Squamish) over a number of years.
• As the project is included in the DCC Bylaw, if there is a need or desire to complete larger sections of the road in advance of the developer’s timeframe, the District could undertake this work. The intent, however, is that the developer will complete the main road construction as development progresses along the road.

Why are Development Cost Charges (DCCs) are being used for this project?

DCC funds are being used because the Oceanfront lands are located on a peninsula that also includes other potential development sites. All of these lands require upgrades to municipal infrastructure to allow development. The peninsula-related infrastructure projects that have been included in the DCC bylaw are projects that serve the whole area, not just the Oceanfront, and some of these works also provide infrastructure that will be necessary to support future development in the downtown area.

The DCC portion of the R-20 project is only reimbursed as the DCC revenue from other development (i.e. other projects across the community) is collected.

What is the debt-financed portion required for?

The debt-financed portion is required to fund the municipal share portion of the project which accounts for current population use of the infrastructure. That portion is 54%, which is the standard municipal share contribution for DCC parks and roads projects. As with any DCC project, the municipality has financing options to pay for the infrastructure whether through borrowing or general taxation revenue. In this case, borrowing is proposed to fund $1.6M or 100% of the 54%.

What role does the Oceanfront Developer play?

The Oceanfront Developer is providing and paying for all infrastructure costs that relate solely to their development.  The Developer has also undertaken the design and construction of the R-20 project (as authorized through the DCC Frontender Agreement), which eliminates the need for the District to undertake this work.  

Oceanfront Peninsula Main Road construction is somewhat complicated by the flood protection measures required for the Oceanfront Peninsula. As with other coastal developments in Squamish, the method to protect the land from flooding both now and in the future is to raise the entire land mass above a determined ‘Flood Construction Level’.

Because of this, the road needs to be built to this future elevation (roughly 5m elevation), which is significantly higher than the adjacent, undeveloped land.

• To account for this difference in elevation, the project is being constructed in phases, with the initial phases raising the road and providing an interim paved surface for vehicular and active transportation traffic (along with ditches and interim lighting).
• This interim condition will be in place until parcels of land fronting onto the main road develop, at which point, the road will be completed with parking lanes, curb/gutter, sidewalks, street trees, etc.

Initial phases of the main road project commenced in 2017, with the ‘interim’ condition anticipated to be completed potentially as early as fall 2023. It is currently anticipated that the first portions of the main road completed to the final condition will be the portions fronting the first residential and first commercial/industrial buildings, located just north of Sp’akw’us Feather Park. These two buildings are currently expected to be completed in 2025. The project will be fully complete once all the properties adjacent to the road have been developed.

The total estimated project cost is $8.2M. The project is funded by Development Cost Charges and Oceanfront Agreements. $1,633,293 of this project is proposed to be financed by debt to spread the cost of the project out over time, ensuring that future taxpayers also support the upgrade. The annual taxpayer impact represents approximately $0.61 per $100,000 of assessed residential property value.

For any inquiries regarding this project, please contact Dave Marrow at [email protected] or phone 604.815.4953