A controversial policy to cut the number of required off-street parking stalls for apartment buildings in a bid to encourage development of more affordable rental housing in Banff seems set to get council’s nod of approval.
On Monday (Feb. 24), many councillors indicated support for the policy, but postponed a decision until March 10 pending several amendments and legal advice on options that would require most units remain as rental when properties receive a parking reduction.
Coun. Chip Olver said she is in favour of the draft policy, which aims to encourage the development of rental apartment housing for seasonal and entry-level workers by allowing developers to provide fewer parking spaces, which can add costs to construction.
“I don’t want them to have the experience I had when I first arrived here, sleeping in a hallway on a foamie and throwing a sheet over my face because I didn’t want mice running across my face at nighttime,” she said during almost three hours of discussion on the issue.
“We all know people who have left our community because they couldn’t find suitable housing. More people are going to be coming to our community as our economy continues to improve and I want them to have housing.”
The policy known as C122, should it be adopted, allows for the reduction in the amount of off-street parking stalls for apartment housing, based on a number of specific factors, like proximity to public transit, distance to the downtown core and unit size.
Even if a developer was able to take advantage of all incentive bonuses to qualify for a parking reduction, the parking could never fall below 0.6 stalls per dwelling unit as the draft policy sits now.
The policy is based on an emerging trend in Canada and the U.S. that shows apartment housing does not require as much on-site parking as previously believed because many people living in rental units don’t have vehicles, as well as similar municipal census data.
Officials were quick to point out the policy was not drafted or tailor-made for any particular development, as much opposition to the policy seems to be centred on a proposal by Caribou Properties to build rental apartment buildings for entry-level staff on Beaver Street.
The policy, however, continues to cause quite a stir and has generated many letters on both sides of the debate to town council, as well as many letters to the editor in local newspapers.
About 75 residents packed council chambers Monday, mostly against the policy and many opposed to Caribou’s proposal, which does seek similar parking concessions as was given to the Birchwood properties by Municipal Planning Commission.
Many residents fear parking will spill onto their residential streets if there are not enough parking spots on site.
“In an effort to solve our housing shortage we should not increase our parking problem,” said Joanne Geyer. “Why reduce parking in some of the most congested areas of town?”
Alanna Pettigrew agreed.
“Caribou have done great things for our economy, they are great stewards, but I do not agree with 0.5 of a spot,” she said. “It should be one unit, one spot. I don’t think we need to rescind on that.”
Glen Jackson, who has lived here since the 1950s, said parking has long been a problem in Banff, including residential parking.
“I have had people park in my driveway and I have constantly called the cops, but I don’t call anymore because I’ve been told it’s too much paperwork … if they come and park in my street there’s going to be hell to pay.”
Justin Burwash, an officer with Caribou Properties, said residential parking supply is a completely different conversation from commercial and day-use parking, noting the Town will never solve a shortage in commercial parking by being conservative on residential parking.
If an average parking stall costs $20,000 to $40,000 to build, he said it is extremely important to not overshoot the prescribed requirement, noting existing on-site apartment parking is currently under-used.
Burwash said most of the effort in Banff has been focused on home ownership for middle income groups, but there has been almost no consideration given to the younger seasonal worker.
“This is about encouraging the creation of affordable housing projects in Banff,” he said. “We need more housing directed at seasonal and entry-level workers. A vacancy rate of near zero is not good for this community.”
Connie MacDonald, who is the chief executive officer for Banff YWCA, said a lack of affordable housing is a big issue in Banff, noting it came to the forefront again during last year’s municipal election.
“I have lived here for over 30 years and I don’t think we’ve moved a needle,” she said.
“There are 120 people who live permanently at our facility and 20 of those people have cars. These are people who make between $12 and $14 an hour, sometimes $10, and they cannot afford a vehicle.”
David Bayne, chairman of MPC, said a decision was made to support a 30 per cent parking variances for the Birchwood property on the 300 block of Banff Avenue last year because it was a development providing much-needed housing.
“When was the last time we had someone from the private sector wanting to build accommodation in this town? Wow!” he said. “All the debate around that development at MPC was done to encourage private sector to build more and better accommodation in this town.”
Coun. Ted Christensen voiced his opposition to the policy.
“I think we should view parking spaces as an asset. We should build as many as we can with any development,” he said.
Coun. Stavros Karlos, on the other hand, said last year’s housing study shows there could be a shortage of between 455 and 720 dwellings units by 2022. He also noted there is expected to be a severe labour shortage by 2017.
“If we can’t provide affordable housing, we can’t compete. Businesses in town will not be able to attract reliable and viable employees,” he said. “Our service workers are not done well by the community at all as far as housing goes. People are living in substandard housing throughout this community … this is a strategy to address this.”
