Permit mix-up delays COP ski hill expansion
Canada Olympic Park’s ski hill expansion, once slated to open last year, will now likely be finished sometime in 2013 after WinSport failed to submit a city development permit for the project.
WinSport had advertised the three new runs and 30 extra vertical metres would open by Dec. 15. But its construction got halted last month when Calgary’s planning department issued a stop-work order after a complaint led planners to discover work occurring without a permit.
The city could approve a new permit before year’s end, but there is a two-week notice period for appeals before the permit would be granted.
“They have been fully cooperative. They are in compliance with the stop order,” said Ian Cope, the city’s principal planner.
The $4-million project includes a high-speed chairlift and three new runs, including a double black diamond. It would allow northwest Calgary’s ski hill to host international slalom races.
WinSport chalked up the lack of permit to a misunderstanding between the city and agency about the work being done.
“It came down to whether it fell into the category of existing permits or maintenance,” WinSport spokesman Dale Oviatt said in an e-mail Monday.
According to the sports agency’s website, the project was delayed by various problems, including dirt contamination and the international skiing body’s strict requirements for quality of the fill.
This is the second time in 2012 that WinSport’s growth ambitions were curtailed by planning issues. Council this summer voted down a proposal to let WinSport rezone part of the lower Paskapoo Slopes for a large retail development.
Oviatt said there are currently no plans to reconsider that zoning bid.