Editor: Isn’t it ironic that the residents of Banff totally “get it” that policy C-122 is a bad piece of legislation that needs to be rescinded and tossed onto the scrapheap, but town council does not and is in total denial?
It really gives one pause to ponder who should really be running this town.
Quite simply, the policy proceeds from totally false assumptions concerning location of the development in proximity to downtown and public transit routes.
First and foremost, these two criteria are totally irrelevant to parking stall allotment necessities. It does not matter one iota how close one is to these because even if people walk, bike, take transit, horse or crawl to get where they are going, they still need a place to park their vehicle off street when not in use.
Why does council not get this simple fact? It totally baffles the mind.
The amendments made to the policy on Nov. 14 do not go near far enough, and in effect, amount to a farce. It is crystal clear that any new development must, at the very least, require one vehicular parking stall per unit – period.
Anything less is totally out of touch with reality. If an apartment complex had insufficient parking stalls for the number of housing units, it would be a deterrent to live there, thereby defeating the purpose.
What is particularly irksome comes from a council member who proclaims “we are finally putting people before cars” but yet laments Banff has a chronic parking deficiency, created largely in part by policy C-122.
As pointed out by many others, this policy has led to the direct loss of 87 off street parking stalls this town desperately needs. It is not a matter of affordable housing or off-street parking, but rather a matter of affordable housing and off street parking.
The two cannot exist without each other. It is a fact of life here in Banff that cars are required. We may not need them for every trip within town, but we certainly do need them to get beyond the town.
Anyone who thinks cars are going away anytime soon is living in a dream world. Until we get our flying saucers that fold up into a briefcase, housing and parking must go hand-in-glove.
Anything less is totally irresponsible and just plain poor planning. Policy C-122 is totally unacceptable and has served to exacerbate congestion further. Just look down any street in town to see the impacts of C-122 short-sightedness.
Mark Bowes, Banff
