The Town of Canmore released a series of reports on July 8, 2026, summarizing what residents want for the future of local transportation, trails, parks, and development. The findings come from the largest public engagement in recent municipal history, with 1,443 people and 19 community organizations sharing their views this past spring.
The feedback was gathered in March and April under the People, Places, and Pathways initiative. Residents joined online surveys, interactive maps, workshops, webinars, and in-person events, including a community information night at the Canmore Brewing Company that drew more than 140 attendees.
The input will directly shape updates to three key planning documents: the Integrated Transportation Plan, the Open Spaces and Trails Plan, and the Land Use Bylaw. Each has not been comprehensively updated in years. The transportation plan was last revised in 2018, the trails and open spaces plan is a decade old, and the design guidelines for parks haven’t been touched in 20 years. The current land use rules, adopted in 2018, have become what town staff call “increasingly complex and difficult to navigate.”
Growth pressures are a major reason for the overhaul. Canmore’s population hit 17,341 in 2025, and the approved Three Sisters Village and Smith Creek developments are expected to eventually double the number of residents. The town has already made progress on transportation, lowering the share of summertime personal vehicle trips from 81 per cent in 2022 to 75 per cent in 2025, with a target of 40 per cent of trips by foot, bike, or bus on a typical summer day by 2030. More than $5.9 million in federal, provincial, and municipal funding was announced in January 2025 for transit and active transportation upgrades.
Across the three plans, engagement numbers were strong: 1,316 contributions for the transportation plan, 1,364 for open spaces and trails, and 287 for the land use rewrite. Residents can now read the full “What We Heard” reports online. A second round of public input is planned for the summer or early fall of 2026, with draft plans expected later in the year. Council will review the trails plan later this year, the transportation plan is slated for a vote in early 2027, and the new land use bylaw is expected to go to a vote by early 2028.
