Idiots want to build gondola, conference centre and casino in Canmore

[Fuzz]

Originally Posted by Frequitude

What makes Canmore great is its beautiful location, pristine setting and proximity to the rest of the mountains. What makes it valuable, however, is tourism and its proximity to Calgary. Canmore's development trajectory over the past 30 years (a window inside of which you moved there) would support this value proposition.

I was born there, and my parents moved in the early 70's.

[troutman]

Seeing the Alps for the first time, I was amazed how developed each peak was. Gondolas, lodges, trails, tunnels, ski areas, etc everywhere.

Also, one bear (Bruno) was sighted in Germany in the last 170 years.

[polak]

Originally Posted by GGG

How often do you use the existing Gondola just up the road? It certainly would affect the great place to go for a weekend. Canmore is almost as unbearable as Banff is on a Summer weekend in the town itself. A conference centre just makes that worse.

To double the population you need to rework the bridges, rail crossings and entire traffic network. The Gondola becomes an eyesore from all over the Valley. So as both a place to hang out and as a launching pad this makes it worse.

Unbearable Tourism = The only reason it exists.

[CorsiHockeyLeague]

I get the NIMBYism because if I lived there I'd want the place to never change either... but I can't help thinking that this sort of stuff is exactly what Canmore should be used for. You can't develop in the park, you want different sorts of tourism and business dollars to be spent taking advantage of the Rockies... where else are you going to do it? Keep the park pristine and unspoiled and rugged for the people who want that part of the experience, put the cushy vacation properties on the doorstep.

Also, I'd be fine with boosting the price up significantly if they exempted people going to ski hills. That #### is pricey enough without the cost of the park pass.

[Weitz]

According to my brother there is a large demographic gap right now in Canmore.

You have a ton of older retired/close to retiring folks then a lot of transient younger workers. But not a whole lot of mid 20's - mid 30's type professionals who live and work there.

This is slowly changing which could lead to more and more development projects like the one described. Which will lead to lots of opposition for the older retired crowd.

[Fuzz]

The reason there are no 20-30's people, other than those working crappy restaurant jobs is that they can't afford it anymore. Most of the people I grew up have been chased out by high prices. I guess if the goal is to create a hollowed out town with weekend places that are empty 9/10ths of the time, well... job done.

[Knalus]

Originally Posted by InglewoodFan

The cement plant has been in Exshaw in one form or another since 1906. I would hazard that a big portion of the concrete built structures of Calgary were made with Exshaw cement. The limestone deposit is there, and the railway is there. It was a good place to put a cement plant.

Hopefully it doesn't offend your sensibilities too much to know that Canmore was a coal mining town at around the same time.

One day, that cement plant will run out of economically viable limestone mining.

When that day happens, I hope they leave the mark they made on the mountain in the shape of an amphitheater. With the access road, and the outbuildings already in place at the actual plant itself, this would be the PERFECT location for a Red Rocks style concert venue. If the wildlife and the hikers have to deal with noise, it might as well be good music.

[Joborule]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

The reason there are no 20-30's people, other than those working crappy restaurant jobs is that they can't afford it anymore. Most of the people I grew up have been chased out by high prices. I guess if the goal is to create a hollowed out town with weekend places that are empty 9/10ths of the time, well... job done.

I'm curious, what's your future vision of Canmore? What would you ideally want it to be 50 years from now, and how would it be done?

[V]

This thread is a great reminder why I love to get out to K-country away from all the people I can't stand. Everyone is so interested in destroying beauty in the name of building crap that no one needs. People are the worst.

[Regorium]

Originally Posted by V

This thread is a great reminder why I love to get out to K-country away from all the people I can't stand. Everyone is so interested in destroying beauty in the name of building crap that no one needs. People are the worst.

Once upon a time, the land that your house is resting on was pristine nature. The land that Highway 1 and 40 are built on was pristine before they were ruthlessly paved over. The trails that you use in K-country were cut from nature.

Let's not even talk about the fact that you just burned 30L of gasoline for fun, and not out of necessity.

But what YOU do is okay right?

[V]

What a stupid argument. Honestly, does that sound legitimate in your head, or are you laughing as you write it. This is Sliver level trolling.

[temple5]

Terrible idea, not because of the granola eating "why wont someone think of the elks" types but just because its a bad idea. Canmore doesnt need any of those things. What it needs is enough grocery stores so the Save On doesnt have to lock its doors due to fire concerns.

Finish the development on Grassi properly with multi family homes and then restrict anything other than redevelopments and that will push people to Exshaw, Lac Des Arc, Dead Mans flats etc.

Canmore shouldnt be expanded as an overflow because the Feds restrict the National Parks. That and free passes are the reason we arent vacationing in the Rockies this year - parking in Banff is terrible on a good day.

[Fuzz]

Originally Posted by Joborule

I'm curious, what's your future vision of Canmore? What would you ideally want it to be 50 years from now, and how would it be done?

First, get rid of golf courses. They don't generate much employment, they take massive amounts of land, use chemicals, etc and are not at all native to the area. Perhaps the massive scars on the land in the 3 Sisters area could be turned into active sport venues, like a second Nordic Centre but with a different focus.

Second, extremely limit ownership of vacation homes that sit empty most of the year. This would free up housing stock for families and young workers to have an affordable place to live. I'd also be fine with housing for people working in Banff.

Third, allow more hotel developments to pick up the slack form the loss of empty vacation homes.

Fourth, encourage active events, such as more ski/cycling/running races etc. Provide a better public transport solution to the Nordic Centre for large events. These events generate lots of income for the local economy becuase people actually leave their little enclave, purchase food, stay at hotels etc.

Limit all development to areas already developed, and to the corridor close to the highway through to Dead Man's Flats.

I'm not against development, I'd just like to see it done much more intelligently. They've done stupid things like scatter schools all over the valley which requires busses for almost all students. Then, each school needs its own sports fields so they take up way more space than they used to. In an ideal world, get rid of the Catholic Schools to reduce further duplication. The school situation is bonkers there.

Ban all boutique nick nack shops, but that's just a personal grudge. $30 for a bundle of twigs? WTF?

[TheAlpineOracle]

Originally Posted by temple5

Terrible idea, not because of the granola eating "why wont someone think of the elks" types but just because its a bad idea. Canmore doesnt need any of those things. What it needs is enough grocery stores so the Save On doesnt have to lock its doors due to fire concerns.

Finish the development on Grassi properly with multi family homes and then restrict anything other than redevelopments and that will push people to Exshaw, Lac Des Arc, Dead Mans flats etc.

Canmore shouldnt be expanded as an overflow because the Feds restrict the National Parks. That and free passes are the reason we arent vacationing in the Rockies this year - parking in Banff is terrible on a good day.

The sole reason Canmore EXISTS is because it's overflow for National parks, so I fail to see the problem with expanding it. I think a Casino is a bad idea (cheapens the atmosphere), but more housing, hotels, restaurants, conferences, etc. only makes sense.

[jammies]

Anyone who has been to Canmore and doesn't see it is a disaster isn't paying attention. It's just a random hodgepodge of crap. As someone above me said, maybe concentrate on building essentials like grocery stores before working on huge mega-projects.

Although if you like the 3rd World model of development, I guess this looks good. Giant vanity projects disconnected from their surroundings, yee-haw!

[Bill Bumface]

Originally Posted by V

What a stupid argument. Honestly, does that sound legitimate in your head, or are you laughing as you write it. This is Sliver level trolling.

It's really not.

There is a huge hypocrisy in the weekend environmentalism crowd.

I absolutely love getting out to the mountains and riding my bike, but to suggest the highway development, parking lots and trails themselves that I go and enjoy every week in the summer don't have significant negative consequences to the wildlife and environment in the area is ridiculous.

And yes, I burn most of my fuel for the year "getting out to enjoy nature". The most polluting activity I do is go enjoy the mountains.

So for me to say, for instance, I don't like dirt bikers and 4x4 enthusiasts tearing up the mountains, or downhill ski resorts scarring the pristine nature is a pretty empty sentiment.

It seems the prevailing attitude is "the degree I ruin the pristine wilderness is ok, but anything beyond that is horrendous and I won't stand for it as I'm a protector of the same area I go out and mildly trash every weekend".

[Locke]

Can they build a Mega Hotel that straddles the Highway? Maybe have a McDonald's Drive-Through that you can call in advance and whiz through at 120km/h.

The 'Tap' function is essential and the timing of the delivery of the food is critical.

[polak]

You know technically, anything humans build is natural since we are beings of nature.

[V]

Originally Posted by Bill Bumface

It's really not.

There is a huge hypocrisy in the weekend environmentalism crowd.

I absolutely love getting out to the mountains and riding my bike, but to suggest the highway development, parking lots and trails themselves that I go and enjoy every week in the summer don't have significant negative consequences to the wildlife and environment in the area is ridiculous.

And yes, I burn most of my fuel for the year "getting out to enjoy nature". The most polluting activity I do is go enjoy the mountains.

So for me to say, for instance, I don't like dirt bikers and 4x4 enthusiasts tearing up the mountains, or downhill ski resorts scarring the pristine nature is a pretty empty sentiment.

It seems the prevailing attitude is "the degree I ruin the pristine wilderness is ok, but anything beyond that is horrendous and I won't stand for it as I'm a protector of the same area I go out and mildly trash every weekend".

That's not his argument, though. It boils down to "You can't complain about the development of unnecessary mega-complexes in natural areas unless you're willing to live in a cave and transport by foot.". It's taking the slippery slope to some ludicrous and idiotic end. It's something you'd expect to see from Sliver, but when he does it, it's funny because you can just say, Ah, that's just Sliver. But I refuse to believe that someone intelligent legitimately thinks that his is a rational sentiment.

Not all progress is good progress.

[Bill Bumface]

I think it's one thing to say that this project isn't something of value for the town of Canmore or its visitors, and another to say that any development in the area should be stopped.

A couple posters have gotten close to the latter, and that is what stirred up the rebuttals full of hyperbole.

Frankly, I'd rather a giant conference space go up in Calgary, because I'm selfish and want the economic benefit for us, not Canmore.