Mayor Jeff Genung boarded a plane, joined by several Town of Cochrane staff members and members of the business community this week to Waterloo, Ont. to look for a starting place to design the town's potential future technology/innovation hub.
What will be located on the second, and possibly third, levels above the future transit hub is something Genung is looking to Waterloo's highly successful Velocity Garage – an incubator hub with more than 80 start up tech companies in the heart of the region, providing shared space and important start-up resources to keep expenses low and help young companies to get a good base before going out on their own.
The transit hub will be built on the former Esso Bulk Station site across from the Cochrane Public Library, using GreenTRIP federal grant dollars that must be used within a specified time frame. Genung wants to build onto this and is hopeful the Velocity set up will inspire out-of-the-box design with significant cost savings.
"I think we're in the perfect storm to be positioned as a digital tech hub," said Genung, who will be accompanied by the town's newly acquired architect/design consultant, as well as other administrative staff.
The project still needs to be costed out and approved by town council and will likely hinge on what grant dollars are available.
It was at the June 24 council session that administration was directed to return with costing and a business plan to develop the transit hub and innovation centre to incubate tech start ups and businesses, as well as town satellite offices. This phase of the project is estimated to cost $7 Million, including $4.5 M in GreenTRIP transit grant dollars with a deadline to be spent and an additional $2.5 M in borrowed funds to be recovered through tenant lease payments.
This is the first phase of the Tri-Site implementation plan – which also include future plans to develop the library site, as well as the rodeo grounds along Fifth Ave, to include expanded seniors housing, social services facilities and an expanded park and rodeo grounds facilities.
Genung is looking to gain insight from the Waterloo successes, hopeful to find some significant cost savings and building innovations.
On the horizon
As the fastest growing community in Canada, Cochrane's growing pains have clogged headlines in recent years – with traffic woes at the forefront.
Genung said in the face of the continued push for the province to budget for the interchange project at highways 1A/22, social infrastructure has fallen behind and he believes that much of this council's legacy will be bringing services such as sports fields, RCMP/bylaw facilities, transit and arts/culture in line with the town's growth.
"What is our legacy going to be?" said Genung, with reference to his question he is looking for the other six members on council to answer to.
Although this council will cut the ribbon on the Jack Tennant Memorial Bridge next fall, Genung said the heavy lifting was done by previous mayor Ivan Brooker's council and with on-demand transit on the brink of launching this fall, as well as other social infrastructure projects including Horse Creek Sports Park and the Tri-Site Project in the works – he is looking to push forward on these projects to ensure the town is a complete community before growth pressures plague the residents further.
"We need to look internally to see how we're prepared for market pressures to come."
