Supporters gathered for the annual State of Cochrane address from Mayor Jeff Genung Thursday evening at the RancheHouse heard good news and bad news on the topic that probably was the most talked-about last year – traffic woes.
Genung admitted it was a challenging year, with multiple projects undertaken simultaneously. He kicked off the Growing Pains section of his talk with a picture of traffic backed up at barricades and construction signage in town, saying he took a lot of those types of shots last year.
“And I had a lot sent in to me, too,” he added, to laughter from the crowd of about 120.
Their mood was dampened a bit after he showed some shots of the completed Highway 1A project and, after referencing how Cochrane is still growing and will continue to grow, added a glimpse into the future.
“Every year you can expect to see multiple complex projects underway,” he said.
One of the many ideas the Town is considering to perhaps ease a little of that pain is allowing 24-hour construction where possible.
The speech was peppered with admissions of things the mayor said could’ve been handled better but were somewhat to be expected in the fastest growing town in Alberta.
He showed pictures of The Quarry back in 2001, noting many residents felt it was a bad decision to launch a reclamation of the site and wrote scathing letters to the editor about Genung and others that supported it.
“What was once a contaminated eyesore in has been transformed into a vibrant extension of our downtown area,” he said.
“I had people tell me they would never shop in my business ever again and wouldn’t be caught dead in Walmart. Well, fast forward to tonight. My family business is still intact and I’ve seen a couple of those faces in Walmart over the years,” he said.
He pointed to statistics that showed the end result. In 2013 the assessed value of The Quarry area was $94,067,000. By 2022 it stood at $1,425,302,000.
COLT under fire
The COLT transit system was highlighted as an area that many people had complaints about. Genung admitted the current system is not meeting the needs of the community, and that “COLT needs a jolt.”
This too was an area that has been affected by rapid growth.
In 2019 there were 11,464 riders. There are now over 68,000, Genung pointed out, before promising council was working on gathering data to inform how the transit service will be improved/reorganized to meet the needs of the community.
Housing stats
In 2023, 944 single family homes were sold and 510 new ones were started in Cochrane.
The average home price has continued to rise. Genung said the average home price now sits at $633,025.
New business licenses and active business licenses both increased as well.
Town spirit
Genung said he was proud of the way the town responded to the water break last year that sparked a declaration of a State of Local Emergency. He highlighted the fact that through it all, no one in town had to go without water. He promised a full accounting and a report on what actually caused the break would be made public when complete.
He also singled out the Filipino Canadian Association of Cochrane Alberta (FCACA) for particular praise, as a “group that epitomizes the spirit of community engagement.”
He said the FCACA (looking somewhat taken aback at their table, by all the attention) is dedicated to uniting and supporting the estimated 1,000 Filipino-Canadians living in and around Cochrane.
Just recently, amidst a difficult period for a family struggling with a serious medical diagnosis, the FCACA participated in organizing a fundraiser for the family, demonstrating once again their compassion and dedication to helping others.
Capital plans
The recently updated 10-year capital plan contains projects totalling close to $1B in capital needs, which he said clearly means the Town will need to figure out how to balance dollars in vs dollars out.
“I can confidently say that we do not have a billion dollars,” he said, which also elicited constrained laughter.
“There will be a significant gap between our revenues and our needs,” Genung said.
At one point he made another admission, with respect to the challenges coming amidst a period of rapid growth with no letup in sight.
“I have to be honest with you though folks, our growth, Cochrane's growth, will continue, and I'm a little bit scared to be honest with the amount of growth we're going to be facing in coming years,” he said.
But he didn’t allow that frank admission to hang in the air long.
“We’re up to the task. We are. We got this,” he said.
