About 100 people turned out for two public open houses in Banff last week to hear plans, share their thoughts and complete a survey concerning potential revitalization of the historic railway station located near the west entrance to town.
Banff Caribou Properties is the developer looking to revitalize the station, which was originally built in 1910, using a two-phase approach that looks at restoration of the building and then potentially developing the site.
“Generally speaking there is pretty widespread support for what we are trying to do there,” said Gordon Lozeman, president and CEO of Caribou Properties. “People definitely want to see the train station brought back to life.”
During the two public open houses, Lozeman indicated his team heard many ideas from residents about what could be done with the railway station pending changes to Banff’s Land Use Bylaw that regulates the types of uses permitted on the site.
Caribou has a long-term lease of the site after negotiations with Canadian Pacific Railway and was asked by the Town to hold consultations centered on what should be permitted, discretionary or never permitted on the land in question.
The Caboose restaurant, which was the last use of the station, excluding the terminal for the Rocky Mountaineer and Greyhound, closed in 2001.
“People recognize that the uses that can be considered under the current bylaw, which are essentially railroad operations, restaurant and parking, are too narrow in scope for a redevelopment to work.
“We heard lots of different ideas that were interesting,” he added about the open houses. “Everything from an upstairs coffee shop to bike rental to a destination cinema.
Lozeman also noted the historical significance and how some residents expressed their wish to preserve that heritage already contained within the building.
“A lot of people had a lot of knowledge about the site so it was interesting for us too,” he said. “How the upstairs used to be accommodation or how almost the whole main floor of the building was one big baggage storage area.
“It’s fundamental to our plans,” he continued regarding the developer’s goal of keeping the history intact. “We’ll be reinstating the main entry and removing past additions that are incompatible with the heritage character of the building.
“We’ll also be recreating a public passenger terminal area that will be interior designed to profile a lot of the history of the station.”
Lozeman pointed out that the developer is only allowed to work with the commercial square footage that exists and does not plan on adding or creating any new commercial space.
“You can’t under the cap,” he explained. “We’re simply trying to find adaptive re-uses so that it can become meaningful again.”
The possibility of establishing a visitor information centre or a food and beverage outlet within the station if the revitalization plan succeeds will not have an impact on businesses elsewhere in town, the developer said.
“I don’t get the sense that downtown businesses are too concerned about a competing coffee shop or small retail shop at the station,” he said. “Most agree that the station has the potential to be a real complement to the downtown sector, with its ability to accommodate bus and RV parking.
“We just need to get the Town to start thinking about refreshing the streetscape from the station to the downtown core.”
Caribou’s deadline to complete and return the surveys from the public open houses expired today. Lozeman indicated the developer would now meet with the Town and Parks Canada sometime in February or March to review the results and discuss a possible bylaw amendment.
“Hopefully, it will be flexible enough for us to figure out some adaptive reuses so we can use the station for more than the baggage storage that it was used for in the past.”
