Mayor Truper McBride

Moving Cochrane forward requires a strong and vibrant local economy. The Cochrane Sustainability Plan lays out clear targets for our economic growth, speaking to both an increase of 50 per cent in local goods/services consumption and businesses across all sectors by 2029.

With progressive targets like these in place, council has had to develop a clear vision to enable us to achieve them.

While the practice of economic development isn’t new to Cochrane, I believe the new program this council has developed in this area will give the municipality a competitive edge over others in the region.

At the fore front of council’s economic development agenda is the remediation and development of the former-Domtar site now under way.

Once remediated, this land will give way to the single largest commercial and light industrial expansion in Cochrane’s history, providing a wealth of local career opportunities.

The north section will be home to an urban streetscape mixing open plazas and pedestrian malls with boutiques, office space, and residential towers.

The south will provide location for big box stores that will reduce market leakage to Calgary.

Perhaps just as important as the remediation of Domtar for economic development is the introduction of regional and local transit.

Transit has been proven across the world as being a critical piece of urban infrastructure that acts as a catalyst for job creation and smart development.

Transit integrated economic development creates vibrant hubs for commerce to flourish through pedestrian focused developments.

It cuts carbon emissions and curbs urban sprawl, which leads to reduced taxation levels through less municipal infrastructure upkeep costs in the future.

All of this only creates an even stronger environment for business to thrive in. Beyond this, council has begun a process to identify new lands in the south for commercial expansion in the future. Lack of commercial space has caused a great deal of hardship in Cochrane to date and this council wants to make sure we don’t end up in that situation again.

This second commercial node will guarantee new land for business to locate in Cochrane after the remediated former-Domtar site is built out.

This economic development program, which this council is embarking on, will position Cochrane with a competitive edge in the region.

Council knows that in order to be truly sustainable, local business needs to be made a priority.

Our future is bright!

Together ahead!

No related stories.

• Filed under Columns | Both comments and pings are currently closed.

Comments are closed.