BANFF – Banff’s elected officials are going full throttle with a proposal to eliminate outdated parking requirements that add hefty costs to housing construction and often see developers walking away or building fewer housing units.
As more and more towns and cities look to eliminate or reduce parking minimums to encourage housing construction, Banff’s governance and finance committee has directed administration to draft legislation that would separate parking requirements from new housing development.
Officials say the current parking rules substantially impact the development of new homes in Banff, where there is an estimated shortage of 700 to 1,000 housing units, noting the bylaw change would encourage development of new and greater density housing on Banff’s limited land base.
Mayor Corrie DiManno said Banff has been in a housing crisis for more than a decade and said it is a daily struggle for people to find available, affordable and adequate housing.
“I have talked to residents who have to decide between having enough money to pay their rent or to buy groceries,” she said.
“I’ve also talked to people with families, young professionals, and seniors who have left or are contemplating leaving our community because they can’t afford the high cost of housing.”
Currently in Banff, parking requirements apply to institutional, residential and commercial housing development under the land use bylaw, which sets the ratios for required parking associated with these various uses.
With a fixed land base, 98.5 per cent of residential properties currently contain housing, meaning that in order to add more housing, smaller homes need to be demolished to make better use of the site, or developers have to build around existing buildings.
While residential use and density, accessory dwellings, expedited permitting, and financial tools to encourage housing development are also under consideration, town planners say decoupling parking from housing developments will have the single biggest impact on getting more homes built.
“We’re talking about removing parking minimums for housing developments, allowing those creating housing to determine their parking needs,” said Dave Michaels, manager of planning services for the Town of Banff.
“We’re not talking about requiring that developers don’t build parking – some municipalities have gone to that, but it’s not what we’re saying here. All we’re saying is allowing people to decide what parking they’ll build themselves.”
DiManno understands the counter-arguments and fears of how this could change neighbourhoods by adding more cars to the streets, but she said this bylaw revision is about putting a roof over someone’s head.
“This could open the door for 145 accessory dwellings in Middle Springs alone,” she said.
“It could reduce the cost to build exponentially, and in turn, add more supply to our community and help to bring down unmanageable rents.”
Many developers voiced strong support for the changes, noting only a small portion of their staff typically have cars and required parkades that add hefty costs to the development project often sit almost empty.
The cost of providing a parking stall is not insignificant, with current estimates landing around $70,000 per stall for underground parking and $8,000 for surface parking. For example, the required 45 parking stalls in the underground parking lot at the municipality's below-market for-purchase development on the 300 block of Banff Avenue, known as The Aster, amounted to $69,000 per stall, or $94,000 per home.
Christian Dubois, a Banff resident for more than 20 years who runs a real estate investment and development company with his father, said parking requirements have the largest impact in determining the amount of housing that can be built on a lot, which in turn will dictate the feasibility of a project.
His company is behind a rezoning application at 242 Marmot Cres. to make way for apartment housing, though any decision has been temporarily put off by council until a more thorough community-wide density conversation takes place.
Under the current parking requirements, though, Dubois said developers are often required to build an underground parkade in order to maximize developable square footage for housing on a lot.
“The cost of such facilities are prohibitive, often leaving projects undeveloped,” he said.
“This would be the likely outcome for us should our rezoning application be approved without any changes to current parking requirements.”
As for surface parking, Dubois said developers are forced to leave allowable square footage on the table.
“This loss of developable square footage, i.e. housing, will render a project cost prohibitive, again leaving properties undeveloped,” he said.
Dubois said parking requirements also have a direct impact on the affordability of housing units, noting the construction and maintenance of parking spaces account for a significant portion of projection costs.
“When developers are compelled to provide an excessive number of parking spaces, construction costs rise, and as a result, housing becomes less affordable,” he said. "This is exacerbated in areas like Banff where land values are already very high.”
A high-level review by the planning department estimates 145 of 196 Middle Springs I and II properties eligible to apply for a basement suite would unlikely be successful in getting a permit because of the requirement to add a parking stall.
Darren Enns, director of planning and environment for the Town of Banff, said this either leads to illegal suites or none being built at all.
Accessory suites not only benefit the tenant who can live in an independent fashion, but he said they also help homeowners in terms of affordability with rental income.
“The irony is that a lot of these suites cannot be constructed due to parking requirements,” he said.
Enns said he can’t count the number of conversations with Middle Springs homeowners wanting to build a basement suite, but are told they can’t because of parking requirements.
“They look at us like we’re crazy. We try to explain the land use bylaw and it gets to the point where it’s almost a nonsensical discussion around why you can’t park in your driveway to build housing in this town,” he said.
“It’s honestly embarrassing and so we are really looking to take a logical step, which is to decouple to allow for those suites in a very gentle form of density, especially on the south side of the river.”
Pam Trout, a long-term resident and business owner of a local hair salon, said she and her husband recently experienced housing insecurity due to a short-term lease, noting the search for housing shows a lack of suitable options.
As renters, she said the uncertainty of lease renewals and price hikes is a constant source of stress, noting housing insecurity not only jeopardizes secure living situations but also impacts financial and mental health of many in the community.
“Many of our friends, peers and salon clients have been forced to leave Banff in search of housing opportunities that match their ever evolving needs, be it age-appropriate homes, pet-friendly spaces or the chance to be first-time homeowners,” she said.
Trout fears a lack of affordable and appropriate housing in Banff, combined with prices continuing to rise, will lead to a decline in the number of small business owners starting up new ventures. In addition, housing scarcity also adds a continuous staffing challenge to Trout’s business.
“Without accessible living spaces, our staff struggle to find residence in town, directly affecting our business' profitably and stability,” she said.
“Purchasing staff housing is not a viable option for us as a small business, especially with the scarcity of affordable one- and two-bedroom units for sale.”
Connie MacDonald, a long-time Banff resident who was instrumental in getting housing built at Banff YWCA before her retirement, urged council to support the parking bylaw revision as a critical first step to encourage private and public developers to build significantly more housing.
She said maintaining the status quo will not be enough to convince the federal government to hand over some of the $4 billion nationwide Housing Accelerator Fund (HAF) dollars to help with Banff’s housing crisis.
“The feds are looking for radical, innovative changes to incent new housing in both public and private sectors,” she said.
MacDonald said many of Banff’s parking bylaws related to housing predate the major evolution of Roam public transit, e-bikes, the train station intercept parking lot, car-sharing programs and the new generation of young people who are not as dependent on cars as her generation.
“Change is hard, but let’s not let parking define our housing landscape; it’s more important that people have places to live than a place to park,” she said.
Once administration brings back a draft bylaw for council, first reading will be considered. A public hearing will be triggered if first reading is passed.
Coun. Hugh Pettigrew said he hopes a public hearing allows more community-wide input and that council remains flexible based on what is heard.
“This is an important piece and we need to do it right,” he said.
“We need to fix the problem – how we got there is a whole indifferent question. I do believe cost of living is incredibly high in this town, especially in housing, perhaps wages need to be looked at.”
Mayor DiManno said she wants the community to reframe how it thinks about decoupling parking requirements from housing development.
“Instead of viewing it as cars moving in, think about the families, children, small business owners, hospitality workers, grocery store clerks, teachers, healthcare professionals, and emergency response personnel in our community. They are who is moving in,” she said.
“Want to ask ourselves: what’s more anxiety-inducing and likely to keep you up at night, trying to find a place to live or a place to park?”
