CANMORE – Canmore’s Subdivision and Development Appeal Board will decide how a previously council-approved employee housing unit will proceed in Spring Creek Mountain Village.
SDAB heard from both the developer and appellant about what could bring 21 units of common amenity housing for 79 bedrooms and three employee units as well as space for Castle Mountain Home Furnishings on the main floor at 500 Bow Valley Trail.
Melissa Yarmoloy filed the notice of appeal for 309061 Alberta Ltd., which owns property across from the development and in Canmore such as Blondies Corner.
The appellant raised several issues for the project ranging from parking concerns, landscaping, building height and size of the units after Canmore’s planning department authorized eight variances for the project.
“It’s not to stop a development,” said Rob Couch, representing property owners at 400 Bow Valley Trail. “It’s certainly not to stop common amenity housing. … We support that. … It’s to recognize the process is so new that it’s flawed and that coming up with those parking numbers you can, but the real intent is you need to be careful what you ask for.
“It’s the fit of this specific building. It’s the bulging factor when you overdevelop a piece of property.”
Couch expressed issues with the conclusions on parking from the McElhanney report, which was conducted for Spring Creek Mountain Village (SCMV). However, Claire Ellick, the Town’s transportation engineer, emphasized it aligned with the Town’s integrated parking management plan and integrated transportation plan.
Nathan Grivell, a development planner with the Town, outlined the planning department was guided by the Bow Valley Trail area redevelopment plan and the Town’s Municipal Development Plan, which directs priority for employee housing. Grivell added there were no comments during the public hearings when council decided on the amendments.
A report from McElhanney Engineering refuted the appellant’s issues, but a letter from SCMV owner Frank Kernick also highlighted he was “shocked” the Yarmoloy family had appealed the development without contacting him.
“I have known them for over 40 years, and we have done business in the past,” he wrote in a Dec. 28, 2022 letter. “To be honest, that is probably the reason they decided to appeal. I traded other lands with the family to get the access road to Spring Creek through their property back in 2004.”
Kernick outlined the need for employee housing and the development would give his business partners, Sabrina Derondeau and Jeff Bellinger of Castle Mountain Home Furnishings, a permanent home.
“Anyone in the hospitality industry in Canmore or Banff knows if you don’t have staff housing you will not get staff,” Kernick said in his presentation to SDAB.
Derondeau echoed Kernick’s comments on the importance of adding housing to the community, especially for employee housing.
“My husband and I are incredibly proud to be part of one of Canmore’s first major staff housing initiatives. … We share, like other local businesses, the struggles of people not being able to staff their businesses due to lack of local staff, which is fueled by a lack of available housing,” she said. “This addresses that need.”
Kernick noted they had worked through the process of making bylaw changes in recent years that were ultimately approved by council in the summer. SCMV also had a series of meetings in the past two years to get feedback from the public that gave “lots of opportunity for input.”
Shane Yarmoloy, who was part of the appeal, voiced displeasure with Kernick’s letter and said an underground parkade would be a better solution for parking concerns for the building.
He added a direct control application would have been a better process.
However, Michelle Ouellette from McElhanney who was representing Kernick, said the direct control wasn’t preferable since there were more benefits to the Town in the way it was heard. Grivell added it was Town staff who recommended against the direct control route.
Town council approved a series of amendments for stage four of development for the SCMV ARP, including employee housing being permitted outside the ARP. Council approved the employee housing project last May.
Common amenity housing was added to the Town’s land use bylaw in 2019 and is designed to give another option for employee housing for developers. The first such development was approved by the Town’s Municipal Planning Commission last April and held up to an SDAB appeal.
If the appeal is dismissed by SDAB, the employee housing would have 35 parking spots and 100 spots for bike parking. The building would be four storeys.
Kernick said as SCMV continues to expand, the need for employee housing is vital and that the project would have a positive impact on the community.
“This does not duly interfere with the amenities of the neighbourhood,” he said. “It does not materially interfere or affect the use of the neighbouring parcels of land and that is what you as a board are guided by. I think it’s helped the value of the land and the community and provide more opportunities to work and live in Canmore.”
