Engaged citizens looking to come together have found strength in numbers is best done through the volunteer collaborative efforts of a community association. Heritage Hills, with a population of 1,425 as of 2018, is looking to make the list of Cochrane communities with its own community association (CA), with potential volunteers and future board members looking to meet next month to go over logistics. “This is a dream come true. We need a strong voice ... it’s time,” said four-year Heritage Hills resident Bella Fallis, who unsuccessfully ran for town council last fall and through her door-knocking discovered that many of her fellow community members share the same concerns: development on borders, connectivity to downtown and between pathway systems, traffic congestion along Highway 1A, better representation with town council and commercial development. “I just think it brings the community together and we’re better to speak as one voice,” added six-year Heritage Hills resident Bobbi Ott. Crystal Payant has lived in Heritage Hills for 10 years. It was last month that she put a post out on the community Facebook page – a page she started several years ago which has more than 500 members – seeking interest in forming an association and was met with tremendous response. “I feel like we’re the forgotten ones,” said Payant, adding that the location of Heritage Hills on the town’s western borders with unsafe travel for pedestrians and cyclists along Highway 1A has posed challenges for her family, as well as her neighbours. The future pedestrian crossing at Horsecreek Road will alleviate some of these accessibility concerns for the communities of Heartland and Heritage Hills. The project is in the design phase and no firm timelines have been established yet. “I just want to feel more connected as a community ... and I think it would help with crime,” said six-year Heritage Hills resident Glenda Maru, adding that a community association would give the community a better voice with both town council and the community developer. All Heritage Hills residents interviewed expressed concerns that their commercial development plaza does not include a convenience store – which can be particularly troublesome when Highway 1A gets backed up due to long weekend and summer traffic. Across the highway in Heartland, population of 1,414 this year, community members have just recently started a CA and are in the process of spreading the word and gathering members. “Our commitment as a team is to serve and help connect the people who call Heartland home, giving the homeowners a voice and creating connection opportunities for our diverse neighbourhood,” said Heartland community association treasurer Sheldon Ball. “Given that Heartland is on the edge of town, we are experiencing what appears to be a greater proportion of criminal activity. As such, we have engaged the community and the local bylaw and RCMP to educate our community on how to prevent it.” Sunset Ridge, the biggest community in Cochrane with 5,196 residents as of 2018, has found the efficacy of having an association. “We’re taking an active role in participating in the Land Use Bylaw review ... there’s also a lot of concern about traffic,” said Sunset Community Association acting president Kelli Willisko, who is looking to beef up their membership of 110, at an annual cost of $10, by rolling out a promo that would promote local storefront and home-based businesses while offering incentives for members to shop at these places. Willisko said she feels that an active CA has helped open lines of communication between the community and the town, also by taking part in the biannual CA representative meetings with the mayor and senior administration. The Sunset Community Association is in the midst of registering as an Alberta non-profit, awaiting official confirmation. According to the town, there is no regulated process for setting up a community association – usually prompted by a group of community members getting together with a common desire. In order to be officially considered a community association, it must be registered as a non-profit and can then receive support from the town’s community grant program to cover their insurance. Andy Marshall, past president and former board member of the Cochrane Settlement (East End) Community Association, said that their association – active since 2004 – has helped the East Enders take a unified stance on a number of issues, namely development pressures and noise concerns from both the highway and industrial area nearby; according to the 2018 census, there are 1,442 East End residents. Prompted by the town’s Lower East End Neighbourhood Plan, Marshall said the community association was developed to ensure the community had a unified voice to inform the plan. The East End is the only community in town to have a special R-2X zoning – a transition density from the adjacent downtown that allows for four-plex units in some areas of the community. Jackie Skrypnek, secretary for the Cochrane Settlement Community Association, said the group will be ramping up in the near future to put together a more comprehensive list of community members and better share issues and developments impacting the community, moving forward. According to cochrane.ca, other communities that have community associations are Bow Meadows, River Heights, Gleneagles, Riverview, West Valley/West Terrace and Jumping Pound Ridge.
