Organizers of a popular road biking race planned for Canmore this summer are hoping to address traffic concerns and road closure issues in advance of holding the event after council gave an OK to hold it downtown.
Council voted by motion to support location of the race in the downtown core – the race is planned for a route around Lawrence Grassi Middle School in south Canmore – at its May 2 meeting.
Elected officials were asked to weigh in on the decision after the municipality’s event review process identified concerns over the timing of the event, which requires a road closure, and did not issue an event permit as a result.
Rundle Mountain Cycling Club president Shane Munroe appeared in front of council in April to appeal the decision and, with a commitment to inform more residents in the neighbourhood affected about the race in advance and rescheduling of the event to the morning, council supported the request.
Mayor John Borrowman made the motion to support the RMCC request, but to have it held in the morning of the June 24 weekend.
“I recognize it is a popular event locally here and a lot of cyclists in Canmore look forward to the event,” said the mayor. “While it didn’t work that well last year in the afternoon, I am prepared for one year at least to try it in the morning to see if it reduces the number of traffic issues that occur around that event.”
Councillors Joanna McCallum and Ed Russell, however, did not vote in favour of the location. McCallum put forward a successful motion to have the notification for residents of the race road closure go out to all south Canmore homes.
Regardless, though, she said especially with the closure on Main Street in place for road construction, the affects on traffic were too great to support the location as requested.
“If this were to take place next year without as many events stacked and without the Main Street closure, it would be fine and we wouldn’t be having the conversation we are having today,” McCallum said.
Manager of municipal services Sally Caudill presented an overview of the event process used to assess the RMCC crit race by administration. Caudill recommended council uphold administration’s decision to relocate the race outside the downtown core.
She acknowledged the stressful situation race organizers found themselves in after the event was reviewed by administration, as RMCC is a valued partner and event producer in the community.
“The fundamental issue for administration’s perspective is that the 2016-18 strategic plan has a priority to address parking and congestion in the downtown core,” Caudill said. “After the 2016 crit, we received complaints from the community about traffic impacts and, given the other events planned, and in particular construction on Main Street, this event would adversely affect council’s priority.”
She told council that when reviewing the event’s application, which includes the road closure under consideration, the fundamental question became about whether or not the value of the race outweighs its potential impact on congestion in the town centre and the community.
The race is being held on a Saturday and is part of the club’s Rundle Mountain Road Festival held over two days and includes a hillclimb up Silvertip as well as the downtown crit. Other events planned in Canmore include a soccer tournament at Millennium Field on Sunday, the Plaid Goat Mountain Bike Festival over the entire weekend, multiple weddings at various parks in the community and Rundle’s Revenge at the Canmore Nordic Centre as well.
“Administration is very supportive of this event,” Caudill said. “We would like to see it happen in the community, just in a different location.”
The cycling club has worked over the past several years with the municipality on scheduling and notification of affected residents to address issues with road closures.
