Editor: Re: Canmore MDP – development plan or social manifesto?
A recent letter and article in the Rocky Mountain Outlook alerted me to Canmore’s proposed bylaw concerning a draft MDP.
After a quick reading of the 90-page document I can understand the alarm of the original letter writers. While it is very well and persuasively written, it is more of a social manifesto than a municipal development plan, especially when you compare it to the bylaw it is replacing.
The old plan focused on guidelines for developing the undeveloped parts of Canmore. This new plan not only focuses on that, but also proposes some radical plans for the redevelopment or at least reorganization of existing development. It seems to infer that if we just follow this plan, Canmore will progress from a car happy, unaffordable, capitalist nightmare full of rich non-community minded second home owners to a utopia of environmentally conscious pedestrians, bike and transit riders, all living in the affordable, sustainable home of their dreams.
While the overall tone of the document is uplifting and contains goals and aspirations that no one can really dispute, there are at least a couple of themes I would like to highlight; transportation and, of course, affordable housing.
I will begin with affordable housing. This is obviously the new buzzword for the town administration. Not only does it have its own chapter (5) that was not in the old plan but it is mentioned in seven of the remaining 19 chapters.
The town has set a goal of 15 per cent non-market, affordable housing and to reach that goal it is willing to do quite a lot. It seems that if the town agrees that you are providing affordable housing as a developer or existing homeowner, many of the existing planning requirements actually stated in this document can be adjusted or even waived.
Architectural guidelines and zoning are all on the table if you are providing affordable housing. This chapter goes to great lengths to describe different methods to achieve affordable accommodation, but fails to actually define what constitutes affordable accommodation.
Is there a cost per square foot in the case of a purchased property, or a rent ceiling in the case of rental property that cannot be exceeded for it to be considered affordable, or is it something else? It appears that the town wants to be the first and final arbitrator on what constitutes affordability without really providing any guidelines, sort of like what they did, and continue to do, concerning sustainability.
The second theme is transportation. Section 14.3 seems to want to regulate the private vehicle out of existence, or at least out of the downtown core. It plans to replace the car with increased pedestrian, bike and transit access. All this in a town that suffers through six months of winter, making walking and biking a bit of an ordeal.
Previous town plans have allowed isolated residential developments more than 10 kilometres from the town centre. Thus the cost to produce a viable and effective public transit plan for this town would be prohibitive.
Then there is the proposal for paid parking. You would think that given the issues that Banff had with this that the planners would not even want to go there. Canmore’s tourist, and for that matter, entire economy is based on private vehicle access. Restricting this access without a viable alternate already in place would create the exact opposite result than what the plan hopes to achieve
This draft MDP is a well written persuasive piece of social engineering. If all the proposals that “shall,” “must,” “will,” “should” or “may” come about, the town will be radically different than it is today.
This MDP is just not another bylaw, but an attempt to lay the framework to remake the town to conform to the vision of the authors. Contrary to what the Town of Canmore’s development planner Ms. Woitenko would have you believe, once this is passed, it will be used as justification and authority to bring all the other bylaws and plans into line with this vision.
Why else would you go to the trouble of having a Municipal Development Plan? I urge all residents to read the draft bylaw and comment on it as they see fit. This MDP is talking about not just the future development of the town, but the future of every resident.
Don. G. L. Rees,
Canmore
