Sunshine Village ski resort and Parks Canada are set to do battle in court in the New Year over a parking ban on the upper three kilometres of the access road to the ski hill.
Parks has put parking limits in place again this winter over fears of a deadly avalanche sweeping across the access road, but Sunshine says there’s no significant safety risk if previously agreed upon protocols are strictly followed.
A judicial review requested by Sunshine Village will be heard in federal court in Calgary on Jan. 22, 2014.
Officials with Parks Canada say parking limits have been put in place based on assessments of public safety and avalanche conditions, noting there are several active avalanche paths on the upper section of the road.
“Public safety is always our number one priority and we’ve restricted parking to areas where we feel there is minimal or no risk to the public,” said Dave McDonough, superintendent of Banff National Park.
“We also recognize and want to assist Sunshine in dealing with their peak parking… and we’re continuing to work with them to find long-term solutions.”
Sunshine opened for the season last Friday (Nov. 15). At press time, the resort had seven lifts in operation and the resort continued to get big dumps of snow.
The parking restriction means there’s no parking permitted between the gate at the Sunshine Village parking lot and the east side of the Bourgeau 4 avalanche path on the access road.
Parking will be allowed between the east side of Bourgeau 4 and east side of Bourgeau 1 during periods of minimal avalanche hazard only. Parking is allowed on the lower section below Bourgeau 1 to the cattle guard at any time.
Vehicles can also park at the Brewster Creek parking lot at the base of the access road. Sunshine provides a shuttle bus to ferry skiers up and down the road to the base of the ski hill.
Restrictions were initially put in place in spring 2012, when routine avalanche control work saw a massive class 4 avalanche come crashing down the Bourgeau 7 slide path on March 6, sweeping onto the road which was closed.
At the time, Parks Canada said that slide was a big wakeup call and highlighted the unpredictable nature of avalanches, the uncertainty of predicting avalanches and the potential for catastrophic consequences.
A spokesperson for the ski resort did not get back to the Outlook at press time this week.
However, documents filed in court say Parks Canada and Sunshine had an agreed-upon comprehensive plan to actively manage parking and avalanche risk which has been successfully implemented since 2006.
In the documents, Sunshine also argues a report they commissioned, coupled with 40 years of history, substantiates the only periods of danger requiring temporary road closure are during Parks’ planned avalanche control.
“The Sunshine report confirmed that maintaining the 2006 protocols would ensure there is no significant safety risk to continued parking on the upper access road in compliance with those established protocols,” the document says.
The ski hill’s parking lot can accommodate 1,500 to 1,700 vehicles, and when the lot is full, another 400 vehicles have historically parked along the upper three kilometres of road.
Sunshine has been fighting for an expanded parking lot for years.
