Parks Canada is taking on Banff’s Municipal Planning Commission amid concerns development credits issued for a major redevelopment of the Homestead Inn erodes Banff’s federally legislated growth cap.
The federal agency has filed an appeal with the Development Appeal Board over the MPC’s decision on development credits for the planned new hotel. The MPC went against the Town of Banff’s planning department recommendation.
Parks Canada could not provide a spokesperson by press time, but appeal documents indicate they believe MPC was wrong in giving the Homestead Inn an extra 86 square metres in development credits for existing exterior corridors.
They argue MPC’s calculation is inconsistent with the Land Use Bylaw definition of gross floor area – the tool used to regulate density – as well as industry standards and historical calculations used by Parks and the Town.
“If not overturned, it erodes the commercial growth limits,” Parks stated in the appeal papers.
Fuji Starlight Express, which also owns the nearby Banff Park Lodge and Bow View Lodge, successfully secured 1,395 square metres in Banff’s commercial lottery to redevelop the Homestead Inn into a new 70-room hotel.
No new restaurants, convention facilities, or shops are planned for the new hotel, as these are already available at Banff Park Lodge. The hotels will be connected by a pedestrian crossing under Lynx Street.
The Fuji ownership group hopes to have the new hotel open for business by 2015.
Commercial development within the Town of Banff is subject to a federal commercial growth cap which was set up in 1998 following intense debate about protection of the surrounding national park.
Development rights for commercial properties in the Banff townsite are a combination of the existing building area, plus any commercial lottery allotments received.
Earlier this summer, Fuji Starlight Express asked the Town of Banff to evaluate the density calculation of the hotel, but when there was a disagreement over the calculation, the issue went to MPC.
Planning and development had originally ruled that the existing gross floor area at the Homestead should be about 895 square metres, but the ownership group believed it should be 1,024 square metres.
MPC agreed to credit three-quarters of what the hotel owners sought, including credit for two existing unenclosed corridors on the second and third floors, but not a ground level sidewalk.
In Banff, an applicant must provide evidence of existing floor area calculations and request the planning department credit those against a future development.
These are typically based on previously approved development plans for the site, such as Parks Canada approvals or Town of Banff building and development permits.
What began this debate, which is now headed for a Development Appeal Board hearing on Nov. 29, is the fact that no such documents appear to exist for the Homestead Inn.
In the absence of documentation, the Town of Banff says it has primarily relied on the existing Land Use Bylaw to define gross floor area, which officials say is the default methodology used for other commercial projects.
Parks Canada’s appeal documents say the MPC decision to grant development credit without evidence as to what was previously approved is an error.
“This decision results in a difference in treatment between existing developers and potentially new developers,” according to the appeal papers filed with the Town.
A spokesperson for the Homestead Inn could not be reached for comment at press time, but have previously said the additional density calculation amounted to four king-bed guestrooms and five percent of the revenue stream.
