Semiahmoo and The Birth of Furry Creek

While the setting for Semiahmoo is quite different than that of Furry Creek, it served as a model for the Furry Creek community I envisioned in 1990.

This past Labour Day Weekend, Sally and I visited the Semiahmoo Resort and Spa to participate in a Celebration of Life for Craig Waddell, the best man at my wedding and one one of the most important people in my life. More about this later. 

I have enjoyed visiting the Semiahmoo resort community, just across the US border, since it first opened in 1987, . The development includes a challenging golf course, a 200 room hotel, and several golf-themed neighbourhoods containing a mix of single-family and multi family homes. Next to the hotel is a marina and next to the marina is a general store, cafe and chandlery. 

The floating green at Couer d'Alene was the inspiration for the 14th hole at Furry Creek

When I first started planning the Furry Creek golf course community in 1990, I took the Japanese owners of the property on a tour of several golf courses and resort communities in Washington State and Idaho. The first stop was Semiahmoo. This was followed by Couer d'Alene in Idaho because it had a floating green, and I was keen to explore how we might do something similar at Furry Creek. We also visited Port Ludlow, designed by Robert Muir Graves, who was reputed to show considerable respect for its environmentally sensitive setting. However, I regarded Semiahmoo to be the perfect model for what we might create along the Sea-to-Sky highway.  

The trip turned out to be most worthwhile. While unfortunately, a floating green in Howe Sound was not considered feasible, it inspired what eventually became Furry Creek's signature 14th hole that today extends out into the ocean. We also hired Robert Muir Graves to design the golf course. This turned out to be a mixed blessing. On one hand he demonstrated great respect for the mountainside environment. But on the other, his resulting golf course design looked like it would be very difficult to play. When I complained about the layout, including several holes which required long shots over ravines, Bill Kolker, one of the company directors replied "Geller, we're not building this golf course for players of your calibre." It was a mistake, since there are a lot more 18 handicappers like me than players who can regularly enjoy playing Furry Creek.

At the time, Mike Harcourt, who I had known for decades, was the Leader of the Opposition. When he learned that we wanted to build a resort community, rather than another pulp mill, he  kindly introduced me to Dan Cummings, at the time the Chair of the Squamish Lillooet Regional District. We assembled a very competent consulting team that included Duncan Hay, EnviroWest, Davidson, Yuen Simpson, and others. In addition to the golf course, the owners wanted approval for a 300 room room hotel, 1000 homes, a marina and general store, similar to Semiahmoo. When I told them it would likely take at least two years they said that was too long. They wanted it approved within a year! To encourage me to get the approvals faster, they offered a $300,000 bonus provided approvals were received in 12 months or less. This was a lot of money at the time. Today it is about $700,000. 

A 1990 drawing illustrating the overall development concept at Furry Creek with a larger marina, resort hotel and 920 single family and townhouse units scattered over the 1000 acres.

Since the Department of Highways was another key approval agency, in addition to the SLRD, I offered Kabel Atwall, a former Department of Highways official, a third of the bonus if he would work with me.  Thanks to Kabel's soft, gentle manner, and a very capable and accommodating Highways Approving Officer named Howard Hunter, we did in fact obtain the Preliminary Layout Approval (PLA) in eleven and a half months. 

When Mako Saul, who was working as a translator for the owners told them that we had obtained the necessary approvals, I was astonished to see they were not at all happy. When I asked why they weren't happy, Mako said they thought I had tricked them into believing the approvals would take longer than a year! 

This was the beginning of the end of my first involvement with Furry Creek. As far as the Japanese owners were concerned, the final straw was my insistance that in addition to building the golf course before the first housing, they should also build a general store on the waterfront, like Semiahmoo. I lasted to 1993, when the clubhouse was finished and the golf course opened. Unfortunately the project faced several financial challenges. Sadly, Mr. Suzuki, the owner of Tanabe Canada (Tanac) passed away, and other than playing the course once or twice a year, I had no further involvement with the community until 2017 when a new owner purchased the golf course and adjacent lands from Caleb Chan's Burrard International. 

Over the years, the Semiahmoo community has developed with a mix of single-family, townhouse, and lowrise apartments. 

Like the Furry Creek community, the Semiahmoo property had a checkered financial history. The hotel, restaurants and spa closed at the end of 2012. In June 2013, the hotel was purchased by a new owner for only $19.5 million and following extensive renovations, the resort re-opened for limited operations in late summer 2013. Since then, additional facilities have been built along the waterfront and new housing developments have proceeded. 

While the resort was planned to have a fancy restaurant, for some reason, it was not built directly overlooking the water and is now used as a banquet facility. But a most delightful restaurant/bar with a nice outdoor patio called Packers is located on the water. Although the food is good, the service has been inconsistent over the years. 

Last year, approvals were received for some changes at Furry Creek. The townhouses that were planned along the waterfront have been replaced with midrise apartment buildings. The village centre has been relocated from the waterfront to a site east of the highway. While the total number of market units remains the same, 120 affordable 'workforce' housing units can now be built. The final phase of Oliver's Landing, one of the best kept secrets on the waterfront is about to get underway, and hopefully it won't take another 30 years before the community is built out. After all, I was in my mid-forties when I started Furry Creek. I'm now approaching my late seventies. I can't wait that much longer!

Over the years, the Furry Creek golf course has been reconfigured and improved. What was once the 10th hole is now the first hole where many balls are lost. I have repeatedly suggested to the owners that they give each golfer a dozen used balls to help offset the fact they will likely lose at least this number over the 18 holes.

More about the early history of Furry Creek can be found in this Golf BC reposting of an earlier blogpost about the origins of the community. https://britishcolumbiagolf.org/uncategorized/2797-furry-creek-redux-michael-geller-s-blog