CANMORE – A proposal to discourage employee housing in light industrial areas of Canmore will have to wait.
The polarizing issue was postponed at council’s Tuesday (Sept. 3) meeting to allow elected officials time to review all information received at the public hearing, with the bulk of speakers and presenters opposed to restricting such land use.
Coun. Joanna McCallum brought forward the postponement motion – which was unanimously passed – and will have council consider second and third readings at its Nov. 5 meeting.
She noted she wanted to learn more about the implications of possibly changing employee housing to dwelling units, noise applications and safety code requirements of having businesses on the main floor and employee housing above.
“It’s important to our decision-making,” she said of postponing.
The public hearing had 10 speakers – who all spoke in favour of employee housing in light industrial areas – and about a dozen written submissions.
Mayor Sean Krausert echoed McCallum’s comments on better understanding what was brought forward by the public before making a decision.
“People can submit right up until the time of the hearing and there have been some that arrived late that not all of us have had time to see,” he said. “I think it’s important for all of us to digest all of the information received before making a decision.”
At the roughly hour-long public hearing, speakers voiced concerns on the need to look at all options of housing, concerns on lack of engagement, whether second floor space was used for light industrial options and finding ways to encourage employee housing rather than restrict it.
Bow Valley Builders and Developers Association (BOWDA) executive director Ian O’Donnell said employee housing is its members’ greatest concern, with such land uses helping businesses retain staff.
He said it was BOWDA’s belief that employee housing and preserving industrial lands could be achieved, while clearer criteria on why certain industrial districts can have employee housing and not others were needed.
“This is not about cannibalizing future opportunities, but rather backstopping existing Canmore businesses today,” O’Donnell said.
Rachel Ludwig, CEO of Tourism Canmore Kananaskis, echoed O’Donnell’s comments, highlighting the need for businesses to have housing for employees.
She said Canmore Community Housing (CCH) projects such as Palliser Trail and Stewart Creek will help, but are still far off from being completed.
“We have a housing crisis in Canmore and with this housing crisis comes a workforce crisis,” Ludwig said. “Our businesses are struggling to find employees today. … It has the potential to damage our destination reputation with diminishing service levels, which in turn will cause reduced income for staff and owners alike.”
Town staff are recommending employee housing be removed from the light industrial district and general industrial district. The two areas are near Glacier Drive and Elk Run Boulevard and encompass Bow Meadows Crescent.
Additional restrictions would be placed on the southern business district – near the municipal heliport – and the transition industrial district along Industrial Place.
Council previously voted 4-3 last September to have Town staff return with updated policies to discourage employee housing in the municipality’s light industrial areas.
“The proposed amendments change the language in the [Municipal Development Plan] from support if certain criteria can be met, to non-support for new development proposals in industrial areas to the north of the Trans-Canada Highway, and more specific criteria for industrial areas to the south,” stated a staff report.
Rocky Mountain Soap owner Cam Baty told council his company has held off using second floor space in industrial areas until determining its best use, but said their goal is to continue to grow the company, which may mean having employee housing.
He noted it’s rare to have a second floor for industrial use, and while employee housing may not be ideal in industrial areas, it could be key in addressing housing concerns.
“For the viability of our business, I think we need the flexibility,” Baty said. “Hopefully we never have to put employee housing above, but if we do, we need that flexibility.”
Former long-time Canmore Mayor Ron Casey and a property owner in industrial areas noted Boulder Crescent should be re-established as heavy industrial zoning without allowing employee housing.
However, light industrial areas such as Elk Run Boulevard and Bow Meadows Crescent with smaller lots and less intense use could serve as potential necessary housing, he said.
“Instead of looking at ways to inhibit the development of employee housing, we should be doing whatever we can to encourage people to do it,” Casey said. “If there’s one threat to industrial uses in the Bow Valley, it’s employees and [not] getting long-term stable employees is going to kill every one of those small businesses because [they] are depending on people driving from Cochrane on a daily basis.
“For Canmore to offload our housing responsibility to a neighbouring community … when we have the ability to address some of those needs on our own, to me, is irresponsible as a community.”
Dan Sparks, a long-time realtor and former CCH chair, said he had concerns on the redesignation to dwelling units, fearing it could potentially be used in future for market housing. He noted second homeowners are less likely to buy employee housing in a place such as Montane Village “for fear of enforcement … and being tarred and feathered in the public” which may lead to complaints to the Town.
“Throwing these things open to dwelling units will simply make them unaffordable instantly. I understand from an enforceability perspective there’s challenges around that. Those are problems the Town is going to have to deal with and find a way to enforce,” he said.
“It’s not ideal housing, but we need all housing not just perfect housing.”
The transition industrial district and southern business district are proposed to replace the term employee housing with dwelling units above the ground floor. If approved, the staff report states it will shift the district to “more mixed commercial/industrial development that is better suited to support some residential use.”
Harry Shnider, the Town’s manager of planning and development, said switching to dwelling units wasn’t a “silver bullet” but a condominium corporation has been set up at new buildings in the southern industrial district which helps maintain its employee housing land use.
“This is not the Town coming in and saying either you are or aren’t an employee. This is being done at the condo corporation level and it becomes a civil matter, and in my humble opinion, that’s probably the more appropriate place to deal with it,” he said.
Shnider noted the Town has little recourse to enforce if a condo corporation were not as stringent as others in maintaining employee housing for local workers.
“We’re not in the business of parachuting into units and trying to determine if someone meets the definition of an employee or not.”
Employee housing in the town’s light industrial areas has been a polarizing topic for more than two years.
In the area of Bow Meadows Crescent, there are new buildings under construction or recently completed at Alpine Meadows and 121 Bow Meadows Cres., but the majority of any buildings that would be asked to transition to employee housing would need to be retrofitted.
However, housing in the light industrial area near the municipal heliport and Industrial Place is being asked to be permitted due to employee housing units being newly built such as Moose Meadows and housing on Industrial Place.
The new regulation, if approved, would have residential units be no more than 30 per cent of the gross floor area. The dwelling units would be no more than 37-84 square metres, with specific sizing dependent on bachelor, one-, two- or three-bedroom units.
Throughout 2022 and 2023, employee housing in light industrial areas of Canmore became contentious. The Canmore Planning Commission (CPC) and Subdivision and Development Appeal Board (SDAB) each heard multiple applications that received a mixture of approvals and denials.
CPC approved 12 employee housing units in May 2022 at 121 Bow Meadows Cres. and a subsequent July 2023 hearing led to an increase to 15 units.
Two one-bedroom units at 127 Bow Meadows Cres. was approved by SDAB last February. A well-attended May SDAB hearing had more than 30 people in attendance and 16 businesses and individuals spoke in support of employee housing at 100 Alpine Meadows. SDAB ruled against Basecamp Resorts proposal for 12 second floor employee housing units to add 34 bedrooms.
