In appeals before Banff’s development appeal board, several neighbours of an apartment development on Marten Street voiced strong opposition to a lack of parking they say will lead to an even busier street.
Following a four-hour hearing Thursday (Dec. 1), commissioners of the quasi-judicial board retired and plan to issue a written decision today (Dec. 8) – a decision that will have significant implications for other apartment housing developments in Banff.
The biggest bone of contention surrounds the application of policy C-122 to the Marten Street apartment housing development, which allows the developers to reduce the amount of required parking in the underground parkade from 27 to 18 stalls.
Marten Street resident Dave Honeyman said parking on the street is already a nightmare, saying visitors from nearby hotels park their vehicles there, cars are parked in front of fire hydrants and garbage bins day and night, and some people even camp in their vans.
“There’s no room for more parking on our street – it’s sold out,” he said, noting a lack of parking in the parkade will only push more cars onto Marten Street.
In October, Banff’s municipal planning commission approved a three-storey, 25-unit apartment development, made up of 21 one-bedroom units and four two-bedroom apartments at 431 and 433 Marten St.
Policy C-122 is intended to encourage development of rental housing to deal with Banff’s housing shortfall by bringing down developers’ cost by having to build fewer, very expensive onsite parking stalls.
The developers, LARR Management, say the $6.5 to $7 million development would be difficult from an economics point of view without being able to take advantage of C-122, and, therefore, that would likely drive rents up.
“There’s a big expense putting in a parkade,” said Chris Ferguson, LARR Management’s development manager, noting they are working with their engineers to try to add up to four more stalls.
“We want to keep this project affordable housing. We have to make use of C-122 to make that work.”
Art Laurensen, a Rabbit Street resident who filed an appeal, said he doubts rents for the Marten Street development will be affordable, and spoke to constantly changing trends in Canada that affect housing, vehicle ownership and more.
“We’ve seen Birchwooods where rents went up and are quite high there. I’m sure the ones at Marten Street are going to be similar,” he said. “ I think ultimately people who are going to rent them are going to have more money, and be more affluent, and therefore, have cars.”
Laurenson said C-122 is too narrow in scope, focusing on the assumption that younger people don’t own cars, so, therefore, apartment buildings don’t need as much parking.
“The problem with C-122 is it builds a concrete box in the ground that can’t be changed,” he said.
Another appellant, Jason Moberg, who is a board member of the Simpson Court Condo Association, questioned why council made amendments to policy C-122 just days before the DAB hearing.
Specifically, he said, changes were made to criteria that qualify a developer to get a reduction in required parking, such as proximity to downtown and transit routes.
“These did not qualify under the old wording, and now with this change, this does qualify,” he said. “I don’t think it’s a coincidence that these two things are happening at the same time.”
Darren Enns, the Town of Banff’s senior planner, said the premise of C-122 is displacement of parking does not occur.
“Street parking does not belong to residents in the same way it does not belong to visitors. It belongs to all of us as a community,” he said.
