Several council hopefuls say they would work to eliminate a controversial bylaw that reduces off-street parking in new apartment buildings, while all but one incumbent says they will continue to support it to help solve Banff’s housing crunch.
Incumbent Mayor Karen Sorensen stands by bylaw 380 – which aimed to lower costs for developers as an incentive to build housing – while mayoral hopeful Hugh Pettigrew said it should be revisited, coupled with a new round of public consultation.
Sorensen said Banff is challenged with significant affordability issues affecting residents’ quality of life, noting bylaw 380 is about real solutions to the long-time housing crisis.
“To date, almost 300 new units have been approved,” she said, noting this council’s goal was to have 200 new housing units built by 2018. “Banff residents will soon have access to higher quality and more affordable housing.”
Sorensen said council forced developers to meet very specific criteria before accessing any benefits from this bylaw to protect surrounding neighbourhoods, adding every neighbourhood in Banff is unique and deserves consideration.
“Council should continue to actively monitor this bylaw and receive regular updates on parking shortfalls in neighborhoods,” she said. “If adjustments are required, they should be made.”
Pettigrew doesn’t want to eliminate the bylaw, but said it needs to be revisited.
“Housing without parking is not working,” he said.
Pettigrew suggests the bylaw states there be no fewer than 0.8 onsite parking stalls per bedsitting room for studios, one and two bedroom rental apartment dwellings, and no fewer than one stall per bedroom for three or more bedroom units.
“We absolutely need public consultation on this proposed revision before any council decision is made,” he said.
Bylaw 380 allows for a reduction in on-site parking in apartment buildings, to a minimum of 0.6 parking stalls per unit. By lowering developers’ costs, it aims to encourage more housing construction to deal with Banff’s housing shortage.
Any reduction in off-street parking, however, is tied to a series of criteria, such as a building’s proximity to transit and the downtown core, provision of bike racks and if a car-share program is provided.
Many residents fought the initial policy, known as C-122, amid arguments there were already parking shortages in their neighbourhoods, but council made the policy law when a development appeal board decision effectively killed C-122.
That decision stirred even more controversy, with several people accusing council of taking an end run around the development appeal board decision and eroding the public’s trust.
Council candidate Christopher Wong, who sits on the development appeal board, said he does not support bylaw 380, noting the circumstances under which the bylaw was enacted blatantly violated both the spirit of the law and procedural fairness.
“At the time bylaw 380 was passed, the Deer Lane (now Coyote Lane) development was under appeal to the DAB, and council swiftly and intentionally changed the rules mid-game, cutting off appellants at the knees,” he said.
“At the very least, bylaw 380 should have been drafted to come into effect after the Coyote Lane appeal had concluded on its own merits.”
Wong said bylaw 380 must be scrapped.
“It was drafted in haste and enacted under questionable circumstances,” he said. “Without proper and comprehensive due diligence, there may be unintended future consequences.”
Incumbent councillors Grant Canning, Corrie DiManno, Brian Standish and Grant Canning stand by the bylaw. Ted Christensen did not get back to the Outlook by deadline, but he voted against bylaw 380.
DiManno said bylaw 380 has always been about creating more apartment housing units.
“It’s done exactly that, with 248 units approved since Policy C-122 was implemented in March 2014,” she said, noting 52 units were approved between 2008 and March 2014 to give some context.
DiManno said bylaw 380 is the best tool council has for getting Banffites into much-needed housing.
“I’m happy to review the data which informed the bylaw after more new apartment housing units come on line, but at this point, I would keep it as is,” she said.
Canning, who supported the bylaw, said the Town of Banff has suffered from a lack of sufficient housing for decades, noting there’s been a zero per cent vacancy rate in recent years.
“In reality it’s a negative vacancy rate since we know many units in town are overcrowded,” he said. “We cannot address this issue without a dedicated attempt to stimulate new residential development.”
Canning said bylaw 380 was approved to make it much easier for housing developers to consider building rental units by varying the requirement for on-site parking.
“Parking that our research indicates was not being fully utilized in high-density entry-level apartment buildings,” he said.
Council hopeful Peter Poole said Town council was acting in bad faith when it voted to reduce costs for a project it was in the process of developing.
“Addressing housing problems will not be resolved until the overall balance between the growth in commercial use and intensity over the past 25 years is balanced with the housing supply,” he said.
“The bylaw has favoured commercial growth over residential; consequently, housing is tight, prices have risen and the overall balance is still tilted. We are past time for a bylaw rewrite; for a Town like ours, it should happen once a decade.”
Barry Ferguson doesn’t support bylaw 380 as it stands now.
“I am uncomfortable with the speed at which it seemed to be pushed through by council at a time when it would benefit the Town’s own housing project,” he said.
Ferguson said as a policy, C122 was a good way to get more housing starts while allowing planners and council to look at each project individually and then be able to assess the parking needs based on the size, location, density and type of project.
“C122 was not perfect, but it allowed for a balance to be negotiated between property developers/owners and the Town so all citizens could get the most benefit out of new housing projects in Banff,” he said.
Jon Whelan doesn’t support the bylaw, saying he will work hard to raise the current 0.6 parking stalls per apartment unit to a minimum of one parking stall per unit.
He said while the present council’s efforts to increase rental housing stock is admirable, increasing housing by making the parking situation worse for residents was not good policy.
“It is bad planning to fix one serious problem by worsening another related serious problem,” he said.
Council hopeful Dave Dickson said he doesn’t support the bylaw.
He said he’s concerned that residents and businesses of Banff will be left to pay for the mistakes when relaxed parking minimums do not meet public demands for parking.
“The developer that chose to indulge in the allowances of bylaw 380 will be long gone and enjoying their profits. I don’t think the developer would come back to build the 0.4 parking stalls per unit shortfall left to the residents?”
That said, Dickson said in order to alleviate the woes of Banff’s housing shortfall, bylaw 380 was probably a necessary evil and it may need to be around until projects like Coyote Lane are complete.
“Given the chance to revisit this bylaw I am certain that some more stringent criteria and parking regulations for surrounding neighbourhoods can come to a compromise that we can all comfortably and affordably live with,” he said.
Allan Buckingham said he believes the bylaw is forward looking legislation that helps spur construction of much needed housing in the community.
“I understand the concerns that parking in town is already difficult; however, I believe first that personal vehicle ownership will continue to decrease, if slowly, especially when other convenient methods of getting around exist, and that second, in general, the housing being created using bylaw 380 is not targeted at people with high vehicle ownership rates,” he said.
“It’s important for Banff to have housing available for a variety of different lifestyles. Not every dwelling is going to be right for everyone. Valleyview and Middle Springs were created for people with higher rates of vehicle ownership and have more places to store a personal vehicle. That doesn’t need to be everywhere.”
Councillor Brian Standish said the amount of housing units being built in the last few years tells him bylaw 380 is working to address lack of affordable housing.
He said it’s also important to remember the policy was created through extensive research.
“It was based on a survey of parking utilization at existing apartment housing buildings in Banff, recent municipal census data and research conducted elsewhere in other urban centres related to vehicle ownership and use in multifamily apartment buildings,” he said.
Councillor Chip Olver said bylaw 380 allows apartment developers to earn a discount of onsite parking only if they meet criteria that years of research across North America and internationally have demonstrated result in reduced parking demand.
“The greatest reductions in parking requirements are only possible with an onsite car-share program,” she said.
Olver said she would fully support revisiting the bylaw if census data – which was used to establish the .6 ratio – changes, or if studies show changing or ineffective criteria.
“I also support exploring a privately-run car-share program for the community because it would reduce vehicle ownership,” she said.
In addition, Olver said Banff has a multiple year history of zero per cent rental vacancy, while standards say three to five per cent reflects a healthy community.
“We have a desperate need for more housing of all styles, especially apartments and rentals,” she said. “Bylaw 380 and its predecessor Policy C122 have stimulated apartment construction.”
Lorraine Harder said finding and developing adequate, affordable housing takes precedence, though she is open to changing the number of parking spots to one or two per housing unit.
“I do understand the challenges and frustrations of supplying adequate parking, but at least if residents have a place to live, they have a foundation to start from,” she said.
“While it would be wonderful to offer a parking space for every room, it may not be feasible given the limited amount of land we have to use within the town.”
Harder said she made a decision not to buy a car because she does not have an allocated extra parking spot.
“This being said, I would support an amendment to change the minimums to whole numbers of 1.0 or 2.0 parking spots per respective unit type,” she said.
“I believe that we have to look at each development opportunity separately and make our decisions based on the greater benefits of the situation.”
Wade Rettie said he supports bylaw 380 in theory, noting there are provisions in the bylaw to allow people to take advantage of public transit or organized pooled transportation.
“I agree we need to protect the value of our neighbourhoods and parking is a large part of this,” he said.
“There haven’t been many developments completed under these numbers and I believe we need to see the data on how this will affect our parking moving forward before we whole heartedly adopt or reverse this bylaw.”
Rettie said he believes this concept will work if the Town can add parking in Banff and take advantage of its evolving public transportation.
“There is a need for more housing. By combining bylaw 380, as well as other factors, this could allow us to ease the vacancy rate,” he said.
Rob Lillington said the way policy C122 came to be law eroded public trust, adding he believes bylaw 380 needs to be revisited.
He said a near-carless citizenry is aspirational; however, the contemporary impact on streets for new high density developments is undeniable.
“From an alternate perspective, excess onsite stalls stifle the creation of affordable housing with rental rates beyond a target of 10 per cent below market value,” he said.
“Is it an expectation that families arrive here carless? Should a Banff lifestyle exclude car camping, trailhead access, large grocery runs, or events in Calgary?”
Lillington said the cash-in-lieu provision to free developers from stall quotas makes many uncomfortable. Further, residents need to be confident that proposed changes are reasonably transferable to future projects.
“Housing is the priority, but rules were changed ‘after the fact’ for the Coyote Lane project with little consideration for affected residents,” he said.
“I believe that future occupants of Caribou’s Beaver Street complex – 38 apartments housing 150 people but providing only 22 vehicle parking stalls – and the Town-built/managed Coyote Lane complex – 132 apartments housing approximately 300 people but providing only 80 parking stalls – will curse the present council because C122 worsens the present parking shortage.”
Doug Macnamara said he sees the need to revisit bylaw 380 and garner unbiased evidence to support any changes council might tweak.
“I believe council and administration do have the responsibility to find some solutions to the overcrowded parking situations that do exist as a result of being too ‘skinny’ with the parking formula of the past,” he said.
Macnamara said the challenge of housing is still putting a large number of people into apartments and more that the expected number of vehicles requiring parking, so this is spilling out onto surrounding streets.
“So, maybe the original estimates and intentions are proving different from reality today,” he said.
Christensen and Tony Bumbaco did not meet the Outlook’s deadline.
