CANMORE – Canmore council has approved a new development that will add about 120 housing units, including upwards of 20 affordable homes close to downtown.
The Lawrence Grassi Middle School area redevelopment plan (ARP) was passed by Town council Tuesday (March 1) following several hours of hearing from the public, staff and the board of Canadian Rockies Public Schools (CRPS), which brought forth the development project.
Though issues of density, traffic, parking and other concerns were raised during the public hearing, the bulk of the conversation surrounded the affordable housing component of the plan and whether more could be added.
“We are in a transition. We are in a housing crisis. We need gentle densification, which makes it more dense and I believe this runs a nice balance. … It’s not an environmental concern,” said Mayor Sean Krausert. “It’s close to downtown, it’s close to shopping, close to schools and certainly conducive to having people walk or bike, so I think that it’s excellent planning from that perspective.”
While there was a last minute push to make the project entirely affordable housing, the 11th hour proposal didn’t fit the intent of the ARP or the goal of CRPS to fund an endowment to help with education costs.
At several times, council members reminded speakers of its legislative limits such as not being able to mandate affordable housing. There were also reminders that the Town of Canmore has no authority over the school board, which falls under provincial jurisdiction, and that the project has been in the works for more than the last five years, providing ample opportunity for residents to work on opportunities.
“These creative ideas could’ve come forward at any time in the last five years and the fact that it shows up two weeks before is really disappointing,” said Coun. Joanna McCallum, highlighting conversations can continue to happen.
Carol Picard, a CRPS trustee and former chair of the board, noted there was time for people to work on the development for the best interest of the community.
“We’ve been discussing our plans since 2016 and since then, our plan has changed significantly. We have worked diligently with Town administration and responded to their comments in positive ways. … The first story about this development appeared five years ago,” said Picard, one of the three founders of the Rocky Mountain Outlook.
“There was five years in which people could have approached, weighed in and added comments, suggestions, ideas because the way this all started was some pretty blue sky in planning. … Nobody should be blindsided by this.”
A motion brought forward by Coun. Wade Graham to postpone until April 5 for Town staff to see if there was a way to include a need for reside for future owners of the market geared homes was defeated, but due to it being deemed more appropriate at subsequent future development stages.
Both the school board and Town council expressed a willingness to further explore the issue.
The concept of the Town of Canmore swapping land with CRPS to add affordable housing to the plan was swiftly turned down because extra land didn’t meet the school board’s needs or plans.
As part of the plan, a legacy fund will be created with the money collected kept for CRPS to financially help the school division.
The sale of the townhouses would go into the legacy fund, and anyone buying a home would be purchasing the physical construction as opposed to the land.
“We’re actually not interested in land because we have some,” said Lori Van Rooijen, the representative for the board.
“We’re interested in cash that goes into an endowment that then supports the school board with innovation and programs, so land somewhere else isn’t going to help us. We’re not developers and we’re not going to build on that land.”
However, several delegates from CRPS noted they were interested and willing to talk about adding affordable units, but that the ARP was a high level look and by no means the ultimate final product.
“We’re open to discussing more affordable units, but we need those funds to even build our own and to service the land,” said Chris MacPhee, CRPS’ superintendent. “That’s not a small piece of money building 20 units, so that’s a big component of this.”
The development will be constructed on 1.5 hectares of vacant land around Lawrence Grassi Middle School. In addition to the 20 affordable homes added to Canmore Community Housing’s (CCH) inventory, there would be 80 townhouses and 20 homes for CRPS staff.
The Town of Canmore also owns 0.07 hectares of an undeveloped lane. Council at a later date will vote to decide if it will be transferred to the school board.
Significant aspects of the future development will return during the land use stage, subdivision plans and development permits at council and the municipality's planning commission.
“There are some things that have come up, will come up, that will get dealt with later in the project,” said Coun. Tanya Foubert. “Concerns around servicing, traffic, parking, these are all things that can have reasonable mitigation and can be planned for, but we can’t plan for them unless we as a council say the vision to change this parcel of land from public use to this new use is supportable in our opinion.”
A staff report to council noted the plan is aligned with the Municipal Development Plan that promotes infill and redevelopment, affordable housing and construction in existing neighbourhoods. The project also fits in with Canmore’s transportation master plan.
“Hopefully, because of its central location there will be more walking, there will be more biking,” said Coun. Jeff Hilstad. “We’re doing a lot to increase our modal shift. We’re trying to make better infrastructure for those options because we know that as a community we have to because we don’t have the space to build bigger roads. … This is an area we want to densify because it’s a prime location. It’s where we want to put density.”
The plan will also bring one of the largest percentages of affordable housing into CCH’s inventory.
Long-time Canmore-based realtor Dan Sparks spoke to the significant cost of housing. He called the affordability crisis dire and said that the community is frequently losing families who move to areas like Cochrane, Calgary and Kimberley, B.C.
“Affordable housing is an absolute dire need in this town,” said Sparks, a former long-term CCH board member.
Sparks highlighted that property values have increased after each affordable housing unit was added in Canmore and that a priority should be placed on housing as opposed to land for parking.
“I’m not disputing the fact that some cars could spill out to the road. It’s going to happen, but the fact is the Town should be here to house the families, not cars," he said.
Mayor Krausert indicated appreciation for residents who spoke for and against the plan, highlighting the level of community engagement.
“I’m incredibly proud of this community for both showing up for and against, sharing their opinions in a respectful way and doing so with great thought," he said.
"I’m proud of the ingenuity that exists in our community and the potential this initiative has. I’m proud of the work by administration to prepare this and I’m really proud of this council. … No matter what, someone’s going to be upset. We have to think about what is best for the community as a whole.”
