Banff Avenue pedestrian zone could return as permanent seasonal feature

Banff Avenue's temporary pedestrian corridor, which began as a pandemic pilot project, is one step closer to becoming an annual seasonal feature.

On Monday, Banff Mayor Corrie DiManno, in a meeting of the town's Governance and Finance Committee, introduced the motion behind the initiative, after the town engaged in months of varied public consultation about the pedestrian zone.

The motion recommends that council put the pedestrian corridor in place annually between May long weekend to Thanksgiving weekend. The cost associated with the project would come out of revenues from restaurants' patio seating permits and visitor paid parking.

Council voted in 5-2 in favour of the motion, with councillors Ted Christensen and Hugh Pettigrew opposed.

Pettigrew said he likes the concept of the pedestrian corridor, but believes more time is needed to consider how it would be best implemented.

"The pedestrian zone has become the heartbeat of the community in the summertime," said Mayor DiManno, while introducing the motion.

"We have taken what has predominantly been used for cars and made it into a beautiful central plaza for people."

The stretch of two blocks along Banff Avenue was first shut to vehicles in the summer of 2020 as a pandemic response in order to provide more space for people walking along the popular stretch of downtown Banff.

In the three years following that, temporary shuts to vehicles of that stretch returned seasonally, most recently in the past two years as an economic recovery initiative.

Banff Avenue sees up to 40,000 pedestrians a day on busier summer days, according to the town.

Debate over public corridor

Initiatives like a car-free zone in a high traffic area are part of larger considerations around how to welcome an increasing number of visitors and in general reduce the amount of vehicles driving in Banff, said Darren Enns, director of planning and environment with the town.

Enns presented the findings of the consultation process Monday, which highlighted that the annual pedestrian corridor saw high support among visitors to Banff. Among residents of the town, there is more debate over the pedestrian corridor.

"One of the biggest concerns that we've heard was the impact on traffic to adjacent streets," said Enns.

Enns said Banff Avenue is a popular route for those travelling by vehicle, and with the two-block closure, many people driving re-route through adjacent streets, sometimes contributing to congestion in those areas.

The town has already implemented different measures like free parking on the edges of downtown [versus in the core], traffic monitoring and control, and "parking ambassadors" stationed at the free parking lots to direct people. 

The issue will come before council again during council's final budget deliberations in early January.