Editor:
On April 27, Canmore Town council rejected one of the Three Sister Mountain Village area structure plans – the Smith Creek ASP – but gave second reading to the Village Centre ASP with several amendments. Bow Valley Climate Action spent several months researching and drafting five achievable, reasonable and effective amendments for the proposed TSMV ASPs that would help the Town of Canmore achieve their greenhouse gas reduction targets.
None of BVCA's amendments were included by the developer plans or the Town.
Furthermore, one of council’s amendments actually weakened the most important climate change mitigation measure in the ASP: the density bonus toolkit.
When the project's proponent amended the first draft of the ASPs, it placed a heavy emphasis on the use of density bonuses to provide incentives for energy efficient buildings. Council weakened this measure by passing an amendment that would require a significant proportion of the density bonuses be used for affordable housing, thereby limiting the extent to which density bonuses could be used for purposes of energy efficiency.
This was a clear and disappointing display that, despite having unanimously declared a “climate emergency” in October 2019, Canmore council does not place a priority on climate action, even when developers themselves have worked with community members to include it in their proposals and many community members publicly requested climate action be incorporated.
Rick Daniel,
On behalf of Bow Valley Climate Action
