Editor:
Banff is a special place located in Banff National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. According to the Banff incorporation agreement and the Banff community plan, the town is intended to function as a “visitor service center”, serving visitors who have come to experience the national park and all that it offers. The Town is not intended to be an attraction in itself. Current administration and, most council members, have forgotten the context within which the town is expected to operate.
We have a legislated boundary and consequently limits to growth. The townsite cannot expand unless the federal government abandons the concept of ecological integrity and enlarges the boundary.
Town administration has said we have a serious housing crisis and a perpetual parking problem. Solutions are complex and we should not complicate them further by establishing a permanent pedestrian zone on Banff Avenue every summer.
This requires additional staff who require accommodation that we do not have, forcing them to live in squalid cramped conditions. Commercial traffic is diverted to residential streets, and emergency response is compromised. Parking lots are required for the day trippers who come to have a photo at the Banff sign and wander the townsite. Very few arrive by public transport and so we have an increased environmental impact as well.
Visitors who come to experience the Park have accommodation and parking in hotels and campgrounds, they do not need intercept parking lots. We have reached a commercial growth cap so it is not likely that these numbers will rise significantly in the future.
The constant growth ethos of the current establishment and the burgeoning pedestrian zone means this will only become worse, requiring more staff, more parking, more crowding, more, more, more.
Please vote no in the coming referendum and help to reduce the burgeoning congestion.
Rick Kunelius,
Banff
