Has Sylvan Lake lost its spark? According to one councillor hopeful, it has, and he says there are several ways to bring it back.

Former Sylvan Lake Mayor Ted Iverson has a vision to once again make the Town, as he describes, “Tourist Friendly.”

He said council has found ways to make it harder for visitors to enjoy their experience in Sylvan Lake.

“The last two councils have put in place, what I call, not too friendly bylaws, to do with tourism houses and those people who want to rent out their houses for tourism. Kind of like an Airbnb. There’s a bunch of regulations and a lot of people looked at those regulations and said they’re not doing it anymore.”

“It basically killed a very affordable way for families to come to Sylvan Lake.”

What he’s referring to is the Tourist Homes bylaw, where home owners are required to get permission from the Town and can offer their home to visitors for 28 days or less.

Parking is another concern for Iverson.

“It’s just not right that an average person like myself, a resident, doesn’t have to pay for parking downtown, but the people who are trying to get down here to buy products, help the businesses, help the employees, we’re making them pay. I just think it’s wrong.”

Although councillor hopeful Star Roshuk may not necessarily agree that Sylvan has lost its spark, she said social media needs to play a bigger role in drawing visitors.

“Everybody shares, everybody comments, everybody likes. I do a lot of online affiliated marketing so I definitely know the power of social media. I see our Mayor (Sean McIntyre) doing it.”

Deborah Wiens, also running for council, said although she sees Sylvan Lake as a tourist hub in the summer, council needs to focus on attracting the same type of activity in the winter.

“We have all these festivals, we have things people can do when it’s hot so now we really need to capitalize on the freezing cold. We have the lake, so hockey is available, there’s skating available and all those types of things. There’s people who do ice carvings, there’s potential for an “Edmonton type” Candy Cane Lane.”

Non-idling bylaw for Sylvan Lake?

Ideas of creating a bylaw regarding non-idling came up last night at the Candidate Forum in Sylvan Lake, and was met with mixed reviews from councillor hopefuls.

While Graham Parsons and others were on board with the idea, saying it doesn’t take much to turn your vehicle off, another potential councillor was firmly against it.

Mathew Prete who’s seeking re-election said he’s all for environmental initiatives, but believes creating a bylaw is not the answer.

“The problem is, how do you enforce it? Are you seriously going to have somebody call in, call municipal enforcement, they throw their lights on and come screaming down because some guy is idling his truck for five minutes?”

“The logistics of enforcement are just about impossible and it will never ever support itself from that perspective.”

Prete suggests the Town introduce some kind of educational program, which he believes will catch most of the activity and resolve the large majority of the problem.