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The Year in Canmore

For Canmore, 2013 was a year that changed the community forever.

For Canmore, 2013 was a year that changed the community forever.

While the first six months were dominated by debate over the future of the undeveloped Three Sisters lands held by receiver PricewaterhouseCoopers, and the opening of Elevation Place, it was the flood event at the end of June that changed everything.

With Three Sisters representing the biggest piece of undeveloped land left in Canmore, there were significant concerns in the community about the final wildlife corridor needed to be established and how close human use is to corridors and patches.

Human use and wildlife conflict also made headlines, with multiple cougar incidents throughout the entire year.

Meanwhile, the municipality opened a $39 million recreation facility, Elevation Place, a major undertaking that has had far reaching implications to the Town’s corporate structure.

And as 2013 comes to an end, there are still seven homes along Cougar Creek that are unoccupied due to the damage caused during the flood. As heavy machinery works along the channel to protect it before next spring, it is clear the community has a new normal and will never be the same.

January

Canmore council rang in the new year by approving an audacious I Drive Safely program, that rewards motorists travelling at or under the speed limit with $250 gift certificate to a local business of their choice.

The funds for the program came from the photo radar reserve. While the first year was considered a pilot, by the end of December council approved continuing it into 2014. Photo radar funds were also used in 2013 to install four traffic speed monitoring signs in the community including next to Canmore Collegiate High School and the Bow River bridge.

Open house meetings began as part of the sustainability screening report for PricewaterhouseCoopers’ area structure plan process for Three Sisters. The municipality also hired a third party consultant to review the environmental impact statement prepared.

Council also reduced the development fees for PWC’s applications from $952,500 to $361,000. By the end of February, a group of concerned residents had joined together to promote four principles they feel should be adhered to before any development is considered on Three Sisters lands. Three Sisters For Wildlife put forward that plans should preserve and protect the environment with viable wildlife corridors and habitat, actively involve the community with a “Made in Canmore solution, mitigate and avoid undermining and preserve the integrity of adjacent lands.

The receiver’s plans for the land were not well received in the community, particularly with respect to fragmentation of habitat by development and a proposal to fence the lands with the possibility of some of it being electrified.

The SSR was passed by council, largely due to the possibility of completing the wildlife corridor adjacent to the proposed development. The area structure plan, however, was not given first reading by council and instead went straight to public hearing in May. The move was made because the document, according to administration and council, contained uncertainty surrounding various issues like the wildlife corridor and likely would not have passed first reading. However, PwC asked to postpone the public hearing to consider feedback. In June, the receiver decided to back away from the process altogether and focus on selling the 1,495-acre property.

Regional transit between Canmore and Banff launched in December, but in January it was already seeing good uptake by riders, which continued throughout the year. In February, the regional service reached 900 riders in one week.

With a new day care facility up and running in Canmore, the old one was demolished. Originally built during the 1940s, the building was known as the old red barn and had various functions until it was turned into the day care.

While discussions about what the day care lands should be used for began in the fall of 2012 with many preferring it be kept as green space, after the flood conversations at the municipal level took another direction. With short-term and long-term mitigation expected on several mountain creeks in Canmore, developing or selling the land is being considered as an option to generate revenue.

By the end of January, work to reinforce and repair Cougar Creek after flooding in 2012 was complete. A 2009 plan to protect the creek included a sediment trap, grade control structures and armouring of the banks; however, without provincial funding was not undertaken.

February

By the end of December, council had unanimously approved a land use bylaw change to create a direct control district for 20 units of visitor accommodation adjacent to Stewart Creek Golf Course. But debate surrounding the application began in February when the first sustainability screening report was turned down by council because of concerns the location is adjacent to a wildlife corridor.

Plans for the old library evolved throughout the year, after council voted in November 2012 to turn the facility into an arts centre and enter into an agreement with the Canadian Mountain Arts Foundation to run it.

CMAF also took the lead in consultations with the community about how to develop the space and engaged architects to design it. By the end of the year, council approved $900,000 for renovations inside and $1.7 million to upgrade the structure of the building, including the roof, which no longer meets building codes.

With only two months until opening, the $39 million Elevation Place facility started making headlines after public concerns over the price of a single drop-in day rate began to be raised. By mid-February, membership pre-sales were doing well according to Town officials, but a $15 day rate for adults and $29 for families had some feeling the facility would be too expensive to use on a casual basis.

The Town reviewed drop-in fees for the pool before opening and addressed those concerns by reducing rates and offering a 10-visit card option for visitors at the beginning of April.

March

A cougar feeding on a mule deer it just killed made headlines when the big cat ate its meal in the backyard of a Canmore apartment building. Fish and wildlife officers removed the kill from Catamount Court.

With the opening of Elevation Place scheduled, the Town of Canmore began a process of engaging the community for ideas of what to do with the old pool after it is decommissioned. The process resulted in multiple ideas being proposed, including putting a movie theatre, roller derby rink and gymnastics into the space. However, after the financial implications of the flood became apparent towards the end of the year, council slowed redevelopment of the pool to 2016 and indicated to the community it would not go forward unless a funding source other than debenture presented itself.

Council unanimously passed a motion to increase business registry fees by $100 for every hotel room in the community. The move was meant to nudge hotel accommodations not currently paying into the voluntary Destination Marketing Fund to contribute to the tourism marketing of the community. The bylaw was later rescinded when all hotels signed up for the DMF. DMF members charge a three per cent levy on hotel room bills to fund various marketing initiatives for Canmore, including providing significant funds towards Canmore Business and Tourism, the community’s destination marketing organization.

A cougar chased down and killed a small off-leash terrier on a trail above Eagle Terrace, forcing conservation officers to once again warn the public to keep their pets on-leash.

The Canmore Planning Commission approved a 110-unit seniors’ residence in Spring Creek that includes a convenience store and pub. Construction of the supportive living facility began later in the year.

April

Elevation Place officially opened to the public on April 2 and the $39 million facility had 1,130 memberships purchased at that time. By the end of the year the facility was operating above expectations in terms of memberships and revenues exceeding the pro forma produced as part of its development. The facility boasts a pool, climbing wall, Canmore Artists and Artisans Guild gallery, library, caf é, a gym and multi-purpose meeting rooms. The pool, however, remained closed until April 15.

After public consultation, the Canadian Rockies Public School board unanimously passed a motion to move Grade 4 students from Elizabeth Rummel to Lawrence Grassi Middle School. The grade change came into effect in September.

Registration began for the Alpenglow Community School, which opened in September at Canmore Collegiate High School. The Waldorf-inspired outdoor school came about through a partnership between parents who wanted to offer the program and CRPS. Due to increased enrolment the budget defeceit was eleminated for the fiscal year.

A former daycare owner charged with seven counts of assaulting children was acquitted of all charges in Canmore Provincial Court. In his decision, Judge Eugene Creighton found seven Crown witnesses, former employees of Susan Preece, had a motive in their testimony to bring charges against her in an attempt to remove her from the child care facility.

After the decision, Preece applied to the courts to have the Crown pay her defence costs for the trial, which took place in March 2011, however, that application was denied. Preece sold the daycare and moved out of Canmore as a result of the charges being laid against her.

More cougar activity was recorded in Canmore and Harvie Heights areas during the month of April. A cougar was spotted sleeping in a backyard in Eagle Terrace and stalked a woman and her dog near Harvie Heights on the Meander Trail for half an hour.

Renovations to the Canmore Miners’ Union Hall began after grant funding from the province and matching funds from the municipality were received. The $250,000 was added to a $100,000 anonymous donation to Pine Tree Players, which manages the facility for the Town.

Canmore approved an increase of $2.27 million to the capital budget to construct a regional waste transfer station and material recycling facility at the wastewater treatment plant. Both functions are being transferred from the Boulder Crescent location, partly due to concerns from neighbouring residents about the health and safety of such a facility being adjacent to residential uses and also to increase capacity for the Town’s enhanced recycling program, which rolled out by the end of December.

CRPS reduced the number of trustees that sit on the board from seven to five prior to the election in October. The move was made in order to receive a cost savings of approximately $25,000 a year.

May

CRPS stood firm on its objection to a permanent cellphone tower being placed within a block of Lawrence Grassi Middle School. The tower was proposed by Telus to replace a temporary one, which the public school division also requested to be relocated. However, the tower was approved and installed by the end of the year.

Fergie’s Bakery and Convenience store in Cougar Creek was robbed at gunpoint on May 5 at 11 p.m. The suspect was not located, and later in the year a Crimestoppers video of the armed robbery was produced.

An off-leash dog was attacked by a cougar on Montane Traverse trail near Silvertip. The owner of the dog, who was biking and allowed the pet to run free, chased off the cougar and the dog recovered.

A fire at Canmore Inns and Suites on Bow Valley Trail caused approximately $2 million in damage and left a number of Canmore residents without a home. The fire required the help of Banff and Exshaw departments.

The province invested $3.3 million into extending the Legacy Trail from the east gates of Banff National Park to the Travel Alberta visitor information centre in Canmore. Banff contributed $266,000 and Canmore $399,000 to the project, which provides parking and safe travel for users of the trail. Before, trail users had to park on or cross the busy Trans-Canada Highway at the east gates of Banff National Park as there was no trailhead. Construction of the trail was completed by mid-September.

By the end of May, council approved spending $600,000 in provincial funds to fix a sinkhole along a municipal pathway near Dyrgas Gate that formed in 2010 as a result of an airshaft from Seam No. 4 in the No. 4 mine. However, bids for the work came in above budget and the work was postponed to 2014.

Faced with a $486,000 decrease in revenue after the provincial budget was released in March, the CRPS board voted to pass a deficit budget of approximately $250,000. However, by September enrolment numbers had increased beyond expectations to the point that the 2013-14 budget no longer carried a deficit.

June

A fatality inquiry into the fatal shooting of robbery suspect Jean Steven Boucher on Jan. 10, 2011 found that two Canmore RCMP members could not have prevented the tragic incident from occurring. Boucher was armed with a replica handgun and when stopped by Const. Sanjay Sachdev and Cpl. Chris Blandford on Railway Avenue, pointed the fake gun at them when he was shot.

Canmore’s école Notre-Dame des Monts graduated its first class of high school students - the first five since the school opened in 2001.

The Canadian Radio-television Telecommunications Commission for breaking robocall rules fined Wild Rose MP Blake Richards $14,400. In August and October of 2012, Richards launched two robocall campaigns that failed to identify him, nor did they provide a mailing address, which is against CRTC rules. By October, it was also revealed that Richards had the third highest expenses among all MPs in Canada, spending $547,510 between April 1, 2012 and March 31, 2013.

A pilot program to provide advanced life support capable response to medical emergencies by Canmore’s fire department was extended for another two years by council. Administration recommended the extension over making a permanent change to continue collecting data on the service. Canmore’s fire department responds to medical 911 calls when no ambulance is readily available by the province or EMS requests their assistance.

At 2 a.m. on June 20, RCMP began knocking on doors to notify residents they may need to evacuate their homes along Cougar Creek as torrential rainfall combined with snowmelt on the mountains and already high ground water levels sent a raging river of water and debris down usually quiet mountain creeks. By this time Trans-Canada Highway eastbound and westbound lanes were closed, along with Bow Valley Trail, as Cougar Creek cut a bigger path through the community towards the Bow River. Motorists stuck on the highway were evacuated by helicopter by 8 a.m.

A local state of emergency was declared by 4 a.m. in Canmore and residents south of the pedestrian bridge on Cougar Creek were evacuated. By 7 a.m. the access road to Eagle Terrace was compromised and closed and power outages reported throughout the area.

By 9:30 a.m. a mudslide from Stoneworks Creek resulted in evacuation of residents from Palliser and by 10 a.m. the entire east side of Cougar Creek was under an evacuation order. By 11 a.m. crews were sent to the Three Sisters Parkway as water rushed down Three Sisters Creek and put that roadway, the only way in and out of the community at this point, at risk. The Bow River was also reaching unprecedented levels and a flood watch issued.

By noon on June 21, Premier Alison Redford and other provincial officials arrived to observe damage caused by flooding. On the morning of June 22, Canadian military personnel arrived to assist in flood work and by 6 p.m. a boil water advisory was issued for the entire town.

While the TCH opened for traffic between Canmore and Calgary and Canmore and Banff on June 26, the boil water advisory lasted another week.

It also soon became apparent that the disaster recovery program would not compensate everyone who lost property in the flood, or replace like for like. Second home owners and landlords were ineligible for the program, which also sets a standard rate to provide funds for flood victims. There were 43 homes that had to receive approval for residents to return to the, all with various degrees of damage. By the end of the year, seven homes remained unoccupied as a result of the flood.

July

Canada Day festivities included the heavy equipment and workers that prevented even more damage to the Cougar Creek subdivision when the flood waters were at their highest. By digging out the culvert under Elk Run Boulevard during the debris flood, those efforts prevented a bigger avulsion of the creek into other areas.

Canmore’s Rotary Foundation started a flood relief fund in the aftermath of the disaster and raised close to $800,000 by the end of the year. It provided grants for residents of the entire Bow Valley affected and community groups and organizations.

The implications of the flood were significant and only just beginning to be understood. The Town of Canmore took the initiative to get straight to work on understanding what happened and what it means for the future by establishing an expert panel to advise consultants hired to study the event. With a $600,000 budget, Canmore hired BGC Engineering, while the province contributed $300,000, for a hazard and risk assessment and mitigation plan.

August

Canmore created a new corporate structure to deal with the aftermath of the floods and provided municipal tax relief for those not in their homes. The Disaster Relief Program refunds the municipality for workers hired on contract to backfill positions left empty because senior members of administration, like manager of engineering Andy Esarte, are focused full-time on flood work.

It also became clear that work needed because of erosion would not be eligible under the DRP. The province ultimately created a $20 million fund to address erosion and Canmore received $6.2 million of that.

September

A group including former owners of Three Sisters Mountain Village put an offer in to purchase the biggest piece of undeveloped land in Canmore. Blair Richardson and Don Taylor put in the offer and it was endorsed by creditors.

Richardson and Taylor were involved in TSMV from 2000-07, and he indicated the discussions about the future vision of the resort would occur with the community at large over the long term.

Canmore requested $16.7 million from the provincial disaster recovery program. Of that, $3.3 million represents emergency operations during the flood and the remainder for damaged infrastructure.

Council approved a $14 million mitigation plan for the short term on Cougar Creek. Of that, $1.3 million comes from Town coffers and the rest from DRP and erosion funds. The short-term mitigation includes excavating the channel, widening it, covering it with articulated concrete mats and installing a debris net further up the channel.

Banff-Cochrane MLA Ron Casey announced a major funding announcement for Bow River Lodge at the end of September. The lodge, which is run by the Bow Valley Regional Housing Authority, received $8.46 million for a major renovation and upgrade project. Funding from the province and federal government will see the lodge renovate 43 units into 27 more accessible ones and add 31 new units and amenity space.

October

With a municipal election called at the end of September, incumbent Mayor John Borrowman announced his intentions to run again and was challenged by Councillor Hans Helder. A third unknown candidate, Caleb McMillan, also ran for mayor.

Councillors Joanna McCallum, Sean Krausert and Vi Sandford also ran again, while Gordie Miskow and Jim Ridley decided not to run. Six other candidates put their hats in the ring, however, it was Ed Russell, Rob Seeley and Esm é Comfort who were voted into office along with the three incumbents and Borrowman.

Meanwhile, CRPS school board trustee Carol Picard was re-elected along with new board members Leanne McKeown to represent Canmore and Jen Smith in Exshaw. Kim Bater and Arlene Rheaume were acclaimed.

As part of an $8.5 billion deal to purchase Safeway Canada, Sobeys Inc. entered into a consent agreement with the Competition Bureau of Canada to sell 23 stores including the one in Canmore. While the company has taken over the Safeway stores it purchased, no information on who the new owner of the Sobeys building would be was released by the end of the year.

November

The Town of Canmore’s budget process got underway in November, with the budget committee holding seven meetings in total. While it was eventually approved in December by council, the total operational budget was $41.97 million, a $2.8 million or 6.8 per cent increase over 2013. Reasons for the increase included the transition last year to a stand alone fire department, a reduction of $1 million in revenues from the province and the opening of Elevation Place.

While originally a five per cent increase was proposed for municipal taxes, $344,500 in reductions to the capital budget resulted in a decrease for a 3.3 per cent tax rate change and a total of $16.8 million in projects approved for 2014.

Further short-term mitigation work was approved by council for other mountain creeks before next spring. It included $2.7 million for work on Three Sisters Creek, $350,000 on Stone Creek and $350,000 on Stoneworks Creek.

December

The month of December was dominated with the issue of human impacts on wildlife and most especially, off-leash dogs.

A cougar attacked and killed a dog in the Benchlands area and within three days two cougars attacked and killed a dog in a backyard of Silvertip. A Fish and Wildlife officer responded, shot and killed both cougars as a result of habituation.

On the heals of approving the creation of a direct control district for 20 visitor accommodation units adjacent to Stewart Creek Golf Course, Canmore council also made a motion to create a new group to address human use in wildlife corridors.


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