City of Jasper Seeks to Negotiate New Agreement with Parks Canada | The Canadian News

The Town of Jasper is in ongoing talks with Parks Canada in an attempt to change development rules and reduce their payments to Ottawa.

Two decades ago, the city had 100,000 square feet of commercial development space to work with. He is now on his last 3,000.

The mayor said talks with Parks Canada are not intended to allow big box stores or malls. Instead, he says more retail space is needed for essential services.

“The plumbers, the carpenters… all those people that we need in the city to support the tourism industry just don’t have a place to operate their businesses from. It is very challenging in this community,” Mayor Richard Ireland told Global News.

Those people also need a place to live. Housing in Jasper is expensive and hard to come by.

“Our housing risks are really inappropriate housing or too many people squeezed into one property or the cost of housing,” explained Bill Given, Jasper’s managing director.

All development in the city, whether commercial or residential, must be approved by Parks Canada.

The town has designated a stretch of land for an affordable housing complex.

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He spent more than $6 million maintaining the space to prepare it for an 80-unit $15 million complex, but he can’t get the funds for the project.

“We are really financially limited to figure out how our small community of only 5,000 people will be able to financially invest in this,” Given said.

He went on to say that part of the problem is how much of the city’s revenue is sent to Ottawa each year.

Both Banff and Jasper pay rent on the land. For Jasper, the fee is about 6 percent of his income each year, which ends up being nearly $500,000.

That fee will increase in the future even though Jasper’s population and tax pool remain stable.

“It’s going to continue to drain money that we could otherwise spend on infrastructure, critical infrastructure that serves both locals and visitors,” Given said.

In a statement to Global News, Parks Canada said no changes to restrictions on development in the mountain town are being considered.

The statement went on to say that Parks Canada is conducting public consultations to investigate “outdated” regulations surrounding land use management and building permits in parks.

“It is important to remember that Parks Canada provides many services to the Town of Jasper and that the agency pays payment in lieu of taxes to the Township,” the statement continues.

“Land rent is not an issue to be viewed in isolation and does not accurately reflect the depth of the financial and commercial relationship between the two levels of government.”

Mayor Ireland is concerned that the tourist destination will become unaffordable for residents and visitors alike if talks don’t end in the city’s favor.

“We will be more of a resort and less of a community. And that is a future that none of us expect,” he said.

There is no timetable for how long negotiations could take.