Locals Have Final Say on Banff’s Blueprint for the Next Decade

BANFF, Alberta — The Town of Banff is preparing to adopt a sweeping new Community Plan meant to guide its next decade of growth, housing, and environmental stewardship. At the final public hearing on September 8, 2025, residents and industry leaders both praised the plan, but split sharply on what comes next.

A Plan With Big Ambitions

The 2025 Banff Community Plan is the town’s highest-level blueprint. It outlines six priorities: climate action, housing for all, a prosperous economy, Indigenous connections, moving people sustainably, and community wellbeing.

Its goals range from eliminating Banff’s housing shortfall by 2035 to cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 80 percent below 2016 levels by 2050. It also commits Banff to “no net negative environmental impact,” a principle that development must either avoid ecological harm or restore conditions to baseline.

For tourism, the plan emphasizes “regenerative practices” that generate economic prosperity without eroding the environment or residents’ quality of life. For housing, it sets targets such as achieving a 3 percent vacancy rate and expanding affordable and below-market options.

Residents Demand Hard Targets

Despite its sweeping language, many residents told council the plan risks being too aspirational.

“It will be critical that the plan’s implementation includes clear measures of success, practical, well-defined indicators that ensure progress is both tracked and transparent,” one resident said during the hearing.

Another warned that “a plan without measurable outcomes risks becoming symbolic rather than transformational.”

Housing and congestion dominated local concerns. Banff has pledged to “eliminate the housing shortfall by 2035,” but residents pressed for specifics: how will the town measure progress, and what happens if goals aren’t met? Traffic gridlock on Banff Avenue and at the park gates, they said, also requires firmer benchmarks on reducing car use and improving transit.

For many, the fear was clear: without metrics, the plan could become just another shelf document.

Industry Praises Broadness

Tourism leaders took a different view. For them, the plan’s strength is in what it doesn’t do: lock in rigid prescriptions.

“Banff & Lake Louise Tourism is supportive of the community plan as it’s currently written,” said David Mattis, vice president of destinations. “We think it’s broad. We think it focuses on outcomes and allows for some real conversation around the bigger issues without being prescriptive on what those solutions are.”

The Banff Lake Louise Hospitality Association echoed that sentiment, saying the plan now “focuses on desired outcomes rather than prescribing specific processes, rightly allowing council and administration the flexibility to find the best path to reach each outcome.”

At the same time, business groups stressed their willingness to partner with the town once the plan is adopted. “As we shift towards implementation, we are ready and willing to partner with the town across planning, measurement, and communication … ongoing dialogue and transparency will be key,” one submission read.

The Conservationist’s Warning

Harvey Locke, a Banff-based conservationist and internationally recognized biodiversity expert, lent his support to the plan’s use of “nature positive,” defined in the draft as ensuring ecosystems are not only protected but actively restored. But Locke cautioned that overtourism remains Banff’s most pressing threat.

“July visitation was up 5.1 percent year-over-year,” Locke told council. “We are facing an urgent problem … managing unsustainable visitation.”

Locke opposed any attempt to alter federal growth caps or rezone wildlife corridors, arguing that Banff must focus squarely on visitor management.

Council in the Middle

Councillors largely took a listening role during the hearing, thanking speakers and asking occasional clarifying questions. The real debate over accountability versus flexibility came from residents, conservationists, and tourism leaders. Still, council acknowledged the tension: Banff can set goals on housing, traffic, and environmental protection, but its authority is limited under Parks Canada, which caps growth and leaves municipalities to manage livability within those bounds.

What Comes Next

The hearing has now closed. Council must decide whether to adopt the Community Plan as written, broad and flexible, or amend it to include the kind of measurable benchmarks residents suggested.

What’s clear is that Banff’s identity is once again on the table: a global tourism destination dependent on millions of visitors, or a small mountain community fighting to remain livable within the finite limits of a national park.

As one participant summed up: “How we do it is probably more important.”