Banff’s mayor has taken her lobbying efforts all the way to the minister in charge of Parks Canada in hopes of getting park-and-ride lots to deal with anticipated soaring visitation for 2017 and beyond.
Unsatisfied with responses from local Parks Canada officials, Mayor Karen Sorensen and Town Manager Robert Earl met with Catherine McKenna, federal environment and climate change minister, and her chief of staff Marlo Raynolds in Calgary on Nov. 2.
Sorensen said she spoke to the minister of the need for intercept parking lots to help ease congestion and traffic delays on Banff’s main roads, which are clogged with vehicles in the busy summer months and are expected to get worse next year when entry to national parks is free.
“I believe whatever our long-term solutions are going to be, intercept parking is going to be a crucial piece of that,” said Sorensen, adding she was grateful McKenna took time in her busy schedule to meet.
“We discussed a broad range of potential solutions inside the townsite and outside the townsite, not just for 2017 but longer-term. Our meeting was a high level discussion, but I’m confident the minister is going to share our conversation with Parks Canada’s head office in Ottawa.”
The number of visitors to Banff continues to soar year over year and is expected to hit about four million when the final tally is done at the end of the year – with almost all of those visitors arriving in private vehicles.
Data collected by the Town of Banff shows the town’s roads are beyond capacity at 24,000 vehicles per day. In July and August this year, the average vehicle count per day was more than 25,000.
Mayor Sorensen said the Town predicts there will be 89 days in summer 2017 when the vehicle per day count is beyond 24,000, with 15 to 20 days when the count is more than 33,000, noting the road system can’t handle that kind of traffic.
“Those are real concern days for us. There’s visitor experience concerns and resident experience concerns, but there’s also safety concerns,” she said.
“The concern is not the number of visitors, but the number of vehicles. The town is not full, but on peak days our roadways are beyond capacity.”
A spokesperson for McKenna said the minister was pleased to meet with the mayor to discuss the Town’s concerns.
“Minister McKenna knows all want to make sure visitors to our national parks have a great experience while ensuring ecological integrity,” said Caitlin Workman, McKenna’s press secretary. “She has committed that Parks Canada will work with the Town of Banff to find a sustainable solution.”
The recently adopted long-term transportation study estimates 1,000 parking stalls – 500 at both entrances to town – are needed in the short-term, with shuttle buses running between parking lots and the downtown core.
The study recommends the Town work with Canadian Pacific Railway to look at expansion for parking on its lands at the west entrance to townsite along Norquay Road. It also suggests working with Parks Canada to expand the Fenlands rec centre lot.
It also recommends the municipality work with Parks Canada on land for a park-and-ride lot at the east entrance to town, specifically the Elkwoods lands which fall outside the townsite’s legislated boundary.
Parks Canada has consistently said no to Elkwoods as the location as it is part of a large travel corridor for several wildlife species, including large carnivores like bears and wolves. Elk also use the area as a refuge.
In addition, commercial development in the Banff townsite was capped and the town’s boundaries were fixed in legislation in 1998 to protect the park, and its wildlife, from ongoing human pressure.
Banff National Park officials have made it clear that any development of intercept lots outside town boundaries will be challenging to approve, given significant legal and environmental considerations.
Local superintendent Dave McDonough has said he recognizes solutions to the issue are very complex, noting Parks Canada is guided by the Canada National Parks Act and Banff management plan.
“The Town of Banff is located in ecologically important and sensitive area of the park and there are legal boundaries to the town,” he said in a recent interview.
“We’re confident working together we can come up with solutions to protect the environment and ensure people have a high quality experience.”
Local conservationists say they are supportive of intercept parking – just not outside town boundaries.
Bow Valley Naturalists say only by staring down growth itself, such as adopting low to no growth, will it be possible to find creative long-term solutions that do not require stepping on more of the natural systems that surround the town.
“There is a development cap and legal limit on the Town of Banff and that was all put in with the idea there’s limits to growth in Banff,” said Reg Bunyan, a BVN board member.
“Putting a parking lot outside town boundaries, in our opinion, is trying to wiggle around those legal limits and boundaries. We’re supportive of the concept of intercept parking, but intercept parking needs to be found within the Town of Banff.”
The Town, Parks Canada, and RCMP have an emergency plan in place, which does involve closing down access to the Norquay road at the Trans-Canada Highway when traffic backs up to the highway.
“The fire department, RCMP and Parks did create a plan last year for emergency safety measures,” Sorensen said. “There was one day that people did get into position to implement the plan, but the traffic did clear out on its own before it needed to happen.”
Sorensen said Town staff met with local Parks Canada staff last Thursday (Nov. 3).
“Time is tight for 2017, but working collaboratively, I’m confident we will be able to come up with a solution to welcome all Canadians to the park next year and ensure a positive experience,” she said.
Neither Minister McKenna nor a spokesperson for her office got back to the Outlook by press time.
