| Construction sites line the road into Canmore, where pseudo-rustic hotels are interspersed with fast-food restaurants and chunks of missing pavement. Once a small coal-mining town, Canmore’s transformation into a resort hub has spurred rapid growth and a rising population that could reach 25,000 before the town runs out of room to expand. The development is pushing out the town’s core population, damaging wildlife habitat and starting to tarnish the small-town charm that once lured people here.
André Gareau, a former Parks Canada interpreter, moved to Canmore in 1994 and was elected to town council in 2000. Since he first arrived, he’s watched the town’s population grow to 16,000 from 6,000. "Development isn’t always consistent with building a sustainable community," he says. "There are a lot of challenges that weren’t there when I moved here."
While the town is growing by 25 per cent every year, almost all those people are secondary homeowners who only live in the town part of the year. As a result, housing prices are skyrocketing out of the reach of many of Canmore’s permanent residents, he says. Young people in particular are leaving because they can’t afford a place to live.
What’s more, the crunch will be even stronger in a few years’ time when the town finishes growing. One-third of the town’s permanent population currently works in the construction industry. "In 15 or 20 years, once we reach build-out, most of those jobs will be gone," says Gareau. "It’s going to be a stress for young families."
On the town’s main street, construction workers pour cement for a new restaurant patio, and cranes tower a few blocks away. On one corner stands Rusticana Grocery, one of the few local businesses that has survived from Canmore’s days as a sleepy mountain retreat. Linda Cooper, the store’s owner, grew up in the valley and has watched the town change in front of her.
"There’s no community anymore," she says. "People used to meet at the post office and stand around and talk, but now you walk down the street and you don’t see anyone you know." Local businesses are being squeezed out by a rise in real estate prices, says Cooper, and the arrival of chain stores like Safeway and Sobey’s has made it harder for Rusticana to compete. While high-end coffee shops and souvenir stores have set up on the main street, those selling goods like clothing are disappearing.
A shortage of workers is also taking its toll on Canmore businesses, she says. A sign on a café across the street warns that the business might close unexpectedly because there aren’t enough employees. "I never would’ve thought it would grow like this. To see $1 million homes is mind-boggling," says Cooper. "The old Canmore is gone."
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Following a hiking trail to the south side of town, the path passes over the Bow River and loops around recently built neighbourhoods before heading into the dense forest. On the mountainside ahead is a break in the woods. Clusters of suburban houses poke up out of the clearcut, screened from the town by pine trees.
"It sticks out like a sore thumb," says Jim Pissot, a Canmore resident and executive director of Friends of Wildlife Canada. Between the town and the mountains, wildlife has little room to get through the valley. And developments like that suburb sit directly in their path. The town has tried to set aside wildlife corridors on either side of town, he says, but has allowed golf courses and a luxury resort to spring up in the middle of them. What’s more, humans use the corridors for recreation, competing with animals for space.
"You have the non-negotiable needs of animals coming up against the very negotiable needs of people," says Pissot. The clash between these needs can have dangerous consequences, including the death of Isabelle Dubé, who was mauled by a grizzly bear while jogging outside the town two years ago.
Canmore has reached this point by not planning for development in advance, says Pissot. While the town considers wildlife needs when approving new projects, it usually reaches a compromise between the desires of developers and the needs of animals. The net effect is to chip away at the space wildlife needs to pass through the valley, he says. "We could be a showcase of how to deal with development, but instead developers in other towns are saying, ‘don’t worry, we’re not gonna be like Canmore,’" he says.
However, the town is working to minimize all the problems created by its runaway development. The town council is building 32 units of affordable housing to stop workers from leaving. "It’s pretty much going to be available to all employees in Canmore. We need these people," says Cleo Prellwith, director of Canmore Community Housing Corporation. The houses are available to anyone who works in the town and spends more than a third of their income on rent. In the current conditions, she estimates this represents 1,000 households in the town. Town council will review the program and she hopes they’ll decide to build more units.
The town sells or leases the units to families who then have to sell the unit back to the town in order to keep the housing affordable. The quality of the units is on par with other new developments and doesn’t look different than the other condos and houses in town, she says.
Gareau says that the town wants to slow down the pace of growth and lower the proportion of secondary homeowners. Environmental concerns are a top priority, he says, noting that council has turned down a development that wasn’t up to snuff. "We make developers justify the benefits of their development," he says. "We have to manage growth, not just absorb it."
Driving out of town, Canmore resembles a Calgary suburb, with stucco-faced houses lining quiet streets. Like the metropolis to the east, the town is grappling with the problems entailed by rapid growth. However, the small-town feel is still there, says Gareau, and it’s the town’s job to make sure it stays that way. "You’ve always got that community friendliness and volunteerism that comes from our history as a coal-mining town," he says. "But the future holds a lot of questions." |
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