CANMORE – Canmore's elected officials are considering options to expand the municipality's mandatory mask bylaw to include outdoor areas in the downtown core and possibly closing Main Street to vehicles to create space for pedestrians to socially distance over the next several weeks.
During a special meeting Thursday (Dec. 10), council voted to direct administration to bring back possible amendments to the mask bylaw for consideration and recommendations on closing Main Street to create a pedestrian zone again.
Mayor John Borrowman put forward two successful motions for administration return to council with recommendations on enacting further measures to protect the community from the spread of the virus and manage visitation in the downtown.
"We do want, as much as we can, to ensure that the business sector, particularly the downtown, is able to serve customers in a safe way," said the mayor. "I would like to see this back to council fairly quickly."
Borrowman suggested a five-week period where there would not be any vehicle traffic along Main Street to allow more space for lineups into businesses and for pedestrians to maintain a safe distance from one another. He also asked administration to return with amendments to the mask bylaw for consideration.
"What I am thinking is there is not a lot of room on Main Street when traffic is flowing," he said.
While council supported the motions, there was hesitancy among councillors with respect to whether they would support the Main Street closure.
Coun. Jeff Hilstad said that walking up and down Main Street and passing other pedestrians on the sidewalk, or in the crosswalk, does not meet the definition of a close contact. However, he noted that if retail businesses had lineups forming for customers outside their doors, that could result in a potential exposure.
"I will support administration going back and bringing something for us to decide on," Hilstad said.
Coun. Joanna McCallum said her support for the proposed closure of Main Street will depend upon what she sees this weekend.
"The premier's office and the minister of health are saying that non-essential travel is discouraged and if we see Main Street this weekend chock-a-block with visitors, it behooves us to consider our locals and downtown businesses," she said. "Our locals still have business they want to do downtown and if visitors continue to disrespect the recommendations from the province, it will set my mind to a certain extent."
Council also asked administration to bring back input from the downtown business association.
Chief Administrative Officer Lisa de Soto asked for council's direction on how to manage the issue of visitation to the community given that out-of-town travel has been strongly discouraged by Premier Jason Kenney and Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Deena Hinshaw.
"We are in this delicate balance of retail businesses being open, hotels being open and the Christmas season, where typically this is when businesses make or break their year," de Soto said. "Earlier this year, we were saying to 'stay away' – there were signs at our entrances saying 'now is not the time to visit.'
"We do not have any recommendations in that regard, we are not planning to put signs out, but that is something that council may want to weigh in on."
Borrowman put forward a motion to direct administration to put signage in place that reflects public health direction that out-of-town travel is strongly discouraged. Council asked that the signs target entrances and exits to the community.
"As much as we hear sometimes concerns from citizens that people from outside our community are coming in," McCallum said. "The other side of that messaging is that it also applies to us, so if we are asking people not to come into our community then maybe we should not be leaving the community also."
Politicians, however, rejected the idea of a lockdown for the municipality, saying it would be logistically difficult and legally questionable.
"There may be some interest and suggestions from the community that we stop travel, but I recognize that is not something we can do particularly when it comes to Highway 742, which is a provincial highway that people from Calgary will be travelling on to get to the Canmore Nordic Centre," Borrowman said.
The mayor said that Canmore is a regional service centre for residents of Lake Louise, Banff, the MD of Bighorn and the Stoney Nakoda First Nation.
"There are a number of essential reasons why those people should be able to come to Canmore and access our services," he said.
Canmore and the Bow Valley are also popular areas for outdoor recreation and the province has continued to allow and recommend that continues, said de Soto, however has prohibited outdoor gatherings.
"Fitness and outdoor recreation is an important part of mental and physical wellness," de Soto said. "We all know we need to pay attention to that, especially in these times."
Outdoor ice surfaces, trails, toboggan hills and ski areas are allowed to remain open, while outdoor group physical activity is also permitted with a limit of 10 people.
"As long as you are in the process of an activity and you are in a group of less than 10 then that is permitted and different household members must maintain a two metre distance," de Soto said, adding there are still questions around outdoor recreation for communities in Alberta. "There are going to be guidelines ... that will be released and many municipalities are as eager to see those as we are, especially for the management of outdoor ice surfaces."
