Garibaldi Estates Emerging Ideas: Employment Space

The District is exploring ‘Emerging Ideas’ as themes to consider as policies are developed for the Garibaldi Estates Neighbourhood Plan. Emerging ideas reflect public input received earlier in this planning process, as well as existing District policies (i.e. Official Community Plan). This page focuses on employment space in the neighbourhood.

Summary

• Office land uses within the Commercial sub area have the potential to support up to 2,300 new jobs.
• Mixed use development within the Diamond Head North sub area would be unlikely to result in additional new jobs due to the displacement of existing commercial buildings on Tantalus Road.
• Mixed use buildings in the Diamond Head South sub area under Future Land Use Scenario C could support up to 190 new retail jobs.

Garibaldi Estates Employment Lands

The Garibaldi Estates is one two primary commercial centres within the District of Squamish, providing over 27,000 m2 of retail and office space. This space, which is located along Highway 99 between Mamquam Road and Garibaldi Way, makes an important contribution to employment in our community, while providing numerous shops and services to community members. As part of the neighbourhood planning process, it is important consider options for future employment space and associated job opportunities, to meet the needs of future residents.

The land use scenarios presented through Stage 3 of the Garibaldi Estates Neighbourhood Planning identify a several opportunities to create new employment space:

• Commercial Mixed-Use Buildings along Highway 99
• Retail Space in Mixed Use Buildings along Diamond Head North
• Retail Space in Mixed Use Buildings along Diamond Head Road South

Commercial Mixed-Use Buildings along Highway 99

The most significant opportunity to create new employment space is through mixed use commercial buildings in the Commercial subarea along Highway 99. Multi-storey office buildings are proposed in future land use scenarios, with retail at the ground floor. Different scenarios support different maximum heights.

1. This area is largely retail now, with limited second storey office space.
2. New office space that could be supported in the Commercial subarea is significant. The table below outlines a rough estimate of potential office space, and the approximate number of jobs this space could support, if all properties were constructed to the height supported in the Garibaldi Estates Stage 3 Land Use Scenarios. The numbers assume a portion of the buildings would be used to provide parking, in line with zoning bylaw regulations, and large format retail stores with high ceilings would impact the amount of office space in some buildings.

1. Residential apartments are not proposed for this area. This area along Highway 99 is one of the few large locations in Squamish where land is restricted to commercial use. Prohibiting residential apartments here protects these employment lands from competing residential land uses.
2. Currently, there is limited pure office buildings in Squamish. However, the ongoing growth of a skilled workforce and increased use of hybrid work schedules could result in future opportunities for Squamish to support office-based businesses.

Retail Space in Mixed Use Buildings along Diamond Head North

Throughout the Diamond Head North area, mixed use buildings are proposed with retail land uses at the ground floor, and apartments above. Different scenarios support different maximum heights and densities of these mixed-use buildings.

1. Residential apartments are currently permitted throughout this subarea in the existing zoning
2. A focus on retail at the ground floor provides opportunities for an expansion of employment space, shops and services to residents of the Garibaldi Estates.
3. The amount of retail space that can be created here will be limited due to the limited properties sizes and the need to allocate space for parking to the residential uses in the buildings.
4. Overall, this area would not contribute a significant amount of new retail space to the neighbourhood. The replacement of older commercial buildings along Tantalus Road with mixed use buildings would result in a loss of total retail space on these properties. This loss would likely result in a net decrease of retail space across this subarea under Scenario A, and an equivalent amount of retail space in Scenario B.
5. The table below outlines a rough estimate of potential retail space that could be created, and the approximate number of jobs this space could support, if mixed use buildings were constructed on all properties in the Diamond Head Road North subarea.

Retail Space in Mixed Use Buildings along Diamond Head Road South

In the Diamond Head South subarea new two scenarios propose new employment space. In Scenario B, a very limited amount of retail is proposed on corner properties as mixed use, retail apartment buildings. In Scenario C, Diamond Head Road mixed use buildings apartment buildings, with retail at the ground level, are proposed along the entire length of Diamond Head Road south of Diamond Road.

1. The amount of retail space that can be created here will be limited because space in the buildings would be used for parking, in addition to surface parking on the properties.
2. Mixed use buildings on corner properties, supported in Scenario B, would not contribute a significant amount of new retail space to the neighbourhood.
3. Mixed use buildings along the length of Diamond Head Road south of Diamond Road, would establish a new pedestrian oriented commercial area and contribute a considerable amount of new retail space within the community. However, it would represent a significant transformation to neighbourhood.
4. The table below outlines a rough estimate of potential retail space that could be created, and the approximate number of jobs this space could support, if all proposed opportunities for mixed use buildings were constructed in Diamond Head Road North subarea scenarios.