Following the October 3, 2023, Alberta Court of Appeal decision, the Town of Canmore (Town) adopted TSMV’s Area Structure Plans (ASPs) and the Municipal Development Plan amendments for Three Sisters Village and Smith Creek in a Council Special Meeting on October 24, 2023. More information on the Special Council Meeting can be found here.

On December 12, 2023 TSMV has since submitted its application to the Town for the conceptual scheme and land use for Phase 1 of Three Sisters Village.

Phase 1 of Three Sisters Village encompasses 72 acres, about 30% of which will be set aside for public green space and includes homes intended for those living in Canmore, in either Townhome, Stacked Townhome, or Apartment form. Tourist Homes are limited to only two parcels within Phase 1.

As part of TSMV’s commitment to providing a variety of housing options, 10% of all multi-residential must be affordable (meaning they are not under the influence of the market).

As part of the conceptual scheme application, a land use redesignation has been submitted to facilitate the vision of the ASP and allow for a bonusing overlay. The bonusing overlay incentivizes provision of affordable housing, green building, low impact development practices, and community and cultural contributions by allowing builders to earn additional market units above the base density. The ASP allows 3000 units divided across all phases of development and an extra 2000 can be achieved through bonusing.

While the details are still being finalized, the majority of Smith Creek will be allocated to low density (single-detached, semi-detached, and townhome) housing forms. Some parcels located close to transit may accommodate stacked townhomes or apartments. Areas for open space will be set aside and will include community amenities such as playgrounds and a variety of trails and pathways. Prior to construction commencing in Phase 1, a wildlife underpass under the Trans-Canada Highway will be constructed in the approved Across Valley Wildlife Corridor.

Information Sessions hosted by TSMV will provide the public the details about the development and answer any questions they may have.  More information about the Information Sessions will be available on our website, advertised in the Rocky Mountain Outlook and will be posted to social media once details are confirmed.

Given the Land & Property Right Tribunal decisions and Section 619 of the Municipal Government Act (MGA), our understanding is that the Town of Canmore will not be holding a Public Hearing to review and approve the conceptual scheme and land use applications.

Three Sisters Mountain Village is inviting you to join our Information Session on April 4, 2024, where we will provide an overview of our application submission (Conceptual Scheme and Land Use) and the amenities planned for Phase 1 of Three Sisters Village.

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Don’t miss out on this opportunity to stay informed. To join us, sign up by scanning the QR code or by using the following link. https://shorturl.at/rDM27

Once Phase 1 of the Three Sisters Village conceptual scheme and land use applications are approved by the Town of Canmore, we will work with the Town on the subdivision application and detailed design engineering. Construction would begin, at the earliest, in 2024 for Three Sisters Village, depending on timing and alignment with the construction season.

We anticipate approval of the Phase 1 conceptual scheme and land use applications for Three Sisters Village in spring 2024 with a target date of April 23.

We anticipate the conceptual scheme and land use application process for Smith Creek Phase 1 to follow.

TSMV has submitted its application to the Town for the conceptual scheme and land use application for Phase 1 of Three Sisters Village (December 12, 2023).

We anticipate approval of the Phase 1 conceptual scheme and land use applications for Three Sisters Village in spring 2024 with a target date of April 23.

Turbo roundabouts are an improvement on the traditional traffic circle model historically seen in Alberta, as they include innovative features such as multiple lanes and designated entrances designed to guide drivers to the desired exit while reducing speeds. Additional features will include raised pedestrian crossings and separate walking and cycling facilities to improve traffic flow and public safety.

General construction for the turbo roundabout began in the summer of 2023 with below-groundwork, followed by the recent completion of the detour road. Work now continues to construct the actual roundabout and is anticipated to last until fall 2024, weather dependent.

As the developer, TSMV pays for the upfront infrastructure, construction costs, and initial warranty. Once construction is complete, the provincial government will assume the ownership and be responsible for the maintenance of the roundabout (e.g., snow clearing or repairs) and both Highway 742 access points. The Town of Canmore will take over ownership of the municipal road access points: Three Sisters Boulevard, Three Sisters Parkway (south), and Cascade Drive (the main road in the Gateway of Three Sisters, which is now under construction).

TSMV will increase the number of people walking, biking, and using public transit. Both the Three Sisters Village and Smith Creek Area Structure Plans (ASPs) identify a network of cycling connections and pedestrian corridors and routes that improve walkability and enhance the bikeable environment. They also outline a public transit route through each neighbourhood with frequent stops. Additional upgrades (e.g., traffic signals, intersections, roundabouts, pathways, etc.) will be incorporated as needed. Three Sisters Village aims to have 50% of all trips made be from walking, biking, or transit, while Smith Creek aims to have 35% from sustainable transportation choices like walking, biking, or transit.

The provincial government is the decision maker on trails within the wildlife corridor: TSMV will work with the government, the Canmore Trail Alliance and CAMBA to ensure that trail planning and experience are balanced with the top priority — wildlife movement.

Connectivity for all users and abilities through a sustainable transportation network that consists of sidewalks, pathways, and trails is part of the Area Structure Plans (ASPs). Sidewalks and pathways will provide experiences and connections for users of all abilities to ensure they can comfortably and confidently explore Canmore’s beauty. However, not all pathways and trails will be wheelchair accessible, just like not all existing pathways and trails in Canmore are today.

TSMV has provided for Alberta’s largest wildlife corridor system involving private lands in the Rocky Mountains and Alberta. We have set aside more than 60% of our land (1,500 acres) for wildlife corridors to facilitate the safe movement of wildlife, including elk, deer, cougars, wolves, and bears. The Smith Creek Wildlife Corridor designation was the final piece of a land system set aside for wildlife to travel between the Wind Valley and around the south side of Canmore to other prime habitat areas.

The provincial government approved TSMV’s amended application for this corridor on February 26, 2020. This application increased the width of the 2002 Along Valley Corridor in several areas, extended the corridor further north beyond the previous 1998 corridor approval, and ensured appropriate width around the Thunderstone Quarries area. The proposal included input from the community, the provincial government, Canmore stakeholders, and several experienced biologists and other specialists. The decision represents the largest addition to designated corridor lands since the consolidation of the Along Valley Corridor in 2002. For information, please click here.

The wildlife fence will be built along the perimeter of Three Sisters Village, through the Stewart Creek golf course, and along the perimeter of Smith Creek, connecting to the fence along the highway where possible. Access points to provincially designated trails will be facilitated through gated entry points. TSMV has incorporated a range of mitigative measures to ensure wildlife movement through the corridor system, including the wildlife fence, attractant management within the development footprint, monitoring and adaptive management, and education.

Construction for the wildlife fence can begin as early as the summer of 2024.  Phase 1 will generally bound the western and southern portions of Three Sisters Village, extend into the Stewart Creek Golf Course and Country Club and connect into the wildlife fence along the Trans-Canada Highway at the eastern edge of Stewart Creek. 

TSMV will pay for the construction of the wildlife fence and the Province of Alberta will own and maintain it.     

The TSMV Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) recommended a series of mitigations to be applied to the development including wildlife exclusion fencing, attractant management, providing for recreation options within the development footprint, and education. It was also recommended that TSMV implements a monitoring and adaptive management program.

Provincially approved, the Monitoring and Adaptive Management Plan (MAMP) sets out a process for monitoring and identifies when and how adaptive management will be applied. The MAMP addresses specific uncertainty in predictions about:

1. Future patterns of wildlife use of designated wildlife corridors and other habitats adjacent to Three Sisters Village and Smith Creek.
2. Effectiveness of the wildlife fence to reduce potential for negative human wildlife interactions within the development footprint.
3. Future patterns of human use within designated wildlife corridors.
4. The number and type of human-wildlife interactions after Three Sisters Village and Smith Creek have been developed.

Once the uncertainty of a prediction is eliminated, monitoring related to that particular prediction can stop. If monitoring determines that the mitigations are not functioning as predicted, then adaptive management will be applied based on an analysis of the data. Adaptive management actions within TSMV’s control will be implemented in collaboration with Alberta Environment and Protected Areas (EPA) and/or the Town of Canmore (where applicable).

TSMV will support the work of the provincial government, the Town of Canmore, and other groups to educate the public about appropriate human use within the wildlife corridor. In addition to protecting the corridor with a wildlife fence and only allowing humans to enter where provincially approved trails exist, TSMV is working with the province to transfer all wildlife corridor lands to the government to ensure they can easily enforce and maintain the wildlife corridor based upon the vision, goals, and principles that were used to designate it and to ensure the corridor continues to support wildlife movement now and for millennia to come.

Recreational opportunities within the Three Sisters Village and Smith Creek communities will also help ease human use pressure on the corridors and provide an alternative to recreation within areas designed for wildlife movement. Recreational amenities, such as off-leash dog parks, mountain bike trails, and more, will give a positive alternative to inappropriate human use in the wildlife corridor.

Our Area Structure Plans (ASPs) assist with the Town of Canmore’s commitment to reduce emissions by 80% below 2015 levels by 2050. In Canmore, about 60% of emissions are from vehicles and 30% are from existing buildings. Assisting Canmore to get to this GHG target will not occur without a commitment to retrofitting existing buildings in Canmore and changing how we get around within the community. 

Builders in TSMV are already market leaders with initiatives like BuiltGreen. Through density bonusing and using a unit cap system, TSMV will incentivize building beyond the Alberta Building Code and get to net zero faster. The proposed bonusing scheme allows developers to receive bonus units based on a variety of factors, including the provision of electric vehicle chargers, net zero incentives, and sustainable energy generation.

Further to that, TSMV will also use land use, community design, and a pedestrianized village to shift visitors to more sustainable modes of travel once they arrive. Three Sisters Village is targeting to shift 50% of their travel to sustainable modes of walking, biking, and transit. The intent is to get people out of their vehicles if they’ve driven to visit Canmore for the day, then walk and bike within Three Sisters Village while prioritizing biking and transit to travel from Three Sisters Village to other areas of Canmore, such as downtown. In Smith Creek, the goal is to shift 35% of the trips made to sustainable modes of travel. A dedicated bike lane along the parkway connecting to other recreational trails in and around the neighbourhood presents an opportunity to be integrated within the transit system of Canmore as it continues to grow. A commercial and industrial area within Smith Creek allows those who live within the community to access local services and the potential to live near where they work.    

As outlined in the Area Structure Plans (ASPs), TSMV plans to incorporate new municipal parks, open spaces, and recreation opportunities in the new neighbourhoods of Three Sisters Village and Smith Creek. The proposed park facilities (playgrounds, pump tracks, soccer fields, baseball diamonds, and pickleball or tennis courts) within those areas will be discussed with the Town of Canmore during the land use and subdivision applications. Community input and feedback will also be sought. The municipality uses its own Recreation Needs Assessment to guide its decisions on what facilities should be located within new parks. In the Three Sisters Village ASP plan area, 40% of the land area will be designated open space. In the Smith Creek ASP plan area, it is anticipated that over 15% will be designated open space. 

Yes, new developments will be built to align with FireSmart guidelines and the Canmore Land Use Bylaw. TSMV has worked collaboratively with the Town of Canmore and the provincial government for many years to mitigate wildfire risk. A wildlife fire risk assessment was completed for both Area Structure Plans (ASPs), and further work may be required when subdivision and development permit applications are submitted. The Town has a Wildfire Mitigation Strategy being used today for all developments in Canmore that can be found here.

Beyond that, TSMV is committed to building rental units and a minimum of 350 employee housing beds (including over 200 at The Gateway at Three Sisters) within Three Sisters Mountain Village. In addition, all single- and semi-detached units in Smith Creek will be required to be “suite ready,” allowing homeowners to easily build Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs) compliant with the Alberta Building Code. We’ve also enabled ADUs in townhomes in both Smith Creek and Three Sisters Village. More housing options will mean lower prices for prospective buyers and renters.

Both Three Sisters Village and Smith Creek will offer rental and ownership options. In both communities, 10% of multi-residential housing will be affordable. Affordable housing will be integrated into each and every multi-residential parcel within both Three Sisters Village and Smith Creek.  Employee housing will also be built as a part of these projects. 

Affordable housing refers to both equity and housing limits that, through a variety of restrictions (e.g., restrictive covenant, option to purchase, a land lease, or other means), are removed from the influence of the open real estate market. These units are not offered at market rates when ownership or tenancy changes but remain at levels lower than the market would dictate.

TSMV will improve Canmore’s municipal fiscal sustainability by shifting the commercial tax base from 18% to 28% of the community’s total assessment value. This will enable the opportunity for the municipal government to decrease residential tax rates at the current rate of spending.

TSMV will pay for the installation of the wildlife fence, while the provincial government will be responsible for its maintenance. 

Under our Monitoring and Adaptive Management Plan, TSMV will pay for wildlife monitoring related to its development. Further to our work, the provincial government and others may choose to monitor wildlife using their own resources. All data collected will be shared with the province and will be available to researchers and others through a request to the provincial government.

The immediate economic impact will be considerable. Three Sisters Village will likely inject more than $300 million into the Alberta economy and employ over 500 people for several years during construction. Smith Creek will inject over $200 million into the economy and employ over 400 people during construction.

Three Sisters Village and Smith Creek will offer a mix of commercial opportunities to complement Canmore’s downtown. They will support the outdoor lifestyle brand of TSMV and include amenities like food and grocery, general merchandise, hospitality, and more. The addition of non-residential land will allow new businesses to open and grow in the community.

Three Sisters Village will include:

• up to 220,000 square feet of office and light manufacturing;
• lands for up to 188,000 square feet of indoor recreation and entertainment; and
• up to 380,000 square feet of retail, restaurant, spa, and health amenities.

Additionally, Smith Creek will include:

• up to 74,000 square feet of light industrial and business space;
• up to 125,000 square feet of central retail and commercial area for local services; and
• a grocery store is already planned for the commercial lands by Three Sisters Boulevard and Three Sisters Parkway.

Yes, the Area Structure Plans (ASPs) identify opportunities for third parties to develop such spaces on commercial streets and within the proposed Innovation District in the Three Sisters Village. The Innovation District can provide flexible spaces for residents to explore creative new ways to generate community wealth that may not be envisioned today within Canmore’s land-use bylaw or other places within the community. This is an opportunity to innovate locally in Canmore.

The project is a multi-year endeavour and we anticipate finishing infrastructure-related components at the end of the 2024 construction season (i.e., October/November 2024). Building construction will likely continue into 2025 and 2026, depending on the speed of municipal development approvals. We can appreciate any frustration you may have with the earthworks and ongoing construction in the area. To limit impacts to residents and visitors, we continue to implement erosion and sediment control on-site, including dust abatement methods. Gateway has had the same delays and timeline processing struggles that many other Canmore builders and developers have, and so construction has been prolonged as a result.

To learn more about The Gateway, click here.

We hope to be updating the public on tenants very soon. Tenants often only want their information released once they are ready to announce it themselves. As such, we are bound to keep quiet until they permit us to make an announcement. We hope to do this soon. But we can let you know that we are in conversation with a grocer, several restaurants, and retail services. The Gateway at Three Sisters development will be street orientated, and many of its buildings will be multiple storeys. At grade, we will be accommodating retail stores and restaurants, and those buildings that are planned to have a second or a third storey will accommodate employee housing or office uses above. TSMV will provide more updates when they are available.

To learn more about The Gateway, click here.

The absolute maximum addition to Canmore’s population will be approximately 14,500 people. That, however, will only happen if the maximum number of units are built (including all bonusing units) and every unit – including hotel rooms, tourist homes, and other visitor accommodations – is at 100% occupancy. Therefore realistically, the number will be lower.

Yes, TSMV will set aside lands as a part of their Municipal Reserve contribution within Smith Creek that can accommodate a future kindergarten to Grade 12 school. The decision whether to build a new school or not, however, will be up to the provincial government.

TSMV will work with the Town of Canmore, local utility providers, and other industry partners to ensure the necessary infrastructure is in place to meet the utility needs of new residents. Density Bonusing will encourage renewable energy generation in the new residential and commercial structures.

TSMV is covering the cost of infrastructure upgrades that directly relate to development. Where multiple developments across Canmore contribute to requiring the infrastructure upgrade, the Town of Canmore recovers those costs through the collection of development levies.