The Town of Banff plans to put in an offer for two Parks Canada lots for sale – but it is asking the federal agency to significantly drop the price.
At a meeting Monday (April 28), council decided the Town of Banff will make an offer on two lots at 240 and 242 Marmot Crescent at a 95 per cent reduction to the reserve price for the development of an affordable home-ownership project.
Parks is receiving sealed proposals until May 15 for those interested in entering into a lease for the right to “lease, use, occupy, develop and maintain” the two non-serviced lots for a minimum of $500,000 and $550,000.
“The reduction amount we are requesting is somewhat similar to what Jasper received for its affordable development projects,” said Councillor Stavros Karlos.
One lot, known as lot 9, is 765.99 square metres, with a frontage of 12.48 metres, while the second parcel, known as lot 8, is 844.61 square metres and measures 14.94 metres across the front of the property.
Variances from the Town of Banff would need to be obtained prior to any development because the Land Use Bylaw indicates a minimum lot width of 15 metres.
The two parcels are in the Marmot-Rundle (RMR) land use district. Essentially, a potential developer is looking at duplex or single family development as the most likely scenario in this area.
Council’s motion was made at a public meeting and is posted on the Town of Banff’s website, however Parks Canada declined to comment.
“We have not yet seen the Town’s motion,” said Dave McDonough, superintendent of Banff National Park in an email response. “As a result, it would be inappropriate to comment on it until such time that we can review it.”
Parks Canada previously told the Outlook it had no plans for the empty lots so they wanted to sell them off and use the money from the sales to help fund a “variety of projects” in Banff National Park.
