Banff entrance sign set to be relocated, but not everyone agrees on when

The iconic Banff sign won't greet visitors at the town's western entrance for much longer, amid concerns around traffic congestion and pedestrian safety.

The sign is set to be removed from its current location on Mount Norquay Road in the near future and placed at a site adjacent to the Banff train station. No exact date has been set, but some members of council want the process expedited.

A motion put forward during a Monday council meeting called for the "immediate removal and relocation" of the sign "for safety and congestion management."

Coun. Hugh Pettigrew's motion indicated the sign "is contributing to significant traffic congestion and unsafe stopping patterns along a critical entry corridor," with the area experiencing "vehicle queuing past the Vermillion Lakes turnoff … even before peak summer visitation levels."

Pettigrew acknowledged that there have been no major safety incidents at the sign, but pointed to complaints he had heard from concerned members of the public. 

"Steps need to be taken, or we are gonna have some risks," he said during the meeting,

The motion was backed by two other councillors, Ted Christensen and Chip Olver, but ultimately defeated by the rest of the seven-person council.

Mayor Connie DiManno, who voted against the motion, acknowledged increased visitation to Banff during the meeting, pointing to factors like the federal government's new Canada Strong Pass granting free entry into Banff National Park until Sept. 2 and significant population growth in the Calgary area.

"There are external factors causing traffic," she said. "It's not the Banff sign."

DiManno said that while council agrees the sign should be in a more pedestrian-friendly area, there's already a plan in place to relocate it on an agreed-upon timeline.

"It's just taking more time than we all wish that it would, but I think we just need to be patient," she said.

The relocation of the sign is being funded by Liricon Capital, which operates the Mount Norquay ski resort. According to the Town of Banff, if the sign were relocated outside the parameters of that agreement, the town would have to pay for it.

Pettigrew's motion called for the town to allocate up to $10,000 to fund the sign's immediate removal.

He said he picked the $10,000 figure based on the cost of temporarily removing and re-installing the sign for the G7 summit, which cost approximately $8,000, with the federal government covering that.

That removal was due to the neighbouring Fenlands Banff Recreation Centre parking lot being used to accommodate a designated protest site during the G7, making removal of the sign necessary to prevent street parking by visitors.

Sign has possibly been 'too successful'

The sign was installed on Mount Norquay Road in 2017 "as part of an overall refresh of the town's wayfinding system," said Darren Enns, Banff's director of planning and environment.

"It was intended to announce arrival into the town, and also give a chance for our visitors to take a quick photo," he told CBC News.

"It's safe to say it's been very successful in those objectives, maybe even too successful."

The sign's popularity with tourists looking to take photos has led to traffic concerns, Enns said.

"Not all of them stopped where they should stop, which is in an off-site parking lot, and so we're looking to address some of that irregular vehicle behaviour that's occurred in association with the sign," he said.

He said the town is not aware of any major safety incidents caused by the sign, and relocating it to "a more pedestrian-oriented environment over by the train station" will help keep it that way.

"We're looking forward to seeing the sign relocated in the coming weeks, in August or September," Enns said.

"The idea is that that sign is going to not just be a sign, it's going to provide a mountain backdrop," said Jasper Johnson, Mount Norquay's marketing and communications manager.

"There's going to be fire pits, there's going to be paths that connect the parking lots to the train station, to the sign and to town, and provide a much better thoroughfare into town," he told CBC News.

He said the sign's new location near the popular parking lot will allow people to take photos in a more pedestrian-friendly area without causing safety concerns.

"We're finding that people just want their photo with that sign and, you know, you can't blame them," he said. "The idea of being able to move people into a safer spot, not take away that photo op … is a win-win for everybody."