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Banff will not pilot a COVID-19 rapid-testing program after the town’s council voted 4–3 against the proposal on April 12.
Mayor Karen Sorenson, who voted against the proposal, argued that while the program had merit, it carried a prohibitive cost and administration oversight, citing additional jurisdictional concerns.
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“I don’t necessarily think it’s the municipality’s job and, frankly, with credit to our local community, it’s not their job either,” Sorenson said.
The pilot testing project, brought forward by the Rapid Test and Trace Canada group and costing $363,000, would have lasted 90 days. It would have created capacity to test about 10 per cent of Banff’s population using rapid tests each day, with the goal of administering frequent voluntary tests and catching asymptomatic cases early.
Banff council declines bringing COVID-19 rapid-testing pilot to town Banff will not pilot a municipality-wide COVID-19 rapid-testing program after the town s council voted against the proposal 4–3 on April 12
Author of the article: Jason Herring
Publishing date: Apr 18, 2021 • 2 hours ago • 3 minute read • File photo: The Banff letters sign is now a tourist attraction for those who wait and pose by the giant letters for selfies. It is a replica of the famous entrance sign, placed in the middle of Bear Street to attract visitors to the popular commercial street off of the main street. Photo by Marie Conboy/ Postmedia
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Federal government supports Banff project for converting waste into biomass energy
March 2, 2021
The federal government is investing about $530,000 from its Low Carbon Economy Fund to support a project in Banff, Alta. that converts municipal waste into biomass energy.
The town will build a biomass district heating system that will see a cumulative reduction of about 6,000 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions over the lifetime of this project. That is equivalent to removing approximatively 1,800 cars from the road for one year by replacing natural gas with sustainable wood waste to heat four municipal buildings. The $1.3-million biomass system reduces the need to haul waste to the landfill. The funding is also helping to increase the solar electricity capacity to the buildings.
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Beginning in May, visitors to the town of Banff will need to pay to park on many streets in and around downtown, council decided Wednesday as part of budget deliberations.
The program, following a years-long process to determine the viability of paid parking in Banff’s busy downtown, will charge visitors $3 an hour in summer and $2 an hour in winter to park on some of the town’s busiest streets in an effort to address traffic concerns and prevent visitors from parking in residential areas.
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