As part of Banff’s land use bylaw review, the review team is looking at ideas to encourage and support unique visitor experiences in the downtown core.
One proposal is to restrict future fast food restaurants to the Cascade Plaza food court. More recently, the review team has been examining a myriad of other proposed regulations to deal with franchise restaurants as a whole.
The review team is launching its public consultation program for phase 2 of the land use bylaw review, including proposals for franchises, for Banff residents next Tuesday, March 8.
The Outlook polled mayor and council on the general concept of regulating franchise restaurants. As required, all say they are keeping an open mind, but some had some general comments.
PAUL BAXTER
I am focusing on gathering information from as many sectors of the Banff community as possible to make an informed decision regarding the Land Use Bylaw review, including franchises.
To date, there has not been any public debate with the current council regarding franchises, so I will keep an open mind until that public discussion concludes. I do not believe a franchise debate should occur until we have completed the upcoming project of an accurate accounting of the existing commercial floor space.
Heading in one direction regarding franchises, making decisions based on assumption, without concrete numbers, would be premature. How can we have an informed debate until we have an accurate count of what commercial space currently exists that all parties, including Parks Canada, are in agreement with?
Once we are aware of how much commercial development actually is “on the ground” and in turn, how much more is actually available to develop, then council can then have a more informed debate as to which direction the Land Use Bylaw review should (take). The franchise debate is a small piece of a very large Land Use By-law review.
STAVROS KARLOS
Regulating franchises may not be a solution to an undefined problem. Lower rents equals a wider variety of mom and pop stores. That being said, I don’t have any legislation in front of me to comment on.
CHIP OLVER
The Build Out Study and the community discussions a few years ago on the general topic of franchises/chain/local-owned non-franchise businesses indicated a mix of these types of businesses were desirable. This still seems reasonable to me.
Consultation on the more specific topic of restaurants is now occurring.
Council is required to enter into the public hearing of the LUB review with an open mind. I do indeed have an open mind on this topic and await the results of consultations, presentations and both sides of the issue before I make a decision on this topic.
GRANT CANNING
Right now it is difficult for me to say what I will support related to fast food restaurants vis a vis national chains.
It is the responsibility of the planning department to present different ideas and suggestions and for council to look at the issue from all sides, including the feedback from the public, input from administration and our own personal thoughts to decide how to move forward. On a broad level, here are some of my thoughts.
1. I think it is very difficult to generalize what three million visitors want when they come to Banff. Our surveys indicate the visitor wants locally-owned unique small businesses, but as a council, how do we reconcile that with the fact that the chain restaurants (Chili’s, The Keg, etc.) are some of the most successful restaurants in town? Clearly people want them and go to them.
2. Perhaps my biggest challenge with national chains is defining what exactly is a chain. Let’s look at coffee shops in Banff. Starbucks on Banff Avenue is a corporate owned store, Second Cup is a locally-owned franchise, Evelyn’s is a locally-owned ‘chain’ of four stores and finally you have locally-owned coffee shops with one location (like the Cake Company). Where do we draw the line in the sand?
Bottom line: I think national franchises have a place in Banff. I think we need a structure whereby we have a balance between franchises and locally-owned. I think that is best achieved by ensuring they adhere to our aesthetics and signage requirements and they become discretionary uses in the commercial district to allow us to have some say in the process.
As it relates to placing specific limitations on chains (ie. not on Banff Avenue), that is premature to discuss until I fully understand the implications.
BRIAN STANDISH
On a broad level, I support regulating franchise restaurants.
One of the planning department’s strategic goals in reviewing the Land Use Bylaw is to raise satisfaction levels of visitors. I don’t believe this will be achieved if visitors are offered restaurants they can find back home. Most visitors are looking for a unique dining experience.
I also believe we should be preserving and enhancing our downtown character and to achieve this we should be supporting and encouraging small locally-owned and operated restaurants.
Finally, I find it strange that the chairman of the Small Business Association of Banff can openly promote a franchise restaurant that will be in direct competition with his own members. I’d be curious to find out what the affected members think about that.
LESLIE TAYLOR
I am keeping an open mind and will consider each LUB proposal as it comes along, with all the comments pro and con that I hear from planning and the public. Then I’ll make my final decision.
It’s my understanding that we have to treat every business in the same category in the same way. So, for example, once we define fast-food restaurants, we couldn’t say “the unique, locally created ones are okay, but any new franchises have to go to Cascade Plaza.” So, under this proposal, Buffy’s Banff Bison Burgers would go to the same place as Taco Bell.
I also think that fast food has a place in the food service mix here. Young families, visitors in a rush to get on the tour bus, kids on a tight budget, unadventurous eaters - they all need/want fast food.
So my current inclination is to hold fast food places to the same tight signage, aesthetic and other standards that the Town requires of all businesses, deal appropriately with other concerns such as the generation of waste, the intensification of use through long hours, etc., but not to limit them to one underground location.
I would be interested in seeing them as a discretionary use rather than a permitted use in the downtown, so that any potential issues could be more easily addressed on a case-by-case basis at development permit time.
I think it might be reasonable to consider whether we should set an upper limit for the number of fast food places in the 100-300 blocks of Banff Ave.
MAYOR KAREN SORENSEN
It is very difficult to comment currently with the input from the community still to be gathered.
However, I am open to hearing all suggestions from the residents, the visitors and the planning department of the Town. Although land use in Banff can be controversial, it is important to be open minded to all ideas.
There are some communities that have made the decision to regulate franchises. I am interested to learn more about why they made this decision and if those communities have been able to reach the goals they set out to achieve by creating these regulations. We continue to encourage feedback and comments by all.
