With an eye to future planning within the mountain town, the Town of Banff’s Land Use Bylaw working group met Thursday (Oct. 20) to discuss various LUB-related issues at the Mount Royal Hotel.
The meeting primarily consisted of discussion on three activities – Comparable communities information, Visitor origin and expectations and Impact assessment of proposed amendments – Grocery Stores and Service Stations.
With 15 people in attendance, the meeting was chaired by David Bayne, Municipal Planning Commission representative.
Most of the discussion was led by Darren Enns, senior planner with the Town of Banff, and Stavros Karlos, council representative.
Among the group, the most heated discussion surrounded grocery stores and service stations.
“We’re encouraging council to look at more creative and innovative and outside the box ways to deal with this issue, should it on the rare possibility ever come to fruition,” said Bayne.
At issue was a discussion of whether to make Land Use Bylaw changes, or other suggestions to council, to ensure continued operation of grocery stores and gas stations in Banff, should existing businesses decide to close.
“The Town is looking forward, these are issues that had to be debated but not acted upon, so on the rare possibility that this situation could actually occur, we’re encouraging the town to look at all options,” said Bayne.
To which Karlos asked, “Would that include the Town sitting on 30,000 square feet and putting it in reserves forever? We’re in a finite land base, with finite commercial development, and right now the town does sit on a commercial allottment – does that include putting a portion aside for what’s deemed essential services?”
“We recognize the impacts the closure of these services would have on the community,” said Karlos. “But from what I’ve heard from this group, we do not believe that this regulatory mechanism would achieve a certainty to have these businesses remain in town.”
Bayne, however, questioned the necessity of the discussion, noting it’s unlikely these businesses would ever need such protection.
“Is this a problem at all, and if it’s not a problem, then why are we debating it?” he asked. It was noted through the course of discussion that the Banff Safeway is the most profitable Safeway in Canada.
The working group will meet five more times before reporting to council on Nov. 14.
