CANMORE – An area redevelopment plan that could significantly alter Canmore’s downtown has entered the early stages of planning.
A briefing for the downtown ARP was presented to Canmore’s committee of the whole Tuesday (Oct. 17), which outlined the steps and process for moving forward to potentially return for council consideration in spring 2025.
While tourism and visitation have become the key economic drivers in Canmore, Town staff emphasized a key goal will be looking at what is vital and needed for locals through the public engagement portion of the plan’s development.
“The needs and desires of locals will be significant in the importance and creation of this plan,” said Lauren Miller, the Town’s manager of planning and development.
She said Town staff will continue to engage people through traditional means such as open houses and online methods, but will explore new ways to consult with people who typically may not take part in such processes.
Both Miller and Joshua Cairns, the Town’s senior policy planner, said there will be plans to “activate public spaces” in the downtown during winter to allow people to see what potential use of the space could take place.
“It doesn’t have to be a place of summer gathering, it can be more of a year-round place,” Cairns said.
The staff report highlighted the project “will be informed by research, analysis and comprehensive stakeholder and community engagement”.
The downtown ARP has been a much-discussed and highly anticipated project for several years.
It has been pushed back several times, but was meant to be addressed before being temporarily halted due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Town council approved a public policy planner position at the 2022 budget talks that would specifically focus on the Palliser Trail area structure plan (ASP) and the downtown ARP.
Canmore Mayor Sean Krausert said in addition to the Palliser Trail ASP, the downtown ARP were the two plans meant to be put to the “front burner” with the position’s creation.
While scheduled to begin in 2022, the downtown ARP plan was postponed to 2023 to focus on the Palliser Trail ASP.
The scoping for the ARP began in late spring and early summer, according to the staff report.
A map in the report showed it would run from the Spur Line Trail in the north, the Bow River to the west, Railway Avenue in the east and 5 Street to the south.
The report added during the different phases, public engagement will involve in person and online and involve “the temporary closure and activation of Main Street with interactive programming.”
“As the visioning and options phases of work occur over the winter and summer months respectively, the activation of Main Street will showcase what could be possible in these spaces should they become year-round spaces of activity in the future,” stated the report.
The Town Centre Enhancement Concept Plan (TCECP) was adopted by council in 1998 and gave recommendations for the downtown to be brought in over the subsequent 15 years. However, the staff report stated “some elements of the TCECP were implemented” a new and updated plan was needed due to increased tourism and population, affordability issues and the seasonal pedestrian zone on Main Street.
The staff report noted the role of Main Street would be looked at as well as potential for housing, the demand for social, recreational and public infrastructure to serve residents and visitors and the transit network and system.
The Town's Utility Master Plan outlines several water and sewer line replacements in the downtown area that are estimated to cost about $35 million.
The lifecycle replacement for waterline and sewer line replacements in South Canmore, 7th Avenue and downtown Canmore are estimated to take place between 2037-39, but could be moved up if necessary.
The first phase was the launch of the ARP, while the second phase will run until the spring with engagement and research for the plan followed by the third phase to run from spring to summer 2024 to look at options for community engagement and refining options.
The final phase will develop the draft plan and potentially return to council in spring 2025.
The Canmore Downtown BIA will use the University of Calgary’s Urban Labs to help with its own engagement process to help with the BIA’s input for the ARP, said Coun. Jeff Mah, council’s BIA representative.
“I feel [with] the downtown BIA is going through that process with Urban Labs, [it] can help sharpen up what they feel they should bring to the table when it comes to this process to connect downtown,” he said.
Cairns added the BIA is a “key stakeholder” for the project and they’ve been discussing the ARP with the organization throughout the scoping process.
“What that’s going to do is when we do our stakeholder engagement, it’s going to help them come to the table with their own unified vision and help feed into this process to make sure this ARP helps encapsulate some of their voices,” he said.
