BANFF – Banff’s Municipal Planning Commission has given the Banff Springs Hotel the flexibility it was looking for to seasonally switch businesses in and out of a small commercial space in the conference centre building.
On Wednesday (March 8), the commission approved a development permit application for a change of use to vehicle rental services, sports equipment rental and general retail store in the 39-square-metre space, allowing the hotel to go from renting scooters to a retail store between seasons, for example.
While Banff’s land use bylaw contemplates multiple uses on a site, Town of Banff planning officials say there is no specific reference to different uses that would alternate in the same space over a given time period.
“The property owner would like the option of having seasonal businesses in this location without the need for a new development permit every season,” said Dave Michaels, manager of development services for the Town of Banff.
“The land use bylaw doesn’t really contemplate different uses in a space seasonally, or even through the course of the day, so we haven’t had any applications where this has been considered before. This application would allow them the flexibility both seasonally and over the life of the space.”
In summer 2022, a temporary development permit was issued for the space in an area of the conference centre building to allow for scooter rentals, which fall within vehicle rental services use. When the development permit expired, the use of the space reverted to general retail where it has been operated as a winter sports retail business.
In the Banff Springs Hotel land use district, vehicle rental services and sports equipment rental are discretionary uses, meaning these uses require Municipal Planning Commission approval, while general retail store is a permitted use.
Because two of the uses are discretionary, administration recommended these be considered on an individual use basis with a focus on the most intense and restrictive of the uses for housing and parking regulations.
Commissioner Leslie Taylor said taking the most onerous requirements for parking and housing made sense.
She successfully got support for a motion to have the commission recommend to council to add an analysis and possible revision of parking and housing requirements for various uses to the current review of parking and housing cash-in-lieu.
“If this comes up again in the future it seems like it might be good at some place in the bylaw where there’s more than one use on the site that the most onerous requirements will apply,” Taylor said earlier in the meeting.
Commissioner Stavros Karlos liked that this decision would cut a bit of red tape for the business, but he also wanted to make sure uses were compatible and there were no unintended consequences down the road.
“I see this application is actually an attempt to streamline the process,” he said.
