BANFF – Some bed and breakfast home operators say they feel they are being unfairly targeted by a proposal to reduce the number of B&Bs over time to make way for more housing in the community.
Until council reaches consensus on a proposal to reduce the B&B home cap to 36, with 15 of those set aside for designated municipal heritage buildings, a proposed temporary moratorium has been vetted by the Town of Banff’s legal counsel and comes before council on Monday, July 10.
Edwina Handley, a B&B owner and member of the original B&B working group, wrote a letter to council indicating that B&Bs are not responsible for Banff’s housing shortage.
With the summertime closure of the 100 and 200 blocks of Banff Avenue and a portion of Caribou Street to make way for the downtown pedestrian zone, she said comes more tables requiring more staff.
“Yet not once has anyone turned to the restaurants who use this space as a reason for the housing pressure,” she said.
“There are more staff required and therefore putting more pressure on the housing inventory. This should be a responsibility of the restaurant groups.”
Feeling that B&Bs are being unfairly targeted, Handley also pointed to the upper level of the Cascade Plaza, where Basecamp Resort is located.
“That also took away long-term housing and that was just recently,” she said.
In her letter to council, Handley said taking away some B&B licences doesn’t mean owners are going to rent their places to tenants.
“If you decrease the number of B&Bs in town you also raise the cost of the guest's experience,” she said.
“There will be no volume of reasonable alternatives to the $600-$4,000 a night rooms that exist in town and that closes the door to a whole demographic of visitors.”
While there are currently 40 B&B homes, council has signalled its intent to cap the number of B&Bs to 36 over time, with 15 of those set aside for designated municipal heritage buildings.
The existing town-wide B&B quota is 65, but there are currently about 40 B&B homes and eight B&B inns. A reduction in the cap would not affect inns.
Under the proposal, all existing B&B homes would be grandfathered until such time as they closed, sold or had their permits revoked for violating rules over time – which could take years.
Coun. Barb Pelham, who is the councillor who pitched the moratorium until council comes to consensus on her proposal to cap the number of B&B homes over time, stressed B&Bs are not being targeted.
A member of the Municipal Planning Commission (MPC), Pelham said council is looking at dealing with the housing shortage of between 700 and 1,000 units as a holistic issue, noting that evaluating the number of B&B homes is just one piece of that puzzle to deal with the housing crisis.
She said there have also been recent discussions about eliminating cash-in-lieu for new commercial development, reviewing zoning, setbacks, floor area ratios, building heights, and facilitating the development permit process.
“I did indicate my hope to gradually decrease the number of bed and breakfasts as existing licences are sold, revoked, or not renewed in an attempt to reclaim that housing inventory,” she said.
“The large majority of the 20 bed and breakfast licensed units MPC has approved over the last four years, most of them could have been housing. Many tourist accommodations used to be and could be once again basement suites, above-garage suites.”
Dave Michaels, development planner for the Town of Banff, said it is worth noting that the proposed moratorium relates to the issuance of business licences only.
“The Town of Banff will still accept development permit applications for bed and breakfast homes and will process these in accordance with the land use bylaw,” said Michaels in his report going to council on July 10.
“The planning and environment department will inform individuals that a development permit application can be processed, but due to a moratorium on business licences, they may not be able to operate even if successful in obtaining a development permit.”
If passed, the moratorium would remain in place until changes to B&B regulations have been passed by council and approved by the federal minister responsible for Parks Canada, or if the bylaw amendments are defeated, or if the minister refuses to sign off on the bylaw.
Exemptions to the temporary moratorium would include applications for a business licence for a B&B home identified as a historic resource by the Banff Heritage Corporation, or a business licence issued before the moratorium comes into effect.
In addition, among others, the exemption clause would allow a new business licence to be issued if a redevelopment permit has already been issued or has been conditionally approved before the moratorium comes into effect.
Michaels said there are currently three conditionally approved development permits for B&B homes that have outstanding conditions that must be met before a development permit can be issued.
Of these three, he said one is for new ownership of a previously approved B&B home, while the other two are listed properties on the municipality’s heritage inventory. One additional B&B with a permit is under construction, but hasn't obtained a business licence.
Under the exemption section, Michaels said these four B&Bs would all be able to get a business licence when they’re ready, for example, when all outstanding conditions are met or construction is complete.
“There are currently no development permit applications that have been submitted that haven’t already been processed,” he said in his report.
“Under the draft wording, any submitted development permit application for a bed and breakfast home would have to be deemed a complete application by the development officer prior to third reading of this bylaw to be exempt from the moratorium.”
