Taking action on the housing crisis with purpose-built rental incentives.
Our Big Stories
We are making Canmore a better place to call home.
Our mountain town moves fast. We are keeping you in the loop with the Big Stories unfolding in our community with a new storytelling approach to help you connect the dots.
Every year, we will feature six major themes that reflect our key projects, so you can understand the ‘why’ behind the work you see around town. Each theme has a unique icon that you can watch for as we roll-out initiatives that relate to each one.
Explore our 2024/5 stories below and follow our Big Stories blog at the bottom of this page to stay informed about the major work to increase the quality of life in Canmore in alignment with your Council's priorities.
We are making our community safer for people and wildlife.
Living and playing in the Bow Valley means we need to take extra care to live alongside wildlife. We are doing our part as a municipality by taking leadership to help people and wildlife thrive.
We are developing an Area Redevelopment Plan (ARP) for the Town Centre through a planning process called Connect Downtown. Connect Downtown will provide a long-term plan for downtown, guiding the continued evolution and change of the area to the year 2050.
Some of our major work in 2024 and 2025 includes:
Conductingpublic engagement on our proposed strategies to shape the future of downtown in summer 2024.
Developing a draft plan for your input in early 2025.
Presenting the final plan for Council approval in spring 2025.
Filter our blog at the bottom of this page using the "Connect Downtown" category for updates about this story.
We are making it easier to get around Canmore over the long-term.
We are focused on moving people safely and efficiently in our community by taking action to apply the bold vision of our Integrated Transportation Plan. We are also making the shift to more sustainable transportation options more accessible.
We want everyone to feel seen and reflected in the programs and services that we offer. By adapting to community needs and trends, we are working hard to make sure that everyone feels like they are at home in Canmore.
Some of our major work in 2024 and 2025 includes:
Moving all of our registered programming to liveandplay.canmore.ca so that you can find all of our programs, no matter the focus and content, in one place
Providing our community with sensory-friendly drop-in opportunities through recreation and community programming
Taking action on the housing crisis with purpose-built rental incentives.
Date posted:
We are taking action on the housing crisis.
On Jan. 7, Council approved a purpose-built rentals incentive policy which aims to increase the availability of rental units in our community. The policy will allow a grant equivalent to 75% of municipal property taxes for a period of up to 10 years. In order to qualify, 95% of units must be rented long-term to primary residents of Canmore.
In order for a property to qualify for the incentive, it must meet the following criteria:
An annual report is required within 30 days after the calendar year end, including supporting documents, confirming 95% of units provided are long-term rental accommodation.
Grant eligibility starts upon issuance of Occupancy Certificate and signing of the agreement, with proof that 95% of units provide long-term rental accommodation and are rented to primary residents of Canmore.
Project must result in added floor space to an existing building, a new building, or renovation of existing floor space to provide purpose-built rental housing of three or more units.
The value of the construction must be $300,000 or more.
