CANMORE – Major changes are in the works for Canmore’s visitor information centre and that could include shutting down the municipal campground.
Over the past several years the province of Alberta, which owns the entire section of land situated between Bow Valley Trail and the Trans-Canada Highway at the west end of the community, has been working on a new master plan for the site.
While details remain scant, it could affect Tourism Canmore Kananaskis (TCK), which is contracted by the province to run the information centre, and the Town of Canmore, which leases the land for Wapiti Campground.
“Basically it is a high level visionary master plan to determine how best to use that chunk of land and how to improve on the services there,” said Chris Heseltine, assistant deputy minister for Alberta culture and tourism.
“The master plan looks at the site to address concerns and issues building up over the years.”
The Canmore visitor information centre is among 10 other centres across Alberta that provide information to visitors, and according to Heseltine, Canmore’s is the busiest.
He attributed its increased use to the development of the Legacy Trail.
A major access point to the popular trail is adjacent to the visitor information centre on the Bow Valley Trail and can be taken to get to and from Banff. Plans are in the works to extend it to Lake Louise and the Canmore Nordic Centre.
The popularity of the trail has led to parking congestion and the province has even contracted parking management services in the summer during busy weekends.
Heseltine said on busy summer weekends, the visitor information centre is maxed out in terms of capacity and space, with buses, cars and RVs in the parking lot. The washrooms and are also at capacity.
He said the plan also aims to address problems with how the overall site functions, including the sanitation dump for RV travellers.
The master plan was approved as part of the 2016-17 budget, which included $98,000. In January provincial officials presented the draft plan to stakeholders in the community.
“It was presented as a draft at that point, but it still has a lot of work that has to be done moving it forward,” Heseltine said. “Infrastructure is working with the Town right now on a couple of land use issues in general.”
Alberta Infrastructure owns the land occupied by the visitor information centre, as well as the adjacent property leased to the municipality as a campground.
Exploring options for the information centre includes considering how those additional lands could be incorporated into the master plan, said Heseltine.
General manager of municipal infrastructure for the Town Michael Fark said Canmore has been looking at renewing its lease for that site, but has been told that process is under review.
“The Town has been involved in the discussions of the conceptual design for the future of the visitor information centre,” Fark said. “We have not had an explicit discussion on the future of the campground and implications for it. That is something that will happen at a future date.”
Heseltine said once the master plan is complete, the government will look at the business case before investing capital into a major project on those lands.
“This is the busiest visitor information centre in the province and we are working closely with our key industry stakeholders in terms of economic development at the Town of Canmore and Tourism Canmore Kananaskis,” he said.
TCK executive director Dave Rodney said he looks forward to seeing how the process to create a new plan for the visitor information centre turns out.
“We want to help plan for the best possible experiences for both visitors and locals alike going forward for the visitor information centre and the campground,” Rodney said.
While TCK operates the centre, it is also undertaking its own future strategic planning process as the community’s destination marketing organization. Rodney said two open house sessions have been planned for Nov. 1 and 28 for the community to provide input into the future of TCK.
