A major residential development will be built on the 300 block of Beaver Street – the first development in that neighbourhood since lands were changed from public service to residential.
A four-unit row house at 349 Beaver Street in the RBA (Banff Avenue Residential) district has been given the go ahead by the Municipal Planning Commission, allowing Aspen Lodge to provide staff housing.
“It’s nice to see changes to the Land Use Bylaw come to fruition in built form,” said Randall McKay, the Town of Banff’s planning and development manager.
“This kind of project will provide much-needed housing for the service industry workers approximate to their place of employment and downtown.”
The proposal involves demolishing an existing 1950s single-detached bungalow and construction of a four-unit, two-and-a-half storey row house building.
Each of the dwellings feature four bedrooms, two parking stalls and private amenity areas located on second-floor balconies, in addition to a communal rear yard.
In 2009, council approved rezoning public service lands to residential, which paves the way for 45,000 square feet of apartment-style residential floor space in that district, or 45 to 60 units.
The lots were previously zoned public service, which allowed for apartment housing on the second floor and single detached housing, both as a discretionary use.
The purpose of the new RBA district is to provide apartment housing compatible with the commercial accommodation on the opposite side of Banff Avenue and lower density residential in the area to the east.
Before the land use changes in 2009, Aspen Lodge had previously put forward a proposal for a single detached house and detached accessory dwelling.
However, Parks Canada appealed the Town’s decision to allow that amid arguments the proposal was not allowed within public service lands. Aspen Lodge dropped its application at the time.
