BANFF – Proposals to increase density in residential neighbourhoods as a way to deal with Banff’s housing shortfall are going to a public hearing in June.
Council has passed first reading of a land use bylaw amendment to increase residential density, with a fundamental shift in philosophy centred around the number of dwellings on a site rather than what form they take.
Some of the key changes include a tiered approach to the maximum allowable floor area for development based on the number of units on a site, fourplexes would be allowed in low-density districts and four-storey buildings would be allowed in high-density areas.
Darren Enns, director of planning and environment for the Town of Banff, said bylaw 483 is meant to create new housing through residential density.
“At the end of the day, I think it’s important to remember that this is about creating housing and homes for Banffites,” said Enns during a council meeting Monday (March 25).
“This is about addressing our housing shortfall.”
Currently, Banff’s 24 distinct residential land use districts – though some boundaries are proposed to change under a separate bylaw – all have different development requirements.
The plan is to keep the 24 districts but group them into low-, medium- and high-density.
Enns said the proposed bylaw standardizes and simplifies development regulations and would apply the same development regulations for districts in the same density categories.
“Sometimes that means making larger changes for those districts. Sometimes it’s very incremental in nature,” he said.
For example, neighbourhoods that encompass Spray Avenue south of the Bow River, and riverfront areas along Bow Avenue and parts of Buffalo Street closer to the downtown core would go from low-density to medium-density, whereas the Cougar-Squirrel land use district would move from the medium-density fold to high-density.
Another large change is the North Central district (RNC) east of Banff Avenue.
“Starting north of the river east of Banff Avenue you used to see density drop off very quickly as you moved up the slopes of Tunnel Mountain,” Enns said.
“The RNC is proposed to enlarge and grow up the slopes of Tunnel Mountain, so it gets quite a bit larger and that brings medium-density up to the slopes of Tunnel Mountain.”
One of the bigger changes in lower density neighbourhoods is that fourplexes would be allowed as a permitted use. Duplexes will continue to be permitted, with single-family homes and assisted living dwellings discretionary.
Enns said every district in town, including lower density neighbourhoods, has allowed for duplex housing with two accessory dwellings for a total of four units for the past 12 years.
“If you’re suggesting fourplex from duplex is a big change, I am just highlighting that we’ve allowed four units on a site for the last 12 years,” he said.
“We don’t really see it as that significant of a change in terms of the number of units.”
Enns said building one single home on any residential site in Banff would no longer be allowed.
“In practice, this hasn’t occurred in the last 12 years,” said Enns, noting single-family homes built in that time have included accessory suites for example.
“A single-family house with a suite is just as effective as a duplex.”
The lower density housing types like single-detached housing and duplex housing are still allowable as discretionary uses in the high- and medium-density districts to ensure they don’t become non-conforming uses.
Under the proposed new bylaw, the maximum floor area ratio permitted will be based on a tiered approach, meaning more floor area is allowed when more homes are provided.
“If you provide more dwellings, you get more FAR (floor area patio),” said Enns. “It’s meant to be a give-and-take process to induce more units to be constructed.”
Maximum building heights would also change, with high-density districts going from the current maximum height of 11.5 metres to 14.5 m.
“It’s proposed to be an additional a floor of height. That’s three-storey to four-storey difference in these districts,” said Enns.
Enns said the maximum building height was 14 m before 1992, pointing to areas such as Cougar Street.
“We already have these buildings. This isn’t about doing something new … when we fear density, I would suggest it’s already with us,” he said.
“Even when we think about what we think of as our lowest density districts we can find row homes, stacked row homes, we can find all sorts of housing types.”
Medium-density districts would see a maximum height of 11.5 m, which equates to about three storeys and low-density height maxed at 10 m.
Enns said the typical height in the medium-density areas is currently about two-and-a-half storeys, though there is variability.
“So you’re looking at about half a storey change for several of these districts; now, that’s not uniform,” he said.
“In some districts, your existing height is 10 metres, and so you’re really only seeing 1.5 metres change, but for other districts it might be eight metres right now so you’re seeing about a full storey change.”
The new bylaw also proposes to cap the number of bedrooms for all housing types to six per dwelling.
“This is meant to make sure that your unit doesn’t have some kind of untenable number of bedrooms associated with it,” said Enns.
“There is no cap on the number of people in a dwelling unit. That’s only set by Alberta Health Services and it’s also something that’s very hard to regulate from a land use bylaw perspective, so we use bedrooms as a proxy for people.”
As part of the bylaw, accessory dwellings such as basement suites would also be contemplated in association with triplex and fourplex housing. Currently, accessory dwellings are limited to single detached and duplex housing
“They would be a permitted use in all residential districts,” said Enns.
Coun. Hugh Pettigrew said neighbourhood character is going to come up in density discussions, particularly in areas that will allow for four-storey buildings.
He said the proposed bylaw is going to be a game-changer in terms of Banff’s housing future.
“It affects us all and I hope residents, businesses and folks come in to have their say,” he said. “I hope this process allows us to get it right going forward.”
Mayor Corrie DiManno said 98.5 per cent of residential properties in Banff currently contain housing.
“We know that we have a fixed land boundary and there are no other options but to look inward for innovative and creative solutions,” she said.
She said the next step for this bylaw is a public hearing so there can be a community-wide converation.
“I implore residents to have an open mind and an open heart as they engage in this process,” said the mayor.
“It will take all of us working together and sharing a vision to help address our housing crisis.”
The public hearing will take place June 10. Also that day are public hearings for the proposed bylaw to eliminate minimum residential parking requirements and a bylaw to group land use districts into low-, medium- and high-density.
Banff’s $4.6 million from the federal Housing Accelerator Fund is tied to the bylaws and requires the Town of Banff to issue permits for 240 new homes prior to Jan. 29, 2027.
