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Town of Banff issues stop order against developer illegally charging for parking

“It’s written in the legislation and is the first condition of their development permit that they can’t charge for parking,” said Darren Enns, director of planning and development

BANFF – A stop order has been issued against an out-of-town developer illegally charging tenants for parking in its apartment complex.

A lot at 433 Marten Street was developed with a parking reduction under Bylaw 380 earlier this year, which requires all parking spots to be “… provided without cost and free of encumbrances to tenants on a first come, first served basis”. 

The Town of Banff received a complaint the owners were charging for parking, and discovered Facebook advertisements on Bow Valley Home Finder indicating there was heated underground parking for a fee.

Darren Enns, the Town of Banff’s director of planning and development, said the stop order was issued on Monday (Aug. 17), noting it’s believed the developer was charging $60 per month per parking stall.

“It’s written in the legislation and is the first condition of their development permit that they can’t charge for parking,” he said.

“The theory behind that is if the Town’s going to grant you a reduction to your required parking, we need to maximize the chances that the residents of that building will park in the parkade.”

The stop order letter to Samax Industries/1871828 Alberta Ltd. was dated Aug. 17.  The stop order takes effect two days after the receipt of the letter, which was sent via email and registered mail as well as hand-delivered.

The developer is ordered to “immediately, and permanently, cease assignment and taking payment for off-street parking.” 

The Town of Banff has also posted signs on the Marten Street property to let tenants know what’s going on.

“Ultimately it’s the tenants who are most affected by this issue,” Enns said.

“Unfortunately, we have had a few of the signs disappear and so we will be continuing to post on-site to make sure tenants are aware they should not be forced to pay for parking in this situation.”

The owner of the apartment complex does have the right to appeal the stop order within 14 days.

If they fail to abide, the Town of Banff can enter the property and take any action necessary to carry out the stop order, which could include legal action.

“Typically, these things are resolved prior to that occurring,” Enns said.

Bylaw 380 was designed to encourage developers to build rental apartment housing in Banff to deal with the tourist town’s housing shortage. 

Fewer onsite parking spots, particularly with the high costs associated with underground parkade, make the overall development less expensive to build.

Enns said this is the first property built under this legislation that has been found to be charging a fee.

“It’s fair to say that council paid a lot of attention to this issue when they debated bylaw 380, and so it was our opinion that we needed to act quickly to remedy it based on the very specific council direction.”

“In order for residential development to be embraced, it requires developers to live up to their obligations under that approval and this is a situation where that hasn’t happened, and so we need to correct as fast as we can.”

A spokesperson for the developer could not be reached at the time of publication.

 

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