Will Town of Banff ask Parks Canada to Provide Exemptions to the Development Cap?

A recent study by urbanMetrics inc., a Toronto-based real estate consulting firm, concludes that the high rents and proliferation of low-end souvenir shops is due to high rents. The solution they claim is to provide exemptions to the legislated commercial development cap for certain businesses to make sure Banff continues to prosper and remain competitive with other tourist towns. The idea seems to be to allow more development for services for residents such as grocery stores, home furnishing stores and automotive businesses. I suppose the other option would be to get rid of some of the national chain stores along the main street. For more see the Rocky Mountain Outlook.