First, it was human error. Then, the spreadsheet screwed up. The official results of the 2006 commercial allocation draw are in, but not without some embarrassment and headaches for Parks Canada.

With six applications totalling 2,081 square metres in the running for an available 1,737 sq. metres, at least one project was destined to lose out. That’s how it turned out in the end, but this year, it’s the getting there that was all the fun.

With Parks staff, public observers and interested parties in the room, accountant Justin Rousseau got the draw off to a prompt start Friday morning (February 24), picking four projects, three in the S block (industrial area), and one for C1 (retail and restaurant) space. Then, Parks Canada Townsite Manager Barry Romanko called an end to the draw for another year. Those in attendance headed out, some pleased, and others decidedly less so. That’s when things got weird.

Half an hour later, everyone had reconvened to hear Romanko and development officer Joe Polisuk explain that they had stopped the draw too early. According to the rules of the draw, everything comes to a halt when all undrawn projects are over the remaining amount of land available, in this case, 338 square metres. The Parks staffers had believed both remaining projects, one for a property controlled by Gerry Levasseur, another with Zaffino Holdings’ name on the application, were asking for more land than that. Levasseur’s project in S block was, but Dennis Zaffino’s was well under at only 312 square metres.

A nervous Zaffino stood by as the draw was set to continue. Given that Jasper National Park has a policy preventing partial allocations, whichever project drawn would get the last remaining space.

“You’re either the luckiest man in Jasper, or Gerry Levasseur’s best friend,” Polisuk quipped.

“I’m not the luckiest guy, I’ll tell you that,” Zaffino replied. These words proved prophetic, as the Levasseur property was picked and the draw ended for a second time.

Zaffino’s fortunes were about to turn, however. As Romanko and Polisuk reviewed the draw results this week, they discovered that an error on their master spreadsheet used for tracking all ongoing development had caused a miscalculation. The overall limit of 2,700 square metres on S block space had been exceeded. Tracking back, they realized that after the first three S block projects were drawn, the limit had been reached, meaning that the Levasseur project had to be disqualified. Zaffino’s application, the only one remaining, was good to go.

“All we can do is apologize for the confusion,” Romanko said on Tuesday afternoon 

(February 28). “But we’re pretty happy that our checks and balances have provided for solid results. We may not have had a flawless process, but the results are.”

These were the first draw-related difficulties since the annual development allocations started in 2003, Romanko said.

With 3,701 square metres remaining to be allocated, Romanko expects that the draw will continue to be a regular fixture at this time of year.

“We’ve gone through four draws and still have more than a third of the space left,” he said, adding that this amount is sure to increase as time expires for previously-drawn projects to proceed. Romanko is aware of at least one C2 (accommodations) project that will not be proceeding, and said that the deadline is fast approaching for another. Because projects have to obtain a development permit and a building permit after winning the allocation draw, there has not been as much construction as some might have expected.

“In terms of visible structures, there are five that have come from the draw and one more will be starting in S block soon,” Romanko said.

The winners of the 2006 commercial allocation draw are:

2546680 Alberta, 338 sq. metres on Block 34, Lot 34 in the industrial park.

Athabasca Hotel, 419 sq. metres on Block 29, Lot 29 in the industrial park. 

John Forabosco, 274 sq. metres on Block 21, Lot 21 in the industrial park.

Robinson’s IGA, 368 sq. metres on Block 1, Lots 11/12 on Connaught Drive.

Claudio and Bruno Holdings and Zaffino Holdings, 312 sq. metres on Block 5, Lot 2, on Patricia Street.