BANFF – Regardless of where business, tourism and conservation groups stand on the fate of the Banff Avenue pedestrian zone, one thing is clear: all can agree the plebiscite was a successful expression of democracy in the mountain town.
Peter Duck, president of the Bow Valley Naturalists (BVN), called the vote an “awkward” means to an end, but said the group, which has previously voiced concern with the pedestrian zone, is pleased with the result of removing it.
“BVN is very grateful to all those in the community who participated to achieve this end and to members of the community who gave the topic thoughtful consideration and took the time to participate through their vote,” said Duck.
The Aug. 12 plebiscite ended with 1,328 Banff residents voting against the pedestrian zone and 1,194 voting in favour of keeping it. The total voter turnout, which included advance polls, was higher than any turnout in the community’s municipal elections dating back to 1989.
The pedestrian zone has been a busy attraction in summer months, with 30,000-40,000 people walking the two-block area some days.
While some argued it mitigated vehicle traffic, encouraging the use of more sustainable means of travel, others argued it only pushed vehicle congestion to surrounding residential streets and created access and egress concerns in the townsite.
Duck said BVN hopes the experience “becomes a catalyst” for the community as a whole to take stock of its environmental footprint “and start thinking about opportunities to maintain and restore ecosystems rather than finding new ways to expand ecological footprint through infrastructure configurations that increase visitation,” which he argued was another effect of the pedestrian zone.
The conservation group shared Parks Canada’s concerns – voiced in a letter from Banff National Park superintendent Sal Rasheed earlier this year – that the pedestrian zone violated the National Parks Act and the ability to manage commercial activities and expansion in the mountain town, especially as it pertains to outdoor restaurant patios.
The pedestrian zone first started in 2020 as part of social distancing measures in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and continued afterward as a pilot project in 2022-23.
In 2023, Banff council brought the summer pedestrian zone back after consultation that involved meetings, focus groups, forums, pop-up sessions at multiple areas in town and online engagement.
In January 2024, council voted to make the annual pedestrian zone a permanent summer feature from May long weekend to Thanksgiving long weekend, spurring more debate on the issue and a successful petition to overturn the decision.
Duck said he believes the overarching theme in the debate on the issue was that the Town is lacking an updated community plan to manage the impacts of tourism, traffic and increasing housing supply, and was putting the “cart before the horse” with the pedestrian zone.
The Town is currently working to update its Banff Community Plan, which aims to align with the priorities of residents and build on direction in the most recent rendition of Banff National Park’s management plan.
“Hopefully the community of Banff becomes more aware that planning for the future of Banff needs a new type of careful holistic planning and more meaningful public participation in the planning process to address a variety of intersecting and complex issues,” said Duck.
“Banff needs to come to terms with limits to growth and adopt a new economic model that can address providing a healthy community, ecosystem protection as well as a stable economy that leads to quality of life for its community. Perhaps ecological economics should replace the traditional economic model.”
Coun. Ted Christensen, who opposed the pedestrian zone in January, said the community plan remains a crucial document in assisting municipal decisions on topics such as housing, parking, traffic, street closures and commercial development.
“We haven’t seen our community plan. … I think we should be using that as a guideline, but we haven’t seen it,” he said. “I think had we had that to guide us, there’d be more understanding. The community plan is for the benefit of the whole community. I think the pedestrian zone vote is a piece of the whole picture that’s been growing in its awareness with the housing crisis, traffic dilemmas, but it’s all related to the idea of how much is enough in the community.
“We haven't solved the other associated problems and as was mentioned at some of the public hearings, the elephant in the room is over-tourism.”
Banff Mayor Corrie DiManno said she hopes visitors – many of whom enjoy the pedestrian zone – do not interpret the result of the community’s vote as a comment on visitation.
“We love to welcome visitors and help them with their Rocky Mountain adventures, and we will make it work, with or without the pedestrian zone, and our residents have a shared goal in making sure their visit here is a wonderful experience, and so we’ll continue to do our best to make sure that happens,” she said, adding council would “respect and embrace” the vote.
In email and phone interviews with the Outlook on Tuesday (Aug. 13), Couns. Barb Pelham, Kaylee Ram, Grant Canning and Christensen echoed DiManno's comments on moving forward with the community’s choice.
“It’s clear that residents’ concerns over the ped zone outweigh their love for it," said Pelham. "This presents an opportunity and responsibility of council to prioritize strategies to address those concerns. I am very grateful that we had record participation in the vote.”
“Overall, I’m really thrilled we had a record turnout overall. I give kudos to both sides as well. Everyone worked really hard to ensure people knew that there were advanced poll dates. ... I really do commend both sides for the hard work that both of them put in and the legwork and all the education that they did, and just to see again, a record number of people coming out. I can only hope that that happens for the [2025 municipal] election as well,” said Ram.
Banff and Lake Louise Tourism’s vice president of destination development David Matys said the organization respects the outcome of the vote, though, it was in favour of the pedestrian zone.
“All sides of the discussion have acknowledged that the growth of vehicle traffic needs to be addressed. For our part, we will continue our partnership with the Town of Banff and Parks Canada, encouraging people to visit responsibly and travel car-free. Our message to visitors continues to be that tours, transit, walking and cycling are the best ways to get around and experience Banff,” said Matys.
While Banff and Lake Louise Hospitality Association was also for the pedestrian zone, the association’s new director Mike Kelly said it clearly brought to light other issues important to residents – and visitors – of Banff.
“From our perspective, we’re obviously disappointed with the outcome of the vote, but at the end of the day, we respect the message delivered by the community,” he said.
“There are things we need to dig into and sort out as a community.”
Kelly noted there are likely a large number of businesses equally disappointed with the vote result.
“We’ll have to deal with that and what the outcomes of that are in the coming weeks, months, years, as we go back to the drawing board,” he said.
While it was in place, Kelly said the pedestrian zone proved to be a success story for businesses bolstering economic activity, starting with its inception during the pandemic when businesses – especially restaurants – were struggling to operate and forced to adapt to survive.
Kelly noted the pedestrian zone contributed $140,000 in 2023 in non-tax revenue for the Town to support services that tax dollars would not have otherwise funded.
“We’re one community and it is paramount that we have a thriving economy, that we have a thriving community and can provide an extraordinary experience,” he said.
“The pedestrian zone was a great initiative that checked a lot of those boxes and had its benefits for sure.”
Kelly, who just moved to the Bow Valley in early July, said he was taken aback by the amount of “healthy debate” on the issue and participation in the vote on whether the pedestrian zone should stay or go.
“It’s impressive in terms of the amount of voters that came out. I think we ought to be super grateful and thank everybody who came out to vote,” he said.
“Coming to Banff, it’s a privilege to be here and it’s a privilege to live here. It’s very cool to be in a community that’s engaged the way that this community is.”
- With files from Greg Colgan
The Local Journalism Initiative is funded by the Government of Canada. The position covers Îyârhe (Stoney) Nakoda First Nation and Kananaskis Country.
