Drill Baby Drill? November Updates
Social Media Campaign: Our social media campaign is gathering steam! Our Facebook and Instagram pages are active, and we are building awareness of the proposal and what you can do to help prevent it. Please visit our pages, follow us, and like/share our posts!
We have Lawn Signs and Posters! Protecting our Futures’ lawn signs are popping up all over town, demonstrating just how concerned people are about the proposed development. If you would like one for your property or business, please email us at protectingourfutures@gmail.com and we will arrange to get one to you (we’d appreciate a small donation to help us defray printing costs of approximately $10 per sign). We are especially keen to get lawn signs up outside of Rundleview to encourage Canmore residents who know of and use the greenspace to make their views known and to raise awareness of the proposed hotel and spa among all Canmore residents. We also have posters available. If you’d like to get a poster or two up at a public location, please let us know by sending an email to protectingourfutures@gmail.com, and we can arrange to provide you with posters we already have printed.
Drill Baby Drill? As many of you have observed, core drilling is taking place on the Rundleview greenspace. Rest assured, this activity does not mean the development is approved. Far from it; the developer has yet to submit an application for the hotel and spa. We understand that the drilling is taking place as a preliminary step by the developer to determine if the site is suitable and economic for development given the undermining risks. Once the developer evaluates the result, if they decide to proceed the information is to be submitted to the Town and Province to review before any development can proceed.
As noted, based on our recent discussions with the Town, the developer has not submitted a development application to the Town. Once that occurs the Town will need to consider its recommendation to Council and then a public hearing must occur before development starts.
We have been monitoring the drilling activity closely and have engaged with Alberta Environment and Protected spaces concerning the drilling and safety practices employed by the Contractor.
Council Greenspace Visit: On November 10th, members of Protecting our Futures took the Mayor and four members of Council (Wade Graham, Jeff Hilstad, Jeff Mah and Jen Marran) to visit the site and on November 25th, we took out the remaining two Council Members (Tanya Foubert and Rob Murray). Our objective was to show them this land is special for both the two- and the four-legged community. We believe it was beneficial to show the greenspace to Council to help familiarize them with its mining history and how it is used today. We were also able to demonstrate its proximity to the Georgetown-Quarry Lake Wildlife Corridor and Quarry Lake Local Habitat Patch, as well as to describe the role it plays providing habitat for wildlife, offering connectivity for the movement of wildlife between Banff National Park and Kananaskis and acting as a buffer between the adjacent corridor and habitat page and the neighbourhoods of Rundleview and Hospital Hill.
Voices of Canmore
We are gathering short video clips of people who are passionate about seeing the Rundleview greenspace remain protected. We will be adding these to the website, posting them on social media and sending them out through our newsletter. If you are not camera shy and would like to talk about why preserving this land is important, please email us at protectingourfutures@gmail.com.
Please Take Action
We appreciate your commitment to staying informed through our updates. One of our goals is to significantly increase the number of signatures on our petition to ensure a strong, unified voice when we present our concerns to Council. We are working hard to get as many signatures as possible. If you oppose the location of the proposed hotel and spa, we invite you to add your name to the petition on our website: Protecting our Futures Take Action.
Now is also great time to write a letter to the editor of the Rocky Mountain Outlook to express your view. Check out the recent letter by Max Elliott: Letter to the Editor
Please learn more about the proposal, sign our petition, donate, discuss your concerns with Town Councillors and share information about the proposed development with your family, friends and neighbours.
If this development is sent to Council for approval, we will let you know the date of the first reading so that you can attend and let council know that you are concerned about this development. At first reading residents are not provided the opportunity to speak, however our presence will be important to demonstrate the concern of the community. Our opportunity to present our views to Council is to occur at a public hearing before the second reading. Because the developer has not submitted a proposal thus it will likely be a few months before it reaches Council.
Outreach Activities and Livability in Contested Spaces Talk
Greetings Protecting our Futures Supporters!
We are writing with an update on our outreach activities as well as with the promised link to the Joe Pavelka talk, and a summary of our perspectives on that talk.
Outreach Activities:
Protecting our Futures has started a Voices of Canmore project where we will be asking Canmore residents their thoughts about the proposed development, what the land means to them and posting the interviews on social media. Our first voice was Bob Janes Voices of Canmore - Bob Janes. Bob does a superb job of expressing the concerns that many of us share about this development. If you are interested in adding your voice to this project, please let us know (protectingourfutures@gmail.com) and we’ll arrange to do a video.
We will also be launching a social media campaign shortly. Please visit, like and follow our pages on Facebook and Instagram.
You may have seen us on Rundleview Drive and at Quarry Lake parking area recently (Outreach at Quarry Lake Photo, courtesy of RK Media). Our goal was to organize to raise awareness of the hotel and spa proposal. The vast majority of people we spoke to were very distressed about the proposal and willing to Take Action to help preserve the green space. When weather permits, we will hold more of these personal outreach events as they are a terrific way to connect with people. If you’d like to volunteer for one of these events, please contact us at protectingourfutures@gmail.com.
Protecting our Futures has lawn signs! If you would like a lawn sign, please e-mail us at protectingourfutures@gmail.com, and we will arrange to get one to you (we’d appreciate a small donation to help us defray printing costs of approximately $10 per sign). We are particularly keen to get lawn signs up outside of Rundleview to raise awareness of the proposed hotel and spa among residents elsewhere in Canmore.
And don’t forget, we have an online petition that you can sign at Protecting our Futures Take Action!
Dr. Joe Pavelka Talk “Livability in Contested Spaces”
As promised in our last newsletter here is a link Dr. Joe Pavelka's Livability in Contested Spaces talk that we organized in June of this year. Scroll down below the video for a link to his slides as well as a timeline of the presentation contents.
Our Take on the Talk:
Protecting our Futures supporters who viewed the talk had the following key takeaways:
Canmore and Banff together form a gateway community. Banff serves primarily as a tourist centre (with tourist revenues that dwarf those of Canmore), while Canmore is a residential community.
Canmore has experienced a high level of amenity migration, with people moving here to enjoy a higher quality of life and access to natural amenities. The number of tourists visiting Canmore continues to grow, resulting in the community becoming a “contested space,” with a mix of long-time residents, new full-time residents, part-time residents, and tourists. Both increased residency and rising tourism present challenges for Canmore.
Tourism tends to be less disruptive to a community when residents and visitors occupy distinct areas, such as the Banff Avenue tourist area. In Canmore, this separation is more difficult to achieve. The tourist areas here are located along Bow Valley Trail, Spring Creek, the town centre commercial area, Silvertip resort area, and the Three Sisters Mountain Village resort area. The residential areas are the balance of Canmore. It is important that we continue to recognize these designated areas within the Municipal Development Plan rather than building in random locations such as the proposed hotel and spa development.
Protecting our Futures believes that placing a hotel and spa immediately adjacent to a residential neighbourhood is highly inappropriate. We leave it to the developers to determine if there is a viable business case for another hotel and spa in an area already designated for them, but they should not be constructed on “Community Open Space and Recreation” land.
Adverse impacts of development occur on trails, non-urban areas, backcountry regions, and wildlife habitats. As the community grows, trails and habitat get pushed outward, affecting the natural environment. And demand leads to supply; for example, the popularity of local trails attracts more hikers and bikers, which in turn increases the demand for more trails, perpetuating the cycle.
If we don’t support rational and appropriate development, the result will be less natural space and diminished wild areas. These impacts threaten the very qualities that attract people to Canmore, and we risk losing the identity of a small mountain town.
Planning should begin with a discussion about priorities, and then Canmore should build plans, policies, and infrastructure accordingly. Joe asked us to consider under what conditions increased tourism would be acceptable to us. He provided some examples of host communities’ “as long as” caveats, such as we want tourism “as long as” we can manage visitation with sustained corridors, “as long as” we can enhance the lives of those not directly involved in tourism, or “as long as” we retain more dollars (taxes) for our destination.
What is your “as long as”?
Voices of Canmore - Bob Janes
We recently spoke with Bob Janes about his thoughts on the proposed hotel and spa development. Bob is a longtime resident of Rundleview and is an archaeologist, museum director and author. He articulates clearly what many of us are thinking and feeling about the proposal. Listen to the interview here Bob Janes Interview.
We are looking for more people to speak about why the Rundleview Greenspace is important, and what their thoughts about the development are. If you are interested in being a “Voice of Canmore”, please email us at protectingourfutures.org. Whether you want to speak for 30 seconds or three minutes, we are interested in hearing from you.
Election Day is Monday, October 20th, Please Get out and Vote!
Some of you have asked about our thoughts on who to vote for in tomorrow’s election.
We are not endorsing any candidates. Regardless of who wins, Protecting our Futures will work constructively with the new council.
We suggest everybody does their own research on the candidates to make an informed decision on voting day. Consider who you think: (1) will be most inclined to protect the town's remaining open space and to uphold both the Municipal Development Plan and BCEAG Guidelines (Bow Corridor Ecosystem Advisory Group), and (2) could do a good job of managing the development pressures the town is facing.
None of the candidates were willing/able to express an opinion on the proposed hotel/spa development due to the process involved in changing Canmore’s Municipal Development Plan. Of the candidates we’ve met, Wade Graham, Jeff Hilstad, Jeff Mah, Karen Marra, Javan Mukhtarov, Rob Murray and Ed Russell struck many of us as being the most attuned to the challenges and impacts that development and tourism growth have on Canmore, and as putting greater focus on maintaining greenspace and livability in Canmore.
We would like to thank the candidates who, in an effort to show transparency, have willingly disclosed their campaign donor lists: Tanya Foubert, Wade Graham, Jeff Hilstad, Sean Krausert, Jeff Mah, Rob Murray and Javan Mukhtarov.
Some useful links:
https://www.canmore.ca/your-government/council/elections/meet-the-candidates
https://canmorealberta.com/canmore-stories/2025-canmore-town-council-elections-key-issues-candidates
https://www.youtube.com/live/r3sTHIiLvTM?si=fG-veMGeB3GaZYxT
https://www.youtube.com/live/MVOKj8gl_34?si=X-CLlmlmaED2M29l
Candidates’ websites and/or email addresses:
Sean Krausert: seankrausert.ca , seankrausert@gmail.com
Ed Russell: votefored2025@gmail.com
Laura Findlay: hardwarelaura.com
Tanya Foubert: tanyafoubert.com info@tanyafoubert.com
Wade Graham: wadegraham.ca wadeforcanmore@gmail.com
Jonathon Hazzard: votejonathanhazzard.ca jwhazzardcanmore2025@gmail.com
Jeff Hilstad: votejeffhilstad.ca info@votejeffhilstad.ca
Jeff Mah: jeffmah.com jaydubmah@gmail.com
Karen Marra: Karenmarra2025@hotmail.com
Jen Marran: jenmarran.ca jen@jenmarran.ca
Javan Mukhtarov: javanmukhtarov.ca javanmukhtarov@gmail.com
Rob Murray: robmurrayforcanmore.substack.com robmurrayforcanmore@outlook.com
Rob Seeley: robseeley4canmore.ca
James Strickert: jstrickert@gmail.com
It’s Election Time - Get Engaged!
September 2025 Newsletter
What’s Happening with the Spa and Hotel Proposal?
According to the developers’ website, the project remains in the “Engagement & Policy Development Phase”. It appears that no new technical reports have been added to the developer’s website since its last community engagement session in December 2024, and no proposal has been submitted to the Town of Canmore yet.
We are uncertain about when the public hearing on the development will take place, but with the coming election, it is important to have candidates express their views on whether the community benefits of the proposed development would justify the required changes to the Municipal Development Plan for this project to proceed.
Our assessment is that the proposed site is not appropriate for this development. The lands are designated as Community Open Space and Recreation, and should remain so.
Get Engaged - It’s Election Time!
On October 20th, municipal elections will take place in Alberta. In Canmore, all but one of the incumbents (Joanna McCallum) will be running again for office. You can find the full list of candidates at: Canmore Register of Candidates.
There are currently five all candidates' events scheduled, with details for each available on the Town of Canmore’s Meet the Candidates page. We encourage you to attend at least one of these events to ask questions about candidates’ views on changing the Municipal Development Plan to allow the proposed spa and hotel development. The Forum on the Environment hosted by the Biosphere Institute on September 29th may be of particular interest.
Here are some questions you may want to ask candidates regarding the proposed spa and hotel with some background to help you have a dialogue on the issue with the candidate:
Question: Would you support amending the land designation in Canmore’s Municipal Development Plan from Community Open Space and Recreation to a Direct Control District in order allow a hotel/spa or other development to be constructed in the lands adjacent to a habitat patch, a wildlife corridor and the Rundleview neighborhood? What do you think the benefits and costs of approving this change would be – to the community and to wildlife?
Background:
Ø Under the current designation, the lands are to function as public spaces and key informal meeting places for the community and are a foundational part of our Town; they were never intended for commercial, resort or tourist development
Ø Any benefit to the community from the hotel and spa would result if it was developed elsewhere, on land already designated within the Municipal Development Plan for this type of commercial resort
Ø Other community costs include increased traffic on the Spray Lakes road, which already becomes congested on the weekends due to traffic going to and from Quarry Lake, the Nordic Centre, the Forebay, Grassi Lakes and the other provincial parks further south.
Ø The incremental infrastructure costs to the Town are currently unknown
Question: What concerns would you have about putting a major development on lands that are both undermined and the site of former surface mining? How do you see those risks being addressed?
Background:
Ø The proposed development is extremely challenging due to complex geohazards (faults), the proximity of these geohazards to the Rundle Forebay, and the complex undermining, with an overlay of surface mining
Ø Concerns about contamination include the surface mine, overburden, tailings, coal dust and the mine itself on the proposed development site, on the increased risks of chemical contamination of the nearby soil, streams and water table
Ø Other concerns include coal forming a secondary fuel in the event of a forest fire in the area, along with the release of methane and hydrogen sulphides
Ø There is also the risk of a coal seam fire - There are anecdotal reports of a coal seam/tailing fire that burned for approximately 7 - 10 years on the lower part of Olympic Way when staff accommodations were torn down
Ø There is also the risk of a coal seam fire - There are anecdotal reports of a coal seam/tailing fire that burned for approximately 7 - 10 years on the lower part of Olympic Way when staff accommodations were torn down
Ø These environmental concerns need to be assessed and addressed before development is considered, and any remediation undertaken will need to be monitored continuously
Ø It is unclear who would pay for remediation
Question: Do you think it’s appropriate to have a major commercial development immediately adjacent to both a residential neighbourhood, a habitat patch, and a wildlife corridor? If so, why? And if not, why not?
Background:
Ø Construction of a hotel and spa would further reduce already scarce wildlife habitat and limit an avenue through which wildlife can more through the Bow Valley, an internationally recognized wildlife corridor
Ø The development may also increase the incidence of wildlife traveling through the Rundleview and Hospital Hill neigbourhoods, increasing the risk of human-wildlife conflict
Ø Although the lands in question are relatively small, the cumulative impacts of every additional development matter; each project may have seemingly modest impacts, but taken together they put ever more pressure on remaining habitat
Ø The Town is obliged to have regard for the 2012 Bow Corridor Ecosystem Advisory Group Wildlife Corridor and Habitat Patch Guidelines; this means that new land use activities on lands adjacent to wildlife corridors and habitat patches should include those that are less intrusive and should follow a gradient from less to more intrusive
Ø The Bow Corridor Ecosystem Advisory Group (BCEAG) is a partnership involving the Municipal District of Bighorn, Town of Canmore, Town of Banff, Banff National Park and the Provincial Government. The goal is to maintain multi-species wildlife movement corridors along and across the Bow Valley to link wildlife habitat patches.
Question: The Municipal Development Plan was created in 2016 after significant consultation with the community. It would need to be amended if this proposed development is to proceed. Under what circumstances do you think it should be amended? What in your opinion would constitute a significant benefit to the community that would justify amending the Plan?
Background
Ø There have only been seven amendments to the Municipal Development Plan since its inception in 2016; most have had obvious significant benefits to the community, such as adding the requirement for third party environmental impact statements for lands the Town is developing itself, and restrictions on development in high hazard steep creek areas with preparation of a steep creek hazard and risk assessment in moderate hazard zones
Ø The MDP Amendment relating to the Three Sisters Village and Smith Creek developments was approved pursuant to a court order and the 1992 NRCB ruling and cannot be considered as a precedent for the proposed amendment.
Joe Pavelka Talk on Livability in Contested Spaces
In June, Protecting our Futures hosted Dr. Joe Pavelka at artsPlace. Joe described Canmore’s context and identified it as being more a community dealing with amenity or lifestyle migration than a purely tourist town. We are one of the last places with good accessibility to wild spaces, and there is a burden associated with that. As a “contested space” everyone wants part of Canmore – the old residents, the new fulltime residents, the new part-time residents and the tourists, and there is a constant renegotiation of complex and changing socioeconomic conditions. Joe had many insights into how residents can navigate these changes, and identify how we can identify what is important to us as a community.
You’ll be able to view a link to the talk on our website shortly.
Please Take Action
www.protectingourfutures.org - take action
Please learn more about the proposal, sign our petition, donate, write a letter to the editor, ask questions of election candidates and share information about the proposed development with your family, friends and neighbours.
Livability in Contested Spaces
Presented by Dr. Joe Pavelka
Spend a rewarding evening with resort community planning expert Dr. Joe Pavelka. Joe will address the challenges of planning in a town faced with overtourism and overdevelopment, and we are looking forward to a lively discussion about some of the pressures we face in Canmore. Joe will also be walking the proposed Rundleview hotel and spa site and will share his insights on the challenges this particular development and loss of green space would present for Canmore and the Bow Valley.
Joe is a professor at Mount Royal University who has studied amenity migration and tourism challenges in the Bow Valley for over 15 years.
(See brief CBC interview. )
When: 7:00 PM, June 25, 2025
Where: Artsplace Canmore
Admission: Free
RSVP: Tickets are limited. Book yours today! at artsPlace - Protecting our Futures
If you can't attend in person, you can sign up for Live Streaming through the artsPlace link. We also plan to record the event for future viewing.
Please share this invitation with your networks as we hope to get a broad representation of people from the community to attend.
Did You Know?
Protecting our Futures has launched its own Facebook page (“Protecting our Futures”). Please follow us! You can like and share the post about this event from there to help spread the word.
What about wildlife impacts? PoF is working with a wildlife expert to understand what effects the proposed spa/hotel could have on the wildlife that we know use the areas around Rundleview
Status of the Development Proposal? Unknown
The Developer has not indicated when a formal proposal will be submitted to the Town of Canmore Planning Department for review. We do not know whether a proposal will be submitted, when it will be submitted, when the Town of Canmore Planning Department’s review will be completed and if a recommendation, either for or against the project, will be made to Council. It appears that a proposal may not reach Council prior to the October 2025 Canmore Town Council election.
Stay Up to Date
It is possible that Council could vote on the project within four weeks of receiving a recommendation from the Canmore Planning Department. That is, the four steps in the process: the announcement of the project recommendation, a public hearing, the second and third reading of the Council decision, could all be completed within one month. It is crucial that we are all ready to respond.
Please stay engaged and encourage your neighbors, local friends and families to stay informed of the status of the project, add their names to the petition and to our mailing list.
Protecting our Futures Needs Your Help!
Do you have an interest in preserving the proposed hotel and spa site in accordance with its designation as “Community Open Space and Recreation Lands”? Would you enjoy working with a highly committed group of Canmore residents? Do you have skills in the areas of public engagement, effective communication, networking or graphic design? Or would you be willing to go door knocking, put up posters etc.? We would love to hear from you! Please contact protectingourfutures@gmail.com if you have the interest and capacity to help out.
Wildlife Impacts
Protecting our Futures has been working with a wildlife biologist to better understand what effects the proposed spa/hotel could have on wolves, grizzly bears, elk and other wildlife that we know use the areas around Rundleview.
According to the developer, the proposed spa/hotel will clear 9-12 acres of open space that wildlife currently frequent. In a valley where cumulative effects are ever increasing, another incremental, direct loss of habitat is not acceptable. But it’s the impact beyond those 9-12 acres that may be even more important.
The proposed development site directly abuts the Quarry Lake Local Habitat Patch and Georgetown-Quarry Lake Wildlife Corridor. Both of these protected areas are already compromised in their capacity to support wildlife, due to their small size and high levels of human activity (Herrero and Jevons 2000, BCEAG 2012). Best practices for wildlife indicate we should be limiting development on lands adjacent to these habitats – not increasing it (Ford et al 2020, Integral Ecology Group / Y2Y 2022). In fact, the Bow Valley Ecosystem Advisory Group guidelines are clear that hotel development is not appropriate within such close proximity to a habitat patch (BCEAG 2012). The Town of Canmore has committed to following these guidelines (Town of Canmore Municipal Development Plan 2016, sections 4.2.12, 4.2.13).
The proposed spa/hotel location, is approximately a half a kilometer connection between the regionally-significant Georgetown Canmore Nordic Centre Habitat Patch and the Quarry Lake Habitat Patch. The Quarry Lake Habitat Patch continues approximately one kilometer to the Three Sisters Along Valley Wildlife Corridor. Together these four parcels (of which the proposed spa/hotel location is an integral part) comprise one of the few remaining routes via which wildlife can travel between Banff National Park and Kananaskis Country. Observations of wolves in Three Sisters and frequent grizzly bear sightings around Nordic Centre and Grassi Lakes confirm the importance of these areas for connectivity (Integral Ecology Group / Y2Y 2022). Research overwhelmingly indicates that wildlife’s ability to continue to travel through this habitat depends on human activity and development on nearby lands (BCEAG 2012, Ford et al 2020, Whittington et al 2022, Thompson et al 2025).
If anything, in fact, new studies show that the impacts of nearby development on wildlife movement and other behaviour are likely more extensive than previously thought. Recent investigations into the zones of influence of human activity, wildlife flight initiation distances, and disturbance in the Bow Valley suggest that the hotel and spa will negatively affect wildlife use habitat several hundred [CH1] meters away from the development footprint (Ford et al 2020, Thompson et al 2025). We also know that wild animals are most likely to travel through high human-use areas at night rather than during the day (Gaynor et al 2018, Whittington et al 2022). Increased foot and vehicle traffic, noise, and lights at night around a hotel will deny animals this nighttime security, further reducing the likelihood that wildlife will use adjacent corridors and habitat patches.
Of course, the potential for human-wildlife conflict is a significant concern. Twenty-five years ago, provincial ecologists observed wolves turning around at the Rundle Forebay and noted it was a “major barrier to wildlife movement” that risked forcing wildlife to move through the Rundleview neighborhood on their way to and from South Canmore and Banff National Park (Herrero and Jevons 2000). The proposed development site is one of the few remaining locations where wildlife can still skirt the Rundleview neighborhood.
As of 2022, more than 85% of habitat suitable for travel of wolves and grizzly bears had already been lost from the Bow Valley (Whittington et al. 2022). The science is clear: The development of a spa/hotel adjacent to habitat patches and wildlife corridors will only serve to further undermine the functionality of those spaces for wildlife. Canmore’s Municipal Development Plan states: While the natural environment and the recreational opportunities within and surrounding Canmore will continue to be a primary economic driver for the community and a competitive advantage of the town, it must not come at the expense of the environment, including wildlife”. Protecting our Futures will be reminding the Town of this responsibility as well as its obligation to consider the BCEAG Wildlife Corridor and Habitat Patch Guidelines for the Bow Valley for development proposals adjacent to habitat patches and wildlife corridors.
Literature cited:
Town of Canmore Municipal Development Plan (2016)
Bow Corridor Ecosystem Advisory Group. 2012. Wildlife Corridor and Habitat Patch Guidelines for the Bow Valley (update). 143 pages.
Ford, A. T., Sunter, E. J., Fauvelle, C., Bradshaw, J. L., Ford, B., Hutchen,J., Phillipow, N., & Teichman, K. J. (2020). Effective corridor width: Linking the spatial ecology of wildlife with land use policy. European Journal of Wildlife Research, 66(4), 69.
Gaynor, K., C. Hojnowski, N. Carter, and J.S. Brashares. 2018. The Influence of Human Disturbance on Wildlife Nocturnality. Science 360: 1232-1235.
Grizzly Bear Movement and Conflict Risk in the Bow Valley: A Cumulative Effects Model. 2022. Matt Carlson, Integral Ecology Group and Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative.
Herrero, J and S Jevons. 2000. Assessing the Design and Functionality of Wildlife Movement Corridors in the Southern Canmore Region
Thompson PR, Paczkowski J, Whittington J and CC St. Clair. 2025. Integrating human trail use in montane landscapes reveals larger zones of human influence for wary carnivores. Journal of Applied Ecology 62: 344-359.
Whittington, J., Hebblewhite, M., Baron, R. W., Ford, A. T., & Paczkowski, J. (2022). Towns and trails drive carnivore movement behaviour, resource selection, and connectivity. Movement Ecology, 10(1), 17.
[CH1]Could also say, “200-500” m away – especially if indicated that the 3 Sisters Corridor and Georgetown/CNC habitat patch are within this distance in previous paragraph
Update on Protecting Our Futures’ Actions and What You Can Do
Happy New Year from the team at Protecting Our Futures!
Protecting Our Futures continues to advance efforts to oppose the development of the proposed hotel and spa in the greenspace adjacent to the Rundleview neighbourhood. We are pleased to provide an update on what we have been up to, including a meeting with the Mayor and attending the developer’s December 2024 Open House, and what actions you can take to Stand for Canmore and Protect the Rundleview Greenspace.
What Protecting our Futures is Doing
Protecting our Futures met with the Mayor and senior members of Town Administration on November 28, 2024. Our objective was to build a good understanding of the development proposal review process and to share our concerns about the development. You can find a summary of this meeting on the Protecting Our Futures Community google drive here.
Committee members, along with many members of the public, attended the developer’s December 5, 2024, Open House, where we learned what we could about the proposed development and expressed our concerns regarding the project. A summary of the Open House, including media coverage, is available on the Protecting Our Futures Community google drive here. Materials presented by the developer at the Open House can be found on the developer’s website on the What’s New Page or in the Protecting Our Futures Community google drive here.
We have been reviewing the reports (required by the Town of Canmore) that have been posted on the developer's website. You can find the list of required reports and completed reports in the Technical Assessments and Reports section of the developer’s website at the bottom of the page. You can also find these reports, as they are published, on the Protecting Our Futures Community google drive here.
Committee members have been consulting with local experts to confirm what mining took place on the Rundleview site, and what the environmental and structural impacts of such activity would be if the site is developed.
We are also considering whether consultants, including an environmental consultant, should be engaged to analyze and respond to the technical reports the developer submits in support of their application. If you are willing to donate to help fund this work, you can do so by sending an interac e-transfer to protectingourfuures@gmail.com or by credit card at Stand for Canmore: Protect Rundleview Greenspace - Donate.
Protecting Our Futures has been actively working with local non-governmental organizations to request that they spread the word about the proposed development to their members.
We continue to spread the word about the development within the Town and need your help to do so! Please keep your networks apprised of the proposed development and ask them to get engaged by signing the petition, making a donation and writing a letter to the RMO editor.
What You Can Do
Let your friends and neighbours know about this proposed hotel and spa development. Send them to our website (www.protectingourfutures.org) where they can learn about the proposed development and why we are opposed to it at this location, and Take Action to oppose the proposed development. To receive updates from Protecting Our Futures, sign up here.
Encourage your family, friends and neighbours to Sign the Petition opposing a hotel and spa at this location. The petition will be presented to Town Council during the Public Hearing process. To date over 500 people have signed the petition, but we would like to see that number much higher. The petition can be found here. You can also spread the word by sharing the petition on social media.
Donate to Protecting Our Futures by sending an interac e-transfer to protectingourfuures@gmail.com or by credit card at Stand for Canmore: Protect Rundleview Greenspace - Action Network. We are hoping to raise $5,000 to $10,000 to fund studies by an environmental consultant and cover administrative and other costs.
Write a letter to the Rocky Mountain Outlook expressing your views by clicking on their Contact Us page and selecting Letter to the Editor from the “Regarding” drop down. We would appreciate receiving a copy of your letter for our records. Please send it to protectingourfutures@gmail.com
We have posters in a number of locations around town. If you see another location without a poster, please let us know at protectingourfutures@gmail.com. We can either put a poster up ourselves or drop off a poster or two for you to put up.
Send us a photo of the Rundleview Greenspace that you’ve taken and we’ll put it on the photo gallery on our website. We are including a photo from the gallery in each newsletter we send. Send your photo to protectingourfutures@gmail.com.
For more information, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us at protectingourfutures@gmail.com. You can also find key documents at the Protecting Our Futures Community - Google Drive.
Developer Open House
Dear Community Members:
The developer has confirmed details of the upcoming information session on the proposed hotel and spa development.
They will be holding an Open House on December 5, 2024 at the Bill Warren Training Centre (Canmore Nordic Centre), 1995 Olympic Way. There will be no presentation, but you will be able to view presentation boards and talk to the project team. You can attend any time between 5:00 and 7:30 pm.
If you'd like to prepare yourself, you can find information the community concerns about the proposed development at Protecting Our Futures' website (https://www.protectingourfutures.org/about). You can also visit the Community Engagement page on the developer's website to read more about the previous public engagement sessions (https://canmorehealthandwellnessresort.com/the-community/#Community-Engagement).
Please take this opportunity to attend the session to learn more about the proposed development and tell the developer what you think about commercial development on Community Open Space and Recreation lands.
Protecting our Futures
Continuing to Gather Signatures
Dear Community Members:
Thank you for taking action to oppose the proposed hotel and spa development in the Rundleview Greenspace! To date, 175 people have signed the petition and 23 letters have been sent to the mayor and council members. The letters have had the intended effect of making council aware of our concerns and the reasons we are opposed to the development.
That said, we have received some feedback that sending too many letters to Council now may not be the most effective strategy, as there is no proposal in front of the Town yet. We would like to build and maintain a productive working relationship with the Town in regards to this development, so we are suspending our letter writing campaign for the moment. We will be asking you to send a letter at a later date, likely soon after the proposal has been submitted to the Town, and in advance of the required public hearing.
Meanwhile, we are continuing to gather signatures for the petition, so if you haven't had the chance to do so, and would like to let the Town know of your opposition to the proposed development, please sign the petition here Take Action! And please continue to speak to your friends and neighbours about the campaign, pass along the website link, and encourage them to sign the petition and add their name to the mailing list at the bottom of the Take Action page.
Also, a reminder that the developer's website states that they will be holding an open house on December 5th, with further details to be provided. We'll keep watching the website and let you know when we become aware of where and when the open house will take place.
Protecting our Futures
Website Launch; Take Action Now!
Dear Community Members
While we haven't provided you with an update for a while, Protecting our Futures has been hard at work building the "Stand for Canmore: Protect Rundleview Greenspace" campaign to express our opposition to the development of a hotel and spa on the lands adjacent to the neighbourhood of Rundleview, and to raise community awareness about the proposed development. As the first major step in our campaign, we are pleased to launch the new website! (www.protectingourfutures.org)
The website includes background information on the proposed hotel and spa development, actions you can take if you wish to express your concerns about the development to Canmore Council, a place for you to add your photos of the threatened lands, as well as information on how you can support Protecting our Futures Society.
Take Action Now!
Sign the petition to be delivered to Town Council.
Share your concerns with council using the letter we have prepared or modify it to describe in your own words why the proposed development concerns you.
Spread the word: talk to your friends and neighbours and share this email and/or the link to our site with your networks; Council needs to hear from as many of us across the Canmore community as possible.
Write a letter to the Rocky Mountain Outlook editor sharing your views on the proposed development (https://www.rmoutlook.com/other/contact-us).
Donate. We would also be grateful for financial support to help cover costs the costs of establishing the website, engaging consultants and miscellaneous items such as printing and room rentals. You can send an e-transfer to: protectingourfutures@gmail.com or use the Donate button on the website to donate by credit card. Please note that we are not a registered charity so cannot issue tax receipts for donations.
What else is New?
In addition to getting the "Stand for Canmore: Protect Rundleview Greenspace" campaign up and running, Protecting our Futures has also been engaged in the following actions:
Planning for an upcoming meeting with the Mayor and members of Town administration to highlight the issues, concerns and risks associated with this development.
Consulting with experts in the areas of undermining, wildlife movement and municipal affairs/public advocacy.
Meeting with our MLA, Sarah Elmeligi to better understand how she might be able to assist us with certain aspects of our work.
Setting up "Protecting our Futures Society", a non-profit society established under the laws of Alberta.
Submitting a request for background information on the proposed development to the Province of Alberta under the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FOIP).
Contacting the Ministry of Transportation and Economic Corridors and learning that it has received an application from the developer for direct access off Highway 742, as well as learning more about the Ministry’s assessment process for such an application.
Stay Informed
The developer’s website states that they will be holding an open house on December 5th with further details to be provided (we will let you know when the details are confirmed).
As a reminder, if you are looking for documents such as the Municipal Development Plan, applicable legislation, regulation and policy documents, published letters to the RMO, and developer materials, you can continue to find these on our google drive at our shared community folder: Protecting our Futures Community Drive.
In closing, thank you for your ongoing support! Please do not hesitate to reach out to us at this email address should you have any questions about the campaign or Protecting our Futures.
Community Meeting
Protecting Our Futures: Community Meeting
Wednesday, July 24, 2024 at 7:00 PM
Bill Warren Training Centre at the Nordic Centre
Hello Rundleview Neighbours/Community,
As you may know, since the recent announcement of a proposed spa/hotel development adjacent to our neighborhood on provincial lands, a few of us have met to discuss our concerns about the project proceeding and how to mitigate its impact should it occur. [see the map below for the leased area].
You are invited to an initial meeting of Rundleview residents/ homeowners with the goal being to see if we have sufficient common ground to speak with a unified voice in addressing town council and the developer. As a starting point, the following is an outline of issues raised by Rundleview residents as well as the broader Canmore community. It will be used to start the discussion at the meeting. We look forward to your assistance in adding to and helping to clarify the significance of these issues to the Canmore community.
These concerns include:
1. Geotechnical
undermining and subsidence risk
short/long term risk and liability
2. Environmental
wildlife corridors including impact on connectivity between wildlife areas
wildlife habitat and cumulative effects of habitat loss
human-wildlife interactions
3. Community and Infrastructure
utilities including water supply and support infrastructure and the impact on property taxes
loss of recreation for other uses
effect of commercial activities in our neighborhood including parking, traffic and resident safety
4. Consistency and Compliance with the Municipal Development Plan (MDP)
the MDP does not contemplate commercial activity in this part of Canmore
5. If the project proceeds, Mitigating the impact:
exceeding minimum standards set out in the MDP
minimize visual impact and require underground parking
lighting – dark standard compliant
no traffic through Rundleview
no development below the ridgeline
a restrictive covenant on the unused land (estimated by the developer to be nine acres) for future recreation use only in favour of the community or the Rocky Mountain Heritage Foundation (Quarry Lake Park)
Through this meeting we suggest the community give a mandate to the Protecting Our Futures committee to develop and present a unified voice of our concerns to town council, the developer and all of Canmore. A first draft of the proposed mandate is:
To review, research and analyze all matters related to the proposed spa/hotel development in Rundleview and to provide advice, to make representations and to advocate to the Town of Canmore and the developer in relation to the same on behalf of the community of Rundleview.
We welcome all those who wish to participate in developing our positions. We also see opportunity for an active connection with groups from whom we may gather knowledge and learning such as Yellowstone to Yukon, Alberta Wilderness Association, and Bow Valley Engage. We welcome your suggestions of additional experts and information that should be consulted in this process.
The goal is a Rundleview community voice. Nothing should or will stop anyone from voicing their views. To that end and to help ensure transparency, it is planned to have all the relevant materials available for all to access at https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1ESRXD8TM-IKKDMSLR1-tvuOsHwjpzhJE?usp=sharing
The committee will, of course, consider suggestions provided as the process continues.
Please join us on July 24 at the Canmore Nordic Center at the Bill Warren Training Centre at 7:00 PM. We believe it will be an hour well spent in helping to maintain and improve the quality of lifestyle for all Canmore residents and visitors. For those not able to be with us in person, the meeting will be available on Zoom.
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88309170738?pwd=lT5AwMfqWC2CSCptNS9napZDsNj5cc.1
Meeting ID: 883 0917 0738
Passcode: 206929
Prior to the meeting, please feel free to share your thoughts by email to ProtectingOurFutures@gmail.com or to any one of us.
