The Town of Banff is proposing to defer required housing and parking fees to support existing small, local businesses and encourage new ventures.
The review team for the Land Use Bylaw review proposes to allow small, local businesses going through a change-of-use process to defer their payments for housing and parking.
Town officials say this aims to remove an obstacle and barrier to local entrepreneurs, as fees can often reach into the tens of thousands of dollars.
They say new commercial ventures can be stifled by what is viewed as prohibitive housing and parking costs, especially start-up businesses with limited cash reserves.
And this, the review team says, can have a trickle-up effect, with commercial landlords struggling to recruit local tenants.
“The proposal to defer payments is designed to help small local businesses get started and is in response to feedback from small businesses and residents,” said Mayor Karen Sorensen.
Presently, there are requirements that any new development or intensification of existing development is required to contribute towards parking and housing.
The requirement for providing housing in association with new commercial development dates back to the 1980s with Parks Canada.
Mayor Sorensen said currently, businesses are allowed to meet their housing requirements by paying in-lieu-of-fees.
She said those payments are allocated to the construction of new Banff Housing Corporation projects.
“The deferral could impact BHC’s ability to construct new housing,” she said.
“Council will have to weigh this possibility against the proposal.”
Under the proposal put forward by the review team, required housing and parking payments would be deferred over a two-year period.
A third would would be due at the the time of approval, a third due at the year-one business licence renewal and the remainder at year-two business licence renewal.
This proposal would be limited to resident-owned independent businesses and only for uses less than 1,500 square feet in floor area.
The review team did examine maintaining the status quo of requiring all housing and parking be paid to the municipality before occupancy.
“This front-loading is the most secure way to ensure that housing and parking fees are paid, but puts added pressure on new business operators,” they said.
The review team also examined the possible elimination of parking and housing fees for small, local businesses.
“This option did not seem to be feasible given that even a small, local business creates demand for parking and housing,” they said.
“The review team believes deferring payments still accounts for these impacts, while reducing the burden at the time of opening.”
Another proposal would see parking fees diverted to the Roam transit system, so that services can be expanded to better serve residents and tourists and ease the parking crunch.
