Canmore residents concerned with billion-dollar development proposal

It’s already a tourism hot spot but a new development could rocket Canmore even further up the list.

Owners of the Silvertip Resort have revealed a $1-billion plan to redevelop the lands adjacent to the town, including a boutique hotel, a gondola, along with a casino and conference facility.

But it may be a tough sell.

After an open house Sunday, CEO Guy Turcotte outlined some of the concerns people raised with him.

“The size of the project, and some people are concerned about the gondola and some people are concerned about the gaming that we want to add,” he said.

The gondola to the tea house on top of Mount Lady MacDonald in particular is what has part-time Canmore resident Roland sceptical.

“No I don’t want it because it goes by our house, really close.” he said. “I’m originally from Switzerland, and pretty familiar with gondolas and what the fallout is out of those sorts of systems.”

He says noise, increased traffic and parking are the issues he sees.

Marci says she has many concerns, but the casino is the biggest.

“Who is the gambling going to draw?” she asked. “Who is going to come, what are the repercussions of all of that?”

The town’s council has approved the conference centre but the casino and gondola portions of the project haven’t been approved.

An environmental impact assessment has also yet to be done.

If the project gets the green light, Turcotte expects construction would likely start in a couple years and take another three years to complete.

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