First Nation eyes tunnel as Coquihalla resort plan moves forward

Spuzzum First Nation’s proposed mountain resort near the Coquihalla summit has passed its first major hurdle.

The South Anderson Mountain Resort has cleared the expression-of-interest stage that has held up a more-prominent application for a resort near Bridal Falls, and provincial officials have now given Spuzzum the green light to submit a formal proposal.

The resort must still pass several additional reviews, but Spuzzum Chief James Hobart says provincial officials have suggested lifts could be installed within just a few years. Hobart also said provincial officials have told him that Spuzzum should plan to access the resort site by constructing a new tunnel near the Coquihalla’s summit.

Beyond an expression of interest

In 2023, Spuzzum First Nation submitted a formal Expression of Interest to build a mountain resort in the South Anderson Valley, near the Coquihalla summit—but separated from the highway by a towering mountain ridge.

The proposal envisions a ski resort with up to 11 chairlifts, mountain biking trails, a golf course, and up to 3,000 homes. Hobart wrote in the application that he hoped the province would partner with Spuzzum “in the spirit of reconciliation” to create BC’s first First Nation-led mountain resort.

(You can read more details about the initial proposal here. You can view the proposal itself here.)

The initial application suggested the resort would be constructed in three phases, and could be accessed by a windy mountainous road which connects to Highway 1 in the Fraser Canyon, south of Boston Bar. (The road is currently used by loggers, hunters, and snowmobilers.)

The expression of interest is the first step in a process that can take years, and sometimes decades. Expressions of interest trigger public consultations, feedback from interest groups, consultation work, more discussions with provincial officials, and a review to determine if the plan would move on to the formal proposal stage.

Many proposals never pass the stage. The Bridal Veil Mountain Resort proposal to build a ski resort near Chilliwack has yet to move past the expression of interest application and review process. (It’s currently going through another round of public engagement.)

But the Spuzzum proposal has advanced to the next stage, after the province gave the band the green light to submit a formal, more-detailed proposal. That proposal will incorporate and address feedback from the public and government.

In a review of feedback for Spuzzum’s resort, officials wrote they received less input than anticipated, but that the comments “reflected several themes, all of which will be considered in the project review process.” (Spuzzum’s plans were first reported in The Current, but haven’t received the provincial news coverage that has been devoted to the Bridal Falls applications, whose two proponents have each issued multiple news releases about their projects.)

Although the groups behind the two proposed Chilliwack-area tourism projects have expressed frustration with provincial review processes, Hobart told The Current that he has found officials to be encouraging and helpful.

“The Mountain Resort branch have put the schedule together for us—with us, but mostly for us—with their knowledge of what it takes to get to where we need to be,” Hobart said.

Spuzzum has retained full ownership of the project, and Hobart said the First Nation has received federal funding to help pay for necessary planning work over the next three years.

The tunnel plan

One key aspect of the proposal has also changed following feedback from the provincial government.

Hobart told The Current that he had met with the provincial transportation ministry in the fall, and that officials had urged Spuzzum to incorporate a primary access route off of the Coquihalla Highway, rather than Highway 1 in the Fraser Canyon.

The resort would be located just a few kilometres, as the crow flies, from the Coquihalla summit, but a towering mountain ridge presents an obvious challenge to connecting the highway with the South Anderson valley.

Preliminary work had suggested that a nearby forest service road could be improved to provide a secondary emergency route, or that a tunnel could be bored through one of the mountains.

Hobart said officials have now recommended that the proposal focus on a tunnel access route, despite the obvious logistical challenges that presents.

Accessing the resort from the Coquihalla, rather than the Fraser Canyon, would make it significantly easier for visitors to get to the resort and reduce the need to improve the forest service road. The forest service road also crosses northern spotted owl territory; restricting its use removes an awkward complication for Spuzzum First Nation, which has been at the leading edge of work to re-introduce the owl and protect its old-growth habitats.

The recommendation to use the Coquihalla does come with some drawbacks for the First Nation, Hobart noted. The Spuzzum First Nation sits along Highway 1 and would have been a key refueling spot for tourists headed to the mountain resort. That won’t happen if the resort is accessed off Highway 5.

“It takes it away from us being the gateway down in the canyon,” he said. (The Current wrote about recent efforts to revitalize the Highway 1 and draw in more tourists.) But he said the Coquihalla route would make the resort more attractive and accessible to would-be visitors and residents. “It cuts off basically 50 kilometers [of travel]. Instead, you go straight up Highway 5.”

Asked for details, a Transportation Ministry spokesperson wrote simply: “The Ministry of Transportation and Transit also continues to have discussions with Spuzzum First Nation around how the Province can support access options to the proposed resort.”

Hobart also said the province is already considering interchange adjustments that could facilitate a primary access route to the resort.

The pace of progress is such that Hobart said it’s possible that—if a new access route is built, financing can be arranged and all government approvals are granted—the installation of lifts could start as early as 2027.

That timeline seems incredibly ambitious, given everything that must still be done just to provide access to the site.

Building a simple interchange on a flat stretch of highway can take years, and Hobart said he shared the doubts about the length of time it would take to bore a tunnel through a mountain. But he said he was told that tunneling equipment used for the Kinder Morgan pipeline is available and could be repurposed to build the access road.

Environmental studies require waiting for the snow to melt, but Hobart said the government has provided staff and suggested ways to expedite the lengthy process and complete necessary work—including a complex environmental assessment—over the summer.

“It is aggressive, but at the same time, there’s a bunch of [planning and assessment] projects that are moving along,” he said.

Hobart’s anticipated timeline is at odds with the pace of development process approvals over the last 10 years. But the province has independently indicated that it is working to speed up projects that come with potential economic benefits; new mandate letters handed to provincial ministers that emphasize the need to speed up permitting and reduce regulatory delays. And Hobart said he has been repeatedly told that officials see value in the proposal.

“The mountain resort branch dedicated somebody specifically to our project, which has never really been done before, where they've taken somebody and said, ‘Your full-time job is to try to support this.’”

Other challenges lurk. But Hobart hopes that the fact that it is a local First Nation, and not a large company, proposing the resort will reduce the obstacles.

Spuzzum First Nation is the sole proponent behind the resort, which Hobart says is not only financially advantageous for the band and its members, but also useful when it comes to gaining regulatory approval and government funding.

“We don’t owe anybody anything,” he said.

It also makes it easier to gain support from other First Nations, Hobart said. Not that complications cannot arise.

The traditional territories of First Nations frequently overlap, and although South Anderson Valley is solidly within Spuzzum’s traditional territory, other First Nations have historically used the surrounding area.

Hobart said that the BC Mountain Resort initially wanted to give a regional tribal council a “seat at the table” on the fate of the project. A back-and-forth ensued, Hobart said, with Spuzzum arguing that its agreement with the province superseded one of the Tribal Council.

So far, Hobart said there has been no opposition from other First Nations. But he also suggested that not all appear to have participated in the process. Consultations with bands in the Fraser Valley seem less advanced than in the Interior. (Spuzzum is a Nlaka'pamux community and has linguistic, cultural, and governmental ties to Interior nations, rather than the Stó:lō peoples in the Fraser Valley.)

But Hobart said the bands he has connected with have been largely positive about the project.

Some recreation groups have also voiced concerns about the resort’s potential impact on their use of the valley. Hobart said the area is currently heavily used, but lightly managed. That provides both freedom for individuals and companies, but also dangers and a lack of oversight. He said the resort could increase safety, communication, and access in the area, and that the first nation and recreation groups have discussed common causes.

“It was nice to meet them and turn that into ‘Let’s work together,’” Hobart said.

The initial consultation process is now finished. The formal proposal and subsequent creation of a master plan, if the project gets that far, will include more chances for public feedback—and more opportunities for other factors to sink the plans.

The next step will be turning the expression of interest into a formal proposal. Hobart suggested that much of the work that went into the first document can be repurposed. If the proposal is tentatively accepted, federal and provincial environment reviews will follow, as will a review of a master plan for the entire concept.

A positive decision on that will lead to a formal operating agreement, permitting, and land tenure applications. Somewhere in there, the First Nation will have to secure financing so it can start building ski lifts and the first phase of infrastructure. Only after all that is done can the First Nation get started building.

Despite all the work that remains, Hobart said he’s been told that it’s possible skiing could begin in the winter of 2028.

“That’s pretty aggressive,” he acknowledged. But he said he believes it’s possible because of the way the Mountain Resort Branch seems to be prioritizing the project. And even if it takes a little longer, Hobart doesn’t think the project will linger for years, like several other recent resort proposals in BC.

“It’s still in our near future; there’s some people that will still be around to see it happen.”