Sunshine Village is heading to court to fight Parks Canada’s ban on parking along the access road to the ski hill.
Parks Canada, concerned with avalanche risk as well as dangers to skiers, including children, as they weave in and out traffic on the road, gave one year’s notice that parking will no longer be allowed anywhere on the road, beginning in November.
Sunshine, on the other hand, which uses the road as overflow parking when the approximately 1,700-parking space lot is full, has filed a judicial review against the decision.
Ski hill officials say engineers hired by Sunshine have developed seven parking lot options along the access road, as well as lot designs adjacent to the existing parking lot, but that all of the plans have been declined by Parks Canada.
Dave Riley, Sunshine’s chief operating officer and senior vice-president, said Sunshine believes Parks Canada has not adequately thought through the consequences of its decision to ban parking on the road.
“From a safety standpoint, there has never been an injury accident in connection with parking cars on the access road,” he said, noting staff direct motorists on where they should safely park and point skiers to dedicated bus pickup spots.
“The main point people are making is that it is not correct to take the road parking away before a reasonable and close alternative is in place, and parking in Banff or up the Minnewanka road are not reasonable alternatives.”
Parking restrictions along the access road were put in place in spring of 2012 soon after a massive class 4 avalanche came crashing down the Bourgeau 7 slide path, sweeping onto the closed road during routine Parks Canada avalanche control.
Visitor safety experts considered the slide a big wakeup call, highlighting the unpredictable nature of avalanches, the uncertainty of predicting avalanches and the potential for catastrophic consequences.
Since then, parking has been allowed along some sections of the road, and more recently only on the lower stretches, but last November, Parks Canada gave the ski resort notice that parking would not be allowed anywhere along the road.
Parks Canada commissioned McElhanney Consulting Services Ltd. to do a safety review of parking safety along the Sunshine access road when the issue heated up a few years ago.
The 2012 internal document says there is always risk of uncontrolled avalanches, noting avalanche forecasting is an imprecise science, but it also spoke to the hazards of parking along the access roads to pedestrians given the high volume of skiers and vehicles.
Parks Canada has long said the way to look at long-term solutions for parking challenges at Sunshine is through the site guidelines and long-range planning process. Parks did not grant the Outlook an interview request, but sent an emailed statement.
Christina Tricomi, a spokesperson for Banff National Park, wrote that parking on the Sunshine Village access road poses public safety risks to visitors who park their vehicles along the road.
“In the interest of public safety, Parks Canada will implement a prohibition on parking along this road beginning in the ski season 2017-2018,” she wrote.
“As this matter is before the courts, it would be inappropriate to comment further at this time.”
The ski hill took Parks Canada to court over the parking restrictions put in place in 2012; however, in 2014 a federal court sided with Parks Canada, noting the park superintendent had the authority to make that decision.
Sunshine’s Riley, though, said the former judicial review was over the closing of the upper portion of the access road “due to the perceived avalanche risks.
“This time it is challenging the closure of the lower portion of the access road where there is no avalanche risk or other demonstrable risks.
“Whether or not Parks Canada has the legal right to close the road is a technical question in the judicial review.”
In addition, Riley said Sunshine also believes closing the entire length of road to parking will compromise safety.
“If Parks Canada puts up a closure at the bottom of the access road at 9:30 a.m. on a Saturday, within minutes the TCH (Trans-Canada Highway) will be backed up all the way to the Norquay-Banff exit,” he said.
“If they put a closure at the top of the access road, they will have 800 cars jammed up within minutes. In either case, that will create a very chaotic and unsafe situation that they are underestimating.”
Riley said there are also people who have reserved parking and hotel guests who park in the lot. “How does Parks Canada plan to sort out who does and doesn’t get through the closure?”
