Mayor Jeff Genung delivered his mid-year “state of the union (town)” address to a Cochrane Chamber-hosted luncheon on June 19.
Nearly 40 members of the small business community gathered at the Lions Event Centre to network and get a snapshot of where the town is at mid-2019.
While Genung didn’t reveal any surprises not previously brought to the attention of the public, he did provide an overview of where the town is at in relation to its explosive growth with respect to infrastructure, mobility, growth plans and the town vision, connectivity and relationships with bordering Rocky View County and Stoney-Nakoda Nation in Morley.
“Cochrane is in good shape,” nutshelled Genung with respect to the town’s financial status.
He highlighted the town’s “strategic” use of debt - such as the current build of the Jack Tennant Memorial Bridge, paid through off-site levies and through “zero tax dollars.”
The bridge portion will be complete this year, but the entire project won’t be completed and open for public use until fall of 2020, which is on schedule.
Genung stressed that the bridge was not built years ago because the town strategically chose to have “growth pay for growth” and at that time, the bridge would have needed to be paid through taxes, rather than by the development community.
The town is looking to create more balance with the residential/non-residential tax base, which is currently at 85 per cent/15 per cent. Genung clarified the town isn’t looking to drive taxes up for the business community, they are looking to attract more businesses to open up in town – including fostering the tech industry.
With several hundred high-paying tech jobs already in Cochrane, Genung has long been pushing to boost this centre and expand upon the vision of Cochrane as “Silicon Valley of the North.”
He applauded Cochrane headquartered companies such as 4iiii, Garmin and mcTHINGS for already being in Cochrane and looks to his recent trip to Quebec for the annual Federation of Canadian Municipalities conference – which included a stop in Waterloo, ON for a look at the Velocity Garage tech incubator.
The incubator includes more than 80 tech start-up companies, providing subsidized rent and office amenities to small start-ups, to help them get their legs for the first two years.
Genung has reiterated before that he would like to see Cochrane open up something similar.
Connectivity was brought up throughout his speech – in the form of pathways, roadways and railway crossings.
The town is still awaiting the provincial budget this fall to see if the cloverleaf interchange project at highways 1A/22 will be funded out of its design and into its build phase.
“I think people will be shocked when its built and how large its going to be,” remarked Genung.
The town is looking at installing traffic circles at the Fifth Ave and Centre Ave intersections at Highway 1A. Through changes to the Municipal Government Act last year, the town is now able to collect Off Site Levies (developer contributions) for highway projects. He maintains that if Cochrane brings dollars to the table, this will likely push the province to fund these infrastructure projects.
Pedestrian crossings on the books are planned for Horsecreek Crossing, to provide access from the community of Heartland to West Terrace, as well as downtown from the Chicken Lady statue, across the tracks to the Esso Bulk Station lands.
Genung stressed that both these projects are dependent on the timelines of CP Rail, as the landowner, which is a “slow process.”
Development on Cochrane’s borders in surrounding Rocky View County is happening by the thousands and this has prompted this council to develop the “Cochrane Community Vision.”
Feedback at letstalkcochrane.ca is encouraged and Genung is hopeful the town will work together at the community and administrative levels to maintain the town’s autonomy and keep urban sprawl from absorbing Cochrane.
