Editor:
The Town of Canmore is considering a development proposal known as 800 Canmore on 3rd Avenue. It’s apparently the third time development has been proposed for this land. Only this time, the proposal also includes a site for a hospice.
There is no doubt Canmore is in need of this facility, and I can only commend the board and staff of the Palliative Care Society of the Bow Valley (PCSBV) for all their efforts to find a home. Regrettably, 800 Canmore is the wrong partnership for the PCSBV, as the development proposal is ill-conceived and misguided for the following reasons.
The change in the urban growth boundary will need to be extended to accommodate this development – a dangerous precedent. The land in question is situated in the south Canmore local habitat patch. This is a region where cumulative effects on the natural environment are already significant. The proposed development would need a change in the Municipal Development Plan (MDP). The MDP states “no new development shall be allowed within a habitat patch or corridor” (Town of Canmore, 2016, 4.2.11, pg. 23). The site’s ground level will have to be raised by approximately two metres to achieve the 1:100 elevation required to address the hundred-year flood threshold. This will destroy all the natural ground cover.
Of paramount importance for Canmore is the protection of the more-than-human world, and the remaining green space that this requires. The recent Three Sisters Mountain Village public hearings were a wake-up call for all of Canmore’s residents, and we must now once again call on the Town council to reject this proposal and protect the land that is Canmore’s gift.
At the same time, I urge all Canmore residents to assist the PCSBV, however that may be, in realizing this vital civic project. All of us will be the beneficiary of their exemplary work.
Robert R. Janes,
Canmore
