Canmore's only designated municipal historic resource, the Canmore Hotel, located on Main Street in the community, will see a major renovation project move forward after council approved its development permit at the end of April.
Canmore's only designated municipal historic resource, the Canmore Hotel, located on Main Street in the community, will see a major renovation project move forward after council approved its development permit at the end of April.
The development permit application was in front of council as the development approving authority because of the hotel having its own direct control district after council approved that amendment to the Land Use Bylaw in 2015.
It was at the same time that council approved the building as a municipal heritage resource, which required providing allowances to the property owner in exchange for designation making it very difficult for the building to be demolished and the site redeveloped.
Junior planner Richard Williams presented the application for approval, noting the new property owners – an Alberta limited company represented by Robby Aurora – are hoping to renovate the interior and exterior of the hotel in line with its historical designation, create a hostel upstairs, install a patio in the vacant side lot and reinstate the liquor store at the rear of the building.
Williams noted the application includes removing the beer cooler on the side of the building closest to the CIBC to create more space for the patio area.
“The Main Street patio is a new addition,” he said. “You will note, the area behind the Miners Statue (currently) is a fence and garbage area that will be replaced with a patio.”
Williams said administration considers the development permit, which included two minor variances, to be consistent with the DC district and recommended a number of conditions for approval.
While council voted in favour of the development permit, Councillor Ed Russell did not give his support. Russell expressed concerns about the outdoor patio and the effects of its noise on nearby residential neighbours. In the downtown land use district, there are residential properties located on the third floor of many buildings, including the one immediately adjacent to the Canmore Hotel.
“As a municipality, we do owe a duty to the residents of the neighbouring building before we create the problem,” Russell said. “By having a patio potentially open until the wee hours of the morning … impacts these people's lives.”
Williams indicated the recommended way to enforce noise complaints is through the land use bylaw, which prohibits disturbing noise levels at any time. He said other downtown patios like the Wood and Grizzly Paw do not have time restrictions on operations, however, the patio at the back of the hotel does in relation to its original approval prior to 1995.
“I did include a condition around noise, so it would be up to bylaw to enforce that,” he said, adding outdoor patios are permitted in the downtown land use district.
While Russell could have put forward a motion to amend the conditions of approval to reflect his concerns, general manager of municipal services Michael Fark recommended against it.
Fark said to place restrictions on operating hours would not be consistent with how other patios are treated by the municipality in Canmore.
“The noise bylaw, the one that exists already, applies to all patios and there are no time restrictions, just (limiting) unreasonable disturbances,” he said. “I fully respect Councillor Russell's concern to prevent an issue before bylaw is involved, however, that would not be consistent with how we treat other patios which use the noise bylaw as the mechanism to address concerns.”
Changes to the hotel are significant and include removal of the stage area inside and relocation of the bar. The primary use is to focus on being an eating establishment with a patio, which would allow the inside to be family friendly and open to all ages for food service.
Upstairs, the renovation would create a 15-room hostel with common area, and occupancy for 70 beds with shared washroom facilities. The vestibule areas on the front of the building would be removed, along with the bench area and railing.
The roof is up for replacement with asphalt shingles, windows with historically reflective trim and a concrete ramp would be installed to make the hotel wheelchair accessible on the main floor. The patio area includes a wood shade structure and landscaping to improve the space, and would allow food and alcohol service.
The kitchen would be renovated and a new area with pool table created, while the diner area and entrance on Seventh Avenue would be turned into a lobby with period appropriate entranceway.
Williams said in his presentation the proposed changes are sensitive to the historic character of the building and onsite parking remains unchanged, and consistent with the parking requirements in the district.
The two variances included for use of a cortan steel as a finishing on the front of the building, as it is not listed as an acceptable wall finish in section nine of the bylaw. The second variance applies to the entrance of the liquor store at the back, as it does not have an entrance directly onto a street or roadway with a sidewalk.
“The goal is to restore and preserve the esthetic of the hotel and administration will work further on the materials and documentation details through the historic designation review,” Williams said.
The compensation terms of the designation are still applicable once the restoration is complete, but as values of the structure before and after the renovation are used to calculate it, it is not yet known what the total would be.
Council was supportive of seeing a restoration development permit come forward for the historic hotel, which dates back to 1890 and is a community landmark.
“I am happy to see the Canmore Hotel come in front of council for revitalization,” said Coun. Joanna McCallum. “I am happy to see the mandate of the business change as well to be more welcoming to more kinds of people and the hostel piece is very exciting, especially in downtown. It is a needed amenity and I think it will do very well in this community.”
Currently, the hotel is boarded up and not operational and McCallum asked what timeframes the owners have to limit exposure to elements and vandalism, which has occurred.
“Ideally we would have liked to have started yesterday,” Aurora said. “Your concern is our concern and we want to get started right away.
“The long-term goal is to revitalize the hotel and have a structure that is in the community for decades.”
The historic nature of the building does have its challenges, noted architect Richard Davignon.
“Unfortunately, she is an old gal with a lot of years on her, so there are a lot of things to be wary of,” he joked. “The trick is to meet all the health and safety and building code and fire requirements, as well as make sure the Town of Canmore is happy.”
Davignon acknowledged the cost of upgrading the structure to have fire sprinklers is too high, but the result is there will be limitations on occupancy in the restaurant and hostel.
