Many residents are fighting the Town of Banff’s move to make a controversial parking policy designed to encourage development of more housing the law, while others argue the municipality must make housing Banff’s top priority.
At a legally required public hearing Monday (Jan. 21) to put provisions of policy C-122 into the land use bylaw, council heard varying opinions on this highly charged issue from 13 people who spoke at the meeting and received 17 written submissions.
Politicians were expected to consider second and third reading of bylaw 380 Wednesday (Jan. 23); however, the outcome of their debate could not be reported by the time the Outlook went to press.
Randall McKay, Banff’s planning and development manager, said research from other jurisdictions suggests better parking management practices have been successful in reducing residential parking costs for housing developers while increasing housing affordability.
“This involves creating more accurate and flexible parking standards, unbundling parking from building space so residents pay for parking facilities based on the number of spaces they actually need and use, and appropriate enforcement measures to minimize spillover problems onto adjacent streets,” he said.
In a nutshell, the bylaw, like the policy, would allow for fewer parking spaces in apartment buildings, to a minimum of 0.6 stalls, under certain criteria such as proximity to the downtown core and public transit.
It aims to trigger more development of rental housing to deal with Banff’s housing shortfall, projected to be between 455 and 730 units by 2022 if the current trend in population growth continues.
The Town’s move to create the law follows a ruling by Banff’s development appeal board that effectively killed the policy when it threw out a development permit for an apartment development on Marten Street.
The DAB warned the Town of Banff against continuing to blindly apply the policy, noting a 33 per cent reduction in required parking failed to meet the variance test of the Land Use Bylaw and incorporation agreement.
Banff resident Marty von Neudegg said many people in Banff, including from Kootenay Avenue, Marten Street, Muskrat Street, Beaver Street and Deer Street, have told council policy C-122 is flawed.
“The flaws of a bad policy cannot simply be overcome with a quick change to the law,” he said. “This is a larger discussion about the impact that the policy bylaw has on residents and visitors across the entire town.”
Many residents fear a reduction in required off-street parking in apartment buildings from the current land use bylaw requirement one stall per unit to a minimum of 0.6 stalls per unit will lead to vehicles spilling onto their streets and changing the character of neighbourhoods.
Von Neudegg is not opposed to the policy entirely and supports development of much-need housing, but suggests changes need to be made based on the number of units in each development to reduce negative effects on residential areas.
He says a minimum of 0.6 parking stalls per unit is fine for buildings with up to 16 units, but called for .75 parking stalls per unit for buildings with 17-48 units, 0.8 parking stalls for apartments with 49-99 units and 0.85 parking stalls for any buildings with more than 100 units.
“Changing the bylaw using such a formula still creates a significant impact on surrounding neighbourhoods,” said von Neudegg.
“But the effect of the change in formula is that it reduces the overall maximum impact on any given neighbourhood, while still preserving the overall good intentions of the policy.”
Connie MacDonald, executive director of Banff YWCA, voiced strong support for putting the policy into law.
“In my work every day at the YWCA, I see people who are experiencing issues with housing and homelessness, and these are people who work in our businesses,” she said.
“If this policy does not go into bylaw, I’m really concerned we won’t be able to build affordable housing for our community.”
MacDonald said there are currently 115 permanent residents at the Y, noting 26 of 115 residents and 10 of 30 employees had vehicles at last count.
She said permanent residents have lived there anywhere from five months to eight years. In the busier seasons, 80 dorm rooms traditionally used by people for about a week before they find other housing now have people staying in them for months.
“Every day, despite what we’re offering, we have people looking for housing,” MacDonald said. “We’re talking mid-level managers, we’re talking families, entry level staff, and calls from employers every day looking for spaces.”
Joel Melanson, president of LARR Management Corporation, who wants to build a $6.5 to $7 million development apartment building on the 400 block of Marten Street, said 0.6 parking stalls per unit is the right number of stalls for his three-storey, 25-unit apartment project.
But at approximately $75,000 per parking stall for the parkade, he said there comes a point when the development becomes too costly.
“From an economics point of view, there’s a threshold by which development stops,” said Melanson. “There comes a point when the economics don’t make sense. In reality, there are other places we could develop.”
