A fork on upon entering the Canyon Ski Resort property. The road to the left goes to the proposed site for the campground and the road to the right goes down the hill to ski lodge and lifts. (Photo by Advocate staff)
Red Deer County, Alberta, put its stamp of approval on a campground near Canyon Ski Resort that is about half the size originally proposed in the spring, according to the Red Deer Advocate.
On Tuesday (June 22), the county’s municipal planning commission unanimously approved a discretionary use development permit application for phase 1 of the campground for 100 RV and 53 tent sites.
Canyon’s owners previously proposed a 202 RV and 70 tent site campground but modified their plan to develop only along the upper Canyon Ski Road.
Phase 2 will also require a new discretionary use development permit application.
Phase 1 would be constructed on 55.82 acres, mainly within the northwest portion of the resort, on fairly open and flat land above the ski slopes. This area currently contains the tubing hill created in 2018.
But the future of the campground is still unknown.
Ski hill owners David and Robyn Martel and her parents Alios and Marie Kunc wanted to postpone the traffic impact assessment during phase 1 now that the project has been broken up into phases.
They said summer camping traffic would be far less than existing winter traffic to the ski hill, and the cost of a $15,000 assessment could make them question the economic feasibility of the campground.
But the commission was firm that the traffic assessment was required by both the county and Alberta Transportation.
