CANMORE – The lengthy discussion between the Town of Canmore and Alpine Helicopters at the heliport may be nearing an agreement.
Council authorized a new 10-year lease pending both sides conducting a final legal review that would have sightseeing tours reduced to no more than 35 a day and be a minimum of 25 minutes in duration.
The negotiation will also see Alpine have their lease reduced below the fair market rate since their business would be impacted by the setting of limitations.
“It’s been a very long and difficult conversation in our community and for Alpine Helicopters,” Mayor John Borrowman said. “I believe it’s been clearly supported within the community that maintaining an active helicopter business from the heliport is critically important to a number of aspects to our community, particularly with safety and mountain rescue and servicing the backcountry.
“We know there’s some conflict that many residents are challenged by the noise and I’ll be hopeful in the work council’s directed administration to do to bring back a project in September that in the future we’ll find success in identifying a secondary location to reduce the noise impact of the sightseeing tours for residents in our community.” JB
The new deal, if approved after a legal review, would also see sightseeing trips be allowed between 8:30 a.m. and 5 p.m. Stephen Hanus, the Town’s manager of facilities, said with the Town’s noise bylaw allowing the flights from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m., the shift from a maximum of 60 tours a day to 35 would be a 43 per cent reduction.
The change in the number of permitted flights and increasing the length of minimum flights are expected to lead to less noise and greenhouse gases, with Alpine completing a climate action plan by the end of 2023.
Under the existing contract, they pay $109,939 a year or roughly $9,161 a month.
According to the staff report, the fair market rent would be $135,000 a year or $11,250 a month. But with Alpine having their business potential limited, they would see a reduction in rent to $115,000 a year or $9,583 a month, which is roughly 15 per cent below fair market rent.
It would also be raised annually based on consumer price indexes increase, per the report.
“We have made it quite clear throughout the changes we made that we are looking to very heavily incumber their business and I believe their lease payments should reflect that,” Coun. Joanna McCallum said. “I believe the new negotiated amounts do reflect that.”
The report highlighted Alpine would pay $10,100 in property taxes in 2021 and they had continued to pay the lease and taxes throughout the pandemic, despite public health restrictions impacting their business.
“This is a municipally run site with constraints on it. The more constraints we add to the site, it is my belief it is incumber on us to reflect rent that limit the enterprise of operating to its maximum potential,” Hanus said.
A motion to have Alpine pay the fair market rent was defeated 4-3, while a motion to have them operate six days a week instead of seven was withdrawn since council had previously defeated a similar motion.
Council briefly went in camera twice to discuss the contract and a proposed motion in relation to the Municipal Government Act
Town staff and Alpine are also continuing to work with one another in exploring potential new spots for a heliport, which is expected to return to council in September.
The proposed lease agreement would allow both sides to give 24 months notice to terminate the lease and renegotiate if a new site is found.
“We have clear renewal and termination clauses that allow flexibility for both parties and so should that study be successful in finding an alternative location or a secondary location there is a clause in there to allow for changes in the lease,” Hanus said.
A negotiated agreement previously came back to council June 1 and recommended no more than 45 sightseeing flights a day and flights of at least 20 minutes.
A virtual town hall May 4 had 31 people speak in either opposition or support, which ranged from noise concerns to the longstanding relationship with Alpine to the community.
The initial contract discussion began early in 2020. A survey was sent to 22 organizations – with 12 replying in a 58-day span – and four groups had further discussions.
Town staff updated council at a committee of the whole meeting on April 20, while the Heliport Monitoring Committee met April 28 to receive the annual 2020 report. They discussed new technology being installed to reduce some noise. However, new technology or equipment first needs to be approved by Transport Canada and the helicopter’s manufacturer, leading to longer install times.
The committee also discussed previous ideas to reduce noise, such as planting trees and a transparent barrier, but both had flaws and were unable to be implemented.
Alpine did 201 rescues in 2019 and 161 last year, according to statistics provided at the Heliport Monitoring Committee in April.
An annual report will also include data such as fuel use and flight data and be kept confidential from the public due to it being proprietary to the business.
Alpine previously voluntarily scaled back their 12 minute flights to a minimum of 20 minutes from the Canmore Heliport.
“It’s critical for us to have Alpine operating out of Canmore,” Borrowman said, “but I also recognize the noise impact is significant for a number of residents.”
