Article content continued

The resort has launched the website www.sunshinesiteguidelines.com to encourage outdoor enthusiasts to petition the government to adopt Sunshine’s amendments.

“We encourage anyone who wants to make sure they and their families can continue to enjoy the great outdoors … at Sunshine to visit (the website) and take action,” said Kendra Scurfield, communications manager with Sunshine.

Scurfield said the resort has launched its own engagement campaign to spread awareness on the guideline draft because the resort’s clientele are harder to reach in summer.

She said the resort’s current parking lot can’t accommodate its 6,500 guest capacity and wouldn’t come close to meeting future demand, as the resort plans to increase its limit to 8,500 people.

Under the Parks Canada draft, Sunshine would increase parking capacity by building a parking structure or a terrace along the north edge of the current parking lot.

But Dave Riley, chief operating officer of Sunshine Village, said the resort would rather build a small-scale parkade and a new off-site lot to meet the resort’s parking needs, saying its option would have less impact on the environment than a 1,030-stall parking structure at a cost of $30 million.

“It would look like the Calgary airport when you pull in,” Riley said. “It would be so out of sync with what people expect in a national park.”

Riley said animals often use the resort parking lot to move through the area and said Sunshine’s parking option would have less impact on wildlife.