Miles Chester has officially entered the race for a seat on town council, confident that his experience as a former town councillor from 2007 to 2010 and his 21 years as a resident will strike a chord with voters.
Miles Chester has officially entered the race for a seat on town council, confident that his experience as a former town councillor from 2007 to 2010 and his 21 years as a resident will strike a chord with voters.
Growth on Cochrane's borders, building roads, securing a future for water supply to the town and revisiting Cochrane's over arching planning document - the Cochrane Sustainability Plan (CSP) - are top priorities for Chester.
“It's time to revisit the CSP - it's over 10 years old and the community needs to re-prioritize what we want as a community now and in 50 years from now. ”
He feels that through this process, social issues such as an aging population as well as youth would be best addressed.
“I think it's the most powerful tool we have to change our course, ” said Chester, with reference to the CSP.
An advocate for managing growth better, Chester is concerned about the growth of Rocky View County on the town's borders and that administration has not pushed back against the recently approved Glenbow Ranch Area Structure Plan (an estimated 15 to 20 years out, but upwards of 16,000 more people on Cochrane's eastern borders).
Other growth areas that Chester is concerned will affect Cochrane include Harmony (a 1,700-acre development adjacent to the Springbank Airport), the future development at Cochrane Lakes and subsequent Monterra phases north of town on Highway 22.
Aside from trying to make sure border developments contribute fairly to the Cochrane tax base for the town services they would inevitably rely on, Chester said the town must stop waiting for the province to take the reins on the road problems plaguing Cochrane drivers.
Chester said it's time for Cochrane to show the province it has some skin in the game and to assume some of the financial load if it translates to not only speeding up progress on the redesign of the intersection at highways 1A and 22, but to widen Highway 22 “down Cochrane hill through town. ”
While he did support an arts and cultural centre the last time he sat on council - when he felt the funds were there to set the wheels in motion of a project of that size - he realizes a major capital project may not be in the books this time around, given the $48 million that was spent on the aquatics/curling centre.
“If I look at building roads and an arts centre, I would have to put roads ahead of that. ”
Chester said if elected, he would take Cochrane's water infrastructure to task right away.
“We're going to run out of water quickly … that reality will hit us all hard, ” he said.
His passion for environmental issues stems from concerns with building on areas with slopes of 15 per cent, on river valleys and in flood zones.
His intentions to run in the 2014 election were cut short by health issues at the time. He lost the 2010 election with 1,770 votes, with Coun. Ross Watson voted into the sixth council position with 1,898 votes.
He currently works as a product adviser at Cochrane Toyota. He can be reached at [email protected] and will take part in the Cochrane Eagle-Lions Club all-candidates forum on Sept. 26.
