A snapshot of 2018 development revealed the least amount of houses built since 2006 last year, although supply remains unchanged.
There were 359 new units built last year, with the majority in the newer communities in town and 229 units from the year before.
Administration delivered a report to council on Monday night – what has become an annual report since it was commissioned by Coun. Morgan Nagel in late 2017.
Land supply remains similar to what was forecast last year, with 9,153 dwellings with land use approvals to be built (of this, 1,198 also have subdivision approval) which translates to an estimated land supply for residential development for the next 15 to 18 years.
There are an additional 2,242 dwellings without land use, included in plans under review, bumping the total land supply to 19 to 23 years and a town population of 57,587 residents.
"I'm very happy this has become regular practise – keeping track of development," said Nagel, who prompted the annual update by administration through a motion over a year ago.
"I'm not thrilled about the population doubling at the whims of market forces," he said, adding that while he maintains his stance on saying no to development, he feels much of it is unstoppable and that the focus has to be put back on long-term planning to deal with the pressures, such as traffic, created by growth.
For Mayor Jeff Genung, who is looking to public feedback to help inform council's latest project – the "Cochrane Vision" (which is an overarching plan to help govern how the town will grow and interact with growth on its borders) – the big take-home message is the need to secure a new water license.
The current water licence, as presented in the previous council meeting through the approval of allocating funds to develop a water strategy, will accommodate 40,000 residents. The town's population is on the brink of 30,000 and Genung said council and administration have already tasked UCP MLA Pete Guthrie to take it to the Legislature to get the conversation rolling with Alberta Environment.
"The story is not going to be that Cochranites will one day go to turn on the taps and nothing comes out," said Genung, who views the slow-down in growth last year as "time to catch up" and added that in order to accommodate future commercial and light-industry, as well as any residential growth, the priority must be on addressing the town's current water license.
Based on administration's report, this means that the current water licence can accommodate 12,040 additional residents as per the 2018 census of 27,960 residents, or 7.7 to 9.1 years of land supply.
The average annual build rate is 505 to 595 units per year, down from 518 to 629.
Last year was not a typical growth year for Cochrane. The town's population grew from April 2017 to April 2018 by 1,640 residents or 5.86 per cent.
