BANFF – Residents descended on the steps of Town Hall in Banff to peacefully protest a controversial decision to keep the downtown pedestrian zone without first addressing traffic nightmares and stronger emergency evacuation planning.
Armed with signs and placards, about 30 residents went to Town Hall on Monday afternoon (Jan. 8) to ask council to walk back its decision to continue with the car-free pedestrian zone on the 100 and 200 block of Banff Avenue into the future.
“It has very, very negative impacts on some residents,” said resident Leslie Taylor, who is also Banff’s first mayor and a former town councillor.
“Please solve the problems with traffic congestion in the residential areas and with our emergency evacuation routes before reinstating the pedestrian zone.”
Signs read: “Want to burn? In your car?”, “Keep our evacuation route open”, “Manage traffic flow before closing Banff Avenue”, “You’re driving us crazy”, “Prioritize residents”, “Equity for businesses”, “What is the exit plan”, “Save our residential neighbourhoods”, among others.
Mary Buckingham, who has lived in Banff since 1974 and currently lives on the 100 block of Muskrat Street, which sees heavier traffic as a result of the pedestrian zone, echoed many of the same concerns as Taylor and others at the protest.
“I just don’t want to see them closing Banff Avenue without proper consideration of all the parameters,” she said.
“Right now, the way it is, we have no good way for trucks or tour buses to get through Banff… there’s no consideration of the way it impacts the people who live there.”
Buckingham said she also witnesses buses and trucks regularly idling at the intersection by Cascade House – a functionally independent seniors lodge – making it impossible for them to keep windows open.
“A number of our elderly folk live there, and the diesel fumes are terrible because the big vehicles idle there while they're trying to get around the corner,” she said.
Vehicles speeding down the residential side streets is also not uncommon, said Buckingham, noting the speed limit is 30-km/h.
“If somebody's coming in at 40-50-60 kilometres an hour down the street, and I stick my nose out, sometimes they could whack me, I’m pretty careful, but…,” she said.
Protester gather at Banff Town Hall to voice their opinions against the downtown pedestrian zone before a council meeting. (Monday, Jan. 8) pic.twitter.com/zwrPtUdWWa
— Matthew Thompson (@Matthewthomp_) January 8, 2024
A safe evacuation route being blocked by the pedestrian zone is also a concern for Buckingham and many of her fiends, particularly for residents on the south side of the Bow River who need to get across the vehicle bridge.
“They’ve been doing lots to mitigate the fire danger, but if there was a fire coming along the valley like that one that came through Waterton, you know, that gave them hardly any notice,” she said.
“Would we get all those people from the south side of the river evacuated? It’s hard to say.”
Following a nine-hour meeting in mid-December, Banff’s elected officials voted 5-2 to close the 100 and 200 block of Banff Avenue to cars each year, beginning on the May Long weekend to the end of the Thanksgiving weekend.
The decision isn't final until budget is passed, which is expected to happen as early as Wednesday (Jan. 10).
In 2020, the pedestrian zone was created in response to the COVID-19 pandemic to give space for pedestrians to social distance, and also allow for businesses to use public space in order to offset financial impacts from public health measures.
The pedestrian zone continued as a pilot supporting economic recovery and returning visitation in 2022 and 2023 post-pandemic.
It is estimated there are about 30,000 pedestrians on most days downtown.
Mayor Corrie DiManno, who has voiced strong support for the pedestrian zone, addressed the crowed of peaceful protesters Monday afternoon.
Earlier in the day, the mayor said she welcomes anyone wanting to talk to council about any topic in the community.
“The pedestrian zone has obviously been one that folks are super passionate about,” she said.
“We saw that on Dec. 18, and I think we’re going to continue to see that.”
Seniors outlined concerns about traffic issues, public safety, air quality and congestion.
Taylor said the pedestrian zone simply moves the traffic troubles from Banff Avenue, where tourists visit for a few days, to nearby residential streets, where residents live year-round.
“The traffic is not going away. It’s being moved to where it doesn't bother the tourists, the visitors, but it does bother the residents, and it’s a lot of traffic,” she said.
In addition, Taylor said residents have concerns about the pedestrian zone plugging the most important evacuation route.
If council is determined to move ahead, she said graders should be stationed at Central Park all summer long so street furniture can be swept out of the pedestrian zone to open up the evacuation route in the event of a wildfire.
“Maybe we will have lots of warning, but everything that we've seen in recent years shows us that maybe we won’t,” said Taylor, referring to wildfires such as Lahaina, Maui; Lytton, B.C.; and Fort McMurray, Alta.
“I hear from other people, especially people who live on the other side of the bridge, about their concerns about how evacuation could happen, and putting a plug in the route is just adding to that concern”
The Town of Banff plans to ask Parks Canada consider to implement traffic and parking management solutions, such as paid parking as one example, at Sulphur Mountain Gondola and Upper Hot Springs to dissuade drivers taking private vehicles through town, and residential neighbourhoods.
This option was identified in a Parks Canada-struck expert panel report on moving people sustainable throughout Banff National Park.
The Town of Banff is also investigating the feasibility of a parking reservation system within the tourist town to ease overcrowding and congestion during peak summer days.
Discussion is in the very preliminary stages of what essentially would amount to a cap on private vehicles, but council voted 4-2 to at least examine the possibility and report back on findings during the annual service review at the end of 2024.
Taylor, who is a member of the current Banff Community Plan steering committee, said she supports looking into this.
While it won’t solve all problems, she said it could help to establish a number of vehicles to be accommodated in town through a daily reservation system.
“If we decide that there are X number of vehicles related to people who have hotel reservations and there’s Y number of vehicles related to deliveries and other business purposes within the town and then above and beyond that we feel we can handle Z number of vehicles, whatever that is, then we could have an online reservation system by licence plate, where you sign up for the opportunity to bring your private vehicle into the town of Banff on a particular day,” she said.
“That's just a very rough idea of how something like that could work.”
Many other other cities around the world, such as London, England, do this by way of high congestion charges.
“I think a congestion charge is the wrong approach for Banff. We are a town in a national park and we shouldn’t be creating a financial obstacle to people, but we could set a capacity and say, 'OK, this is all we can deal with now,'” she said.
“That’s only a small part, and that would not be a complete solution, because you still have the problems of semis and buses running down residential streets, but it’s part of the solution whether we have a ped zone or not.”
