Parks Canada and the Lake Louise Ski Resort are asking for input from the public on plans that will regulate future development of areas surrounding the ski hill.   

“Parks Canada feels we have a very solid plan that we’ve put forward,” said Melanie Kwong, superintendent with Parks Canada. “It’s really the framework for what potential future development could look like and what parameters and conditions would need to be in place for that development to occur.”

“We’re looking for any information that the public might want to share in terms of any areas that we may have missed.”

The organizations scheduled open houses for Calgary, Banff and Lake Louise where members of the public may review the draft of the Lake Louise Ski Area Site Guidelines, the associated Strategic Environmental Assessment, ask questions, and provide feedback.

Banff

  • Thursday, June 11 (6:00 p.m - 8:30 p.m.)
  • Banff Park Lodge - 222 Lynx Street

Lake Louise

  • Friday, June 12 (6:00 p.m. - 8:30 p.m.)
  • Lake Louise Inn - 210 Village Road

The Calgary open house occurred on Wednesday, June 10.

Submissions will be accepted by email opinion@pc.gc.ca until midnight June 21, 2015.

The public engagement period began on June 1, 2015. In the first week, Parks Canada received nearly 100 submissions.

The creation of new development guidelines is the result of decades of meetings and conversations between representatives of Lake Louise Ski Resort and Parks Canada.

“It’s been many, many years,” said Dan Markham, Lake Louise Ski Resort director of communications and branding. “A lot of different discussions about potential opportunities going forward in the future, identification of lands that were thought to be very sensitive and how that impacts different ecosystems and the ecological integrity of the area.”

According to Melanie Kwong, the approval of guidelines will not lead to immediate development of the area surrounding the Lake Louise Ski Resort.

“The next step, after the site guidelines that we’re consulting on now, would be a long range plan,” explains Kwong. “That would be the projects put forward by the ski area that they would like to see over a given amount of time maybe 10 or 15 years.”

“The timeline would be initiated by the ski hill.”

The current guidelines for the Lake Louise ski area site were created in 1981 when the population of Calgary was 350,000, nearly a third of the city’s current population. The last major development at the Lake Louise Ski Resort was the construction of the gondola in 2003.

Kwong says the guidelines are being created to assist with future decisions and project approvals and are not in response to any specific proposals.

For more information about the drafted guidelines, visit Draft Lake Louise Ski Area Site Guidelines for Development and Use.