The clock has hit midnight for the popular Banff sign on Mount Norquay Road.
Banff’s governance and finance committee approved a budget item for $80,000 in 2025 and a $200,000 placeholder for 2026 to relocate the sign to near the train station lands.
The sign was installed in 2017 to gain tourists’ attention as they came into the townsite, but it quickly became a victim of its own success.
Designed to be interactive, it grew to be one of the most popular tourist spots in the mountain community.
“My perception is the reason council requested a relocation of the sign was primarily due to the inventive driving behaviour of vehicles that wanted to access the sign and some of the challenges, or perceived challenges, that it created for our residents and visitors,” said Darren Enns, the Town’s director of planning and environment.
“The primary challenge, as we understood, was to mitigate those driving behaviours … If we were to leave the sign in its current location and a north intercept lot was created, our perception was you would have increased vehicular activity on that corridor. There would be more stalls available, more people would seek out those parking stalls.”
Enns highlighted the inbound driving split between Mount Norquay Road and Banff Avenue has traditionally been 50/50, but with greater awareness of the train station intercept lot it has shifted 60/40 in favour of Mount Norquay Road.
“If behaviours don’t change and the sign remains, then you might find the number of opportunistic drivers making bad choices would logically increase and you might not have solved the problem you sought to solve,” he said.
Several traffic calming initiatives were introduced between 2017 and 2019 such as planters in the median, a pedestrian crossing between the Fenlands recreation centre and the sign and several signs directing people where to park.
Enns noted the new sign would be relocated on Town-licenced land next to the train station by Mountain Goat Lane and the entrance to the intercept lot.
He highlighted Liricon Capital, the proponent of the Railway Lands area redevelopment plan (ARP), offered to pay for capital and operating costs associated with the installation of the sign near the railway lands.
He noted Liricon, which also owns Mount Norquay Ski Resort, were anxious to move forward with the work as partners with the Town in the summer of 2025.
“That’s their working timeline right now,” Enns said.
In 2020, the past council decided against moving the sign, ultimately looking at ways to improve public safety in the area with tourists frequently rushing across Mount Norquay Road to get photos with the popular sign.
In the past, areas such as Sundance Park – formerly known as the recreation grounds – Central Park, and the 200 block of Banff Avenue were discussed by council as options for a new placement.
Throughout the years of discussion, public safety has been at the crux of the council conversation. The placeholder is designed to see how the ARP implementation occurs, Enns said.
He said they learned last week Parks Canada had started a strategic environmental assessment on the Railway Lands ARP.
“We want to make sure we’re prudent in understanding how much investment on Norquay Road north of the tracks knowing there’s a large capital project from the private sector going in right next door.”
Council directed Town staff earlier in the year to return to service review with a budget request to remove and relocate the sign.
The sign would be removed from its existing location and installed at the new train station location. The rundle rock base at the Mount Norquay Road site would be demolished and the location resurfaced with minimal site restoration.
A motion from Coun. Hugh Pettigrew to push back the project to 2026 and 2027 failed 5-2, with Pettigrew and Coun. Ted Christensen in support.
Pettigrew said his concern was the timeline of Parks Canada making a decision on the Railway Lands ARP and the sign relocation was “too ambitious from when it’s going to happen.”
“I don’t see the ARP and construction of the lands where this is going to reside in the timeframe of 2025-26. I think it’s prudent to wait until 2027 and I think it’ll be a reality.”
Mayor Corrie DiManno said the relocated is being sought due to council direction. “We’ve had this conversation every service review since we got elected. … We’re really lucky to have someone ready to fund the relocation piece and I think that’s really important. If we were to stall that out, we may lose that very generous offer and that concerns me,” she said.
Coun. Grant Canning said he felt the ultimate reason for moving it was to address public safety and traffic congestion concerns in the area.
“This isn’t just about moving a sign, but addressing congestion, public safety and other issues that already currently exist in that site,” he said. “By pushing it a year later, I assume that means we’ll continue to have those same issues for another summer. … This is also about the public safety issues created by that site and I have real concerns about the public safety because quite frankly, we’ve all witnessed them and we know what the problems are.”
