COCHRANE— The Calgary Metropolitan Region Board and its 10 municipal partners have voted to support the proposed regional 2021 Growth and Servicing Plans during the board’s meeting on May 21.
Of the 10 municipal partners, representatives from Airdrie, Calgary, Chestermere, Cochrane, High River, Okotoks and Strathmore voted to support the plans, while Foothills County, Rocky View County and Wheatland County all voted to oppose the plans.
The plans will now be sent to the Minister of Municipal Affairs, Ric McIver, for review and approval.
The Growth and Servicing Plans was developed around a set of overarching principles and goals based on environmentally responsible and sustainable growth management. These principles align with Cochrane’s strategic planning documents, including the Municipal Development Plan, Sustainability Plan, and Cochrane Community Vision, Genung said.
The Growth and Servicing Plans will guide the growth of one million people and 600,000 jobs over the next 30 to 40 years. It is designed to generate a 40 per cent drop in land consumption, 15 per cent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, 15 per cent reduction in water use and a 35 per cent reduction in the amount and cost of new infrastructure through the collaboration of resources between municipalities.
The Calgary Metropolitan Region Board was a provincially mandated initiative launched in 2018 to recognize the benefits of shared efficiencies while reducing economic, social, economic, natural and fiscal characteristics through the regional growth management of the 10 municipalities involved, said Cochrane planning services manager Riley Welden.
One of the main focuses of the Calgary Metropolitan Region Board is based on doing what is best to secure the long-term success and viability of the region in its entirety, said a statement issued by the Town.
The plan, the statement says, aligns with Cochrane’s strategic planning, including the Municipal Development Plan, the Cochrane Sustainability Plan and the Cochrane Community Vision.
Mayor Jeff Genung said he felt the plan supports Cochrane Town Council’s vision for the future of the municipality.
“At the early onset of the CMRB, Council and senior administration recognized the need to ensure that any commitments made to the Calgary Metro Region needed to align with our vision for our community,” Genung said.
Genung said Town Council came together to form a collective vision for the future of the community that is based on four goals, to maintain the small-town community identity, to protect Cochrane’s open and natural spaces, to create a complete community and to maintain a vibrant economy.
The Calgary Metropolitan Regional Board’s Growth and Servicing Plan “supports this vision in its entirety,” he said.
Mike Derricott, the Town’s chief administrative officer, said that the approval of the plans will have no significant impact on the “day-to-day planning efforts” of the Town.
“What the Growth Plan does achieve for Cochrane is it helps to ensure there isn’t significant development occurring on our borders which creates pressures on our own Town infrastructure, and ultimately, on our tax-payers to support,” he said.
Some of the Town’s guiding documents, like the Municipal Development Plan, will need to be updated to reflect the changes included in the Calgary Metropolitan Region Board’s Servicing and Growth Plans.
“We will need to update our Municipal Development Plan to ensure it is consistent with the Growth Plan, which we have already planned to do in 2022,” Derricott said.
