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Sunshine lodge approval challenged

High water treatment standards required by Parks Canada for a proposed day lodge project at Sunshine Village puts the entire endeavour at risk, according to a ski hill association.

High water treatment standards required by Parks Canada for a proposed day lodge project at Sunshine Village puts the entire endeavour at risk, according to a ski hill association.

In December, Parks issued conditional approval for the proposed Goat’s Eye Day Lodge, the first ski lodge in 17 years to be approved in Banff National Park.

But as part of the approval, Parks required Sunshine to meet its Mountain Parks Leadership Standards for phosphorous levels at a wastewater treatment plant proposed as part of the development.

Parks also set out in the approval that the lodge can only be used during current seasonal use and hours of lodge operations – in other words, during the winter ski season and daylight hours only.

These two conditions put the project at risk, according to National Parks Ski Area Association President Crosbie Cotton.

“We are concerned the conditions are excessive and don’t make sense,” Cotton said. “Saying we can only operate in the winter doesn’t work because Sunshine’s season goes from fall to late spring.”

He said the hours of operation condition is a challenge because no other facility at the hill has a similar restriction and it gets dark early in the winter.

“The wastewater treatment request is seven times federal standards,” he added. “Sunshine committed to at minimum achieving double what the federal legislation requires and to achieve those leadership targets when a long-range plan is completed and the whole size of the resort is determined.

“It is impossible right now to determine what the wastewater plant would look like in the future, until we know what buildout of the resort looks like.”

He said Sunshine is working with Parks to find a solution and hopes to do so quickly in order to begin construction in spring.

At the Development Advisory Board meeting to consider the project, officials with Sunshine stated the phosphorous targets required by Parks would add $3 million onto the total cost of the lodge.

Sunshine’s appeal is not the only one submitted to Parks. Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society (CPAWS) also objects to approval, citing an inadequate environmental assessment and flawed public consultation process.

Alberta Chapter executive director Anne Marie Syslak said the organization wants the approval to be withdrawn altogether and reconsidered as part of Sunshine’s required site guidelines and long-range plan. She said CPAWS does not object to a day lodge per se, but wants to make sure Parks is assessing the ski hill in its entirety.

“Because Sunshine has not put forward site guidelines or a long-range plan for the entire hill, how can they say that human activity is not going to change, because they are incrementally putting forward development without looking at the bigger picture?” Syslak asked. “What we recommended in our comments was basically that this proposal shouldn’t be approved; it should be considered as part of the bigger picture for the entire ski hill and that includes site guidelines and a long-range plan for Sunshine Village.”

Syslak said piecemeal development makes it impossible to assess cumulative impacts on the ecosystem and Parks projects should be held to the highest standards of process and environmental review.

Caroline Marion, townsite and realty manager for the Lake Louise, Yoho, Kootenay field unit, will conduct the appeal review.

“Parks Canada is committed to a fair process and will review the appeals in a timely manner. Further comment would be inappropriate at this time,” Marion said.


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