Overcoming the challenges of growth and harnessing the potential of it were the main themes expressed during Mayor Jeff Genung’s State of Cochrane address on March 27 at the RancheHouse.
“When managed well, growth isn’t something to fear,” Genung stated. “It’s something to embrace. And this is what growth means– it means a stronger local economy … It’s creating jobs. It’s attracting investment. Businesses are thriving.”
Symbolic puzzle pieces were handed out to audience members during Genung’s speech– highlighting the fact that managing growth is not always easy– that as civic leaders, he, council and Town administration, must find ways to make the complex jigsaw fit together for the overall benefit of citizens.
“I think we have less of a growth problem than we do maybe a congestion problem,” said Genung in responding to criticisms that the Town continues to grow too fast. “And if we can get ahead of our infrastructure, our roads, our schools, our recreation sites, our parks– all the things, the pathways. And when you run into people you can actually say ‘hello.’ I think we are starting to do it right.”
Genung said there is no stopping growth, but proper planning can help Cochrane manage it in a way that mitigates impacts and helps channel growth to benefit all of the community.
“We can’t stop growth, but we can leverage it to improve our quality of life, and that is what we (on council) are trying to do,” he said.
Genung acknowledged the path ahead is not necessarily an easy or a smooth one for the Town. With a projected population boom of between 77,000 on the lower end and 155,000 on the higher end over the next 20 years, Genung said the Town’s Envision Cochrane 2050 Plan will be a guiding document for future councils to manage these numbers.
“We are limited in the way we can generate revenue,” Genung gave by way of example. “I think you are all familiar with taxes. Taxes as well as fees … And grants. Last year I talked about our 10-year capital plan. We are doing planning, and we are forecasting into the future about what we need. And you can see there are $17 million projects and $11 million projects, and over that 10 years we are quickly getting to a billion dollars in needs. Most of them are essential or needed needs. They are for the things that keep the lights on in Cochrane. To keep our service levels at the same level. And they are about improving infrastructure– not the cool things like rec centres and new parks, and all of that cool stuff. It’s the essential things.”
Genung said the Town will seek to use offsite levies so “growth pays for growth’ to reduce the burden on taxpayers.
“We utilize what we call an offsite levy, and it pays for things like Jack Tennant Memorial Bridge. You remember when we opened the bridge— that was paid for entirely through grants from the Province and offsite levies. Zero tax dollars– a $56 million bridge. That was all through offsite levies.”
Genung said Cochrane will also leverage debt which will be paid back by these future offsite levies to get the infrastructure Cochrane needs now, and in the immediate future, to manage growth.
“We have debt we can borrow, obviously, to pay for some of these infrastructure pieces,” he explained. “What we are doing is a strategic use of debt, and it’s not just cover your eyes and borrow all the money, and when we run out, we have a crisis. It’s the opposite of that. We have heard loud and clear that we have got to be ahead of our infrastructure.”
Genung pointed to James Walker Trail as an example of how this can work. The trail which will be expanded and enhanced this year– with developers paying for a stretch of the upgrades and the Town picking up the rest of the tab through debt leveraging to be paid back through future offsite levies as the adjacent developments fill in over the next several years.
Genung also pointed out how the Town is now charging water hook up fees for every new customer that hooks up to Town water, which is being paid into one central fund to help cover future water infrastructure needs.
“When you have a new home, new business, new water meter hooking up to our system, you are going to pay a fee,” he explained. “We already have a million dollars in the bank from that fee. And that is paying for the water new growth is going to demand.”
These are just a few examples of how the Town can leverage Cochrane’s growth to benefit all members of the community, said Genung.
“Growth is paying for growth,” he summarized, “and that’s how we are doing it.”
