A new lease agreement between the Town of Canmore and the Canmore Seniors Association may help alleviate some of the downtown parking problems residents and employees experience.
The new lease was officially executed with a council motion last week after Michael Fark, general manager of municipal infrastructure, presented its terms, including the fact that parking at the downtown location will be available to the public on weekends and statutory holidays.
“The Seniors Association understands the constraints around parking and they have generously agreed to a provision of providing public parking in stalls on weekends and in peak times,” Fark said.
It was a welcome change for council, with Mayor John Borrowman thanking the Canmore Seniors Association for considering how it could help the municipality by providing extra parking when needed. The CSA has approximately 30 stalls of parking at the building located on Ninth Avenue.
“It is great the seniors have come along on the parking,” Borrowman said. “That is a real benefit to the downtown, to have parking stalls available on the weekends and during peak times.”
The lease agreement has a longer history than most for the municipality and consideration was given for the fact that the CSA actually built the facility originally.
“In 1977, the Town leased the land the Seniors Centre sits on for 49 years to the Canmore Seniors Association with the condition that they construct the facility and operate it,” Fark said. “In the mid 2000s, the Town undertook a review of all lease agreements with partners and affiliates.”
The original lease was found to be lacking in a number of ways, he told council, including the fact the municipality was subleasing back its own facility for use of the building. The irregularities of the lease and the fact it was found to be non-compliant prompted renegotiation of the contract, said Fark.
“Administration was directed to renegotiate a new lease with the Canmore Seniors Association,” he said. “Those discussions carried on for a number of years, and unfortunately in 2011 they broke down.
“In 2015, we resumed the discussions with the last draft version of the previous lease as a stating point. Now we are here a year later and we have a proposed lease for your consideration.”
Given that the CSA built the building originally and have continued to operate it, Fark said in recognition of that, administration proposed another 49-year lease with a nominal fee of $1 a year considered paid upon execution of the lease. He said the CSA has pride in the facility, having raised the funds to build it and operate it since the late ’70s, and the Town recognizes it has an interest in supporting a vibrant seniors organization.
The new lease clarifies issues like who is responsible for insurance, utility cost sharing, repair and maintenance responsibilities and parking.
Schedule D of the lease sets out the conditions around the parking change. While the lease is a 49-year term, the terms of how parking is to be provided are to be “reviewed and agreed to from time to time by the landlord and tenant.”
As written, the lease makes parking stalls on the south side of the building available for public parking from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on weekends and statutory holidays.
Signage will be installed by the municipality to reflect the change and, when the hall is rented out for a special event, additional temporary signage will be provided to reserve parking for it.
