Sometimes it seems like everything is coming together as it should in the Town of Cochrane and then I look closer and the details make me anxious. We look at new development where there could be a much-needed school and recreational areas for all of Cochrane to share and on the other hand we talk about only having water licences to serve 35,000 residents. We are at 25,000 residents now and we have approved development that will accommodate thousands more. How can we consider more development when we don’t know yet where we will get water licences?
We have positive feedback from the provincial government regarding upgrades, serious upgrades to the Highway 1A and Highway 22 intersections, but we have no commitments yet. How can we consider approving more development in this area without a firm commitment? The same commitment we have been struggling to get for at least 15 years.
We’ve got a traffic problem in Cochrane and it is out of our control. How do we put the solution back in to our control. We have a range of between three and 40 trains going through Cochrane per day. Over a 24-hour period that’s at least two trains per hour during some daytime hours at five to eight minutes per train maybe? That’s one-quarter of every hour where traffic cannot move in Cochrane. We have only one bridge over the river that bisects our town and two highways that are way too narrow for the tens of thousands of cars, trucks and transports that travel through our town. When are we going to put the horse first and the cart second?
I know logically and on paper our future tax base depends on growth but growth costs the taxpayers in the first years. When do we play catch up? When do we say enough already? How many more approved developments do we need before we have the infrastructure to support it? Is it time to boost our economy with the building of badly needed infrastructure? Is it time for all residents to write letters, send emails, tweet, twitter and talk to our politicians provincially and federally to get behind us and support real needs in our community? Real people live here. Real people move here every day because the beauty of this area is unmatched in Canada.
We have got to make some noise about what we need in Cochrane to keep this a safe place to live, commute to and from work, get our kids to school, and shop our local businesses. We need the province to assist with securing water licences from those who currently own but don’t use them. We need CP Rail to start paying back to communities by participating in crossing solutions. We need a firm commitment on a highway solution.
I just want to say enough already. Let’s catch up before we approve any more developments. I am pro-intelligent development. I believe politicians and developers have to take the responsibility to make this a great town to continue to develop, move to and live in. Cochrane will remain great only if the stress free lifestyle we moved here for is a reality. Let’s get all levels of government, developers, CP Rail and residents on the same side of these issues!
