After more than a decade, Hostelling International (HI) is still progressing with its plans to construct a hostel in the Jasper townsite, and it’s asking for council’s help.
During its Feb. 2 meeting, council was asked to write HI a letter of support to accompany the non-profit’s application to the Alberta Lotteries Community Facility Enhancement Fund.
“Parks Canada still has all of the authorities around land use, planning and development, so council’s decision is limited to whether or not council would provide a letter of support for their grant application,” explained Mark Fercho, the municipality’s chief administrative officer.
If successful, HI plans to use the provincial lottery funds to help offset the cost of the design and construction of the proposed youth hostel, which is slated for four acres of land on Sleepy Hollow Road, next to Home Hardware.
Parks Canada zoned the space specifically for hostel use before the Municipality of Jasper was incorporated in 2001, and HI plans to use it to construct five buildings: a single storey accommodation building with space for a maximum of 154 people, a single storey lodge that provides guest services and back of house operations, a two-storey staff accommodation building for 12 employees, a two-storey apartment building for the manager and assistant manager and a maintenance building.
The lease will butt against CN property, so to minimize noise and vibration problems from passing trains, a berm will be constructed and the buildings will be strategically placed, ensuring the dorms and staff accommodations will be furthest from the tracks.
Although it may seem like this project has been a long-time coming, Alistair McLean, CEO of HI Pacific Mountain Region, said the project is on schedule.
“[The Jasper hostel] was the third of three major projects that our association [was working on],” he said. “The Northern Alberta Hostelling Association merged with our hostelling group in 2008 and we were in the midst of a major project in Whistler to build a new property up there before the 2010 Olympics.
“Calgary was the next on the list and then Jasper. In our own plans, it’s on schedule,” he said.
McLean admitted that there have been some delays, with the 2013 floods in southern Alberta complicating the Calgary development, and the economic downturn in 2009 hitting HI’s bottom line, but ultimately, he said, things are progressing as they should.
“We’re well into the design stage of it and we’re actually out doing some pricing at the moment so we can apply for the grant, as well as look at the design and how it fits on the property.”
Cathy Jenkins, JNP’s realty and municipal manager, said the project is still at the conceptual stage. So far, Parks Canada has received concept drawings and now it is waiting on detailed drawings in order for the development review process to begin.
“In the meantime, we’ll also need to do an appraisal of the lands [to determine] the land release fee,” she said.
The thrust of the project is to build a hostel that is more accessible and centrally located to accommodate backpackers, as well as new staff coming to town.
HI has five wilderness hostels within Jasper National Park. Currently the closest is Whistlers, which is located seven kilometres from town, halfway up the SkyTram road.
A wildlife confluence study, completed more than decade ago, identified the current Whistlers hostel as being located in an important wildlife movement corridor and indicated its 80 beds would be more suitable in town. According to McLean, once the new hostel is constructed on Sleepy Hollow Road, the Whistlers hostel will be decommissioned, the buildings demolished and the land remediated to allow wildlife to repatriate the land.
“We have plenty of the wilderness type properties, I think this is what our guests are looking for, something closer to town,” he said. “A lot of our people don’t have vehicles and they either train or bus through town, so it’s not as convenient being up there for them.”
McLean said by having the hostel in town it will allow visitors to spend more time in shops, restaurants and bars, as well as accessing tour operators that are based in the central business district, and it will also allow the hostel to serve another purpose: housing newcomers to town, who are searching for a job and home.
“[Jasper has] an issue, especially in the spring and fall when people are coming to town to look for summer jobs and winter jobs,” he said, acknowledging the community’s housing shortage, which often scares people away.
“We have in our other hostels—in Banff, Lake Louise and Whistler—a job seekers program that works with the local businesses. We list jobs that are available, give people a special package to stay for 14 days, or so, so they have time to find a job, and in some places we do job fairs,” he said.
McLean said in a few months time he expects to have a better of idea of what the project will look like, as well as what it will cost and when the shovel will hit the ground.
For now, he said the focus is on getting letters of support and applying for grants to ensure HI has the funds to complete the project.
As a non-profit, he said, it’s not always easy to find the capital for large scale projects, especially with shifts in the economy and numerous properties to take care of.
“We have 31 properties in B.C. and Alberta that all want money,” he said, noting that the Athabasca Falls hostel is one that is slated for upgrades this summer.
Currently, the hostel uses the generator that’s part of the Athabasca Falls warden station, but this summer that generator will be closed down as part of the decommissioning of the warden station.
“So we have to take [the hostel] off grid and that’s probably going to be an $80,000 project, going solar, etc.”
Council will vote on whether or not to write a letter supporting HI’s grant application during its Feb. 16 meeting.
Nicole Veerman
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