Town of Cochrane administration complied a list of 10 points to enhance the community during its Dec. 14 meeting, going into detail during a presentation and proposing to establish a mayor and two-councillors task force.
Council immediately disagreed with having a task force.
“I’m surprised to see this as a solution – this is something we are all passionate about,” Coun. Tara McFadden said.
Councillors Jeff Toews and Gaynor Levisky also strongly voiced their opinions in disagreeing with establishing a task force for community enhancements.
The councillors said they wanted to discuss the community enhancements openly and wanted every person involved, not just mayor and two councillors. The community enhancement planning includes community layout and design, densities, traffic and parking, and natural area protection.
In March, administration complied a list of 10 ways to enhance the community, and has since found solutions to six of the items, working with the Cochrane Developers Liaison Group (CDLG).
The four outstanding items include:
– Increasing setback between homes by one foot;
– Homes closer than the proposed increased setbacks shall have no front driveways or street parking;
– Change road standards to accommodate parked cars on each side of the road and two lanes for travelling vehicles;
– Roads with no street parking must have adequate space in lanes with designated parking.
The four outstanding matters are all related to urban design and parking challenges in new residential communities. The presentation indicated developers would like the opportunity to explore options for improvement with council.
Administration proposed to assign a task force with the mayor and two councillors to explore options and collaborate on options for a limited term.
“I don’t want to see a task force. I am probably going to vote against half of it anyways,” said Coun. Morgan Nagel.
Council voted against the task force and will provide further direction to administration on the matters.
