Whether they stay in their current location or move, the Cochrane and District Agricultural Society (CDAS) is confident they have a business plan in place that will lead them into the future.

But with only seven-years left in its current lease of 146 acres on the corner of Hwy. 1A and Hwy. 22, they need to get an answer soon from Rocky View County (RVC) officials on exactly where their home will be.

During RVC's Policy and Priorities meeting, May 1, CDAS president Justin Burwash presented their recently completed needs assessment and business plan that charts the incredible success they've experienced over the last five years and how they want to enhance the grounds to foster further growth. 

The top priority coming out of the plan is determining where they will be located and once that is finalized they want to formalize a network of stakeholders, finalize the infrastructure plan then put the framework in place to capitalize the project.

"We really need to determine if we're staying long-term on our current site or if we're going to relocate to a new site," says Burwash.

The120-acre conceptual plan reorganizes and enhances existing facilities and uses in a more orderly manner while adding a campground to accommodate users while creating a revenue stream to help offset operational costs.

120-acre concept plan for CDAS.

RVC council was told if CDAS stays in its current location it could cost upwards of $17 million more to execute the plan because of two major expenditures: $10 million to prepare a flat development envelope and $10 million in off-site levies to the Town of Cochrane. Whether there are ways to reduce these costs is something they are willing to explore further and have had some preliminary discussions.

The plan estimates it would cost $33 million to use the current site and $16,090,070 at any other location. A supplementary expansion of the arena and stables is estimated to cost $7,458,000 at either location.

One of those possible future locations is a piece of land the town is currently negotiating to annex from the county in the northwest corner of Cochrane. The estimates provided are based upon the assumption there will be no-off site levy charges applied by the town to hook up to the town's water/waster system at this new location.

Wherever their new home is there are many financial hurdles that will need to be jumped, points out Burwash. He says the new site has a lot of pluses but says there are other things that need to be taken into considered.

"It's a very flat piece of land that will have services and roads and access. There's a lot of things that come easy with that site, but there's less character, there's less history, there's less passion for that piece of land compared to the heritage and history for the piece of land we have now. It means something, so we need to navigate through all of that and try to come up with a balanced decision."

"If RVC really wishes to stay on the current site, we're very committed to solving those big-ticket items first because we know we can't get anywhere without solving those first.  We're trying to find options, even before the decision is made."

Either way, the CDAS is excited about the future.

"We've had tremendous growth over the last five years and our services and events are growing. We know the demand is there, we know we can do a good job at it, we have an extremely talented board, so it's very exciting."

The plan not only talks about the future needs of Ag Society grounds users, it shows just how successful the organization has become over and how it has done so in a sustainable and profitable manner while having considerable financial spinoff to the Cochrane area.

The CDAS conservatively estimates their annual economic impact is $3.4 to $4.3 million. Its annual operations revenue was just below $600,000 in 2017 and last year alone saw a jump from about $440,000. In five years it has grown to about $580,000 from just shy of $400,000. Now over 65,000 participants and spectators use the Ag Grounds annually.

There are many reasons for this growth, but Burwash drew particular attention to the Cochrane BMX Association for having a significant impact on the Ag Grounds and for being a leading BMX organization in the province. There's also been a growing number of activities at the Ag Grounds on a regular basis as well as their own hugely popular Cochrane Fair in August that has been growing in leaps and bounds since introduced in 2013.

Most questions asked by councillors centred around understanding the costs and barriers related to staying at the current location. The report was accepted as information. 

Discussion on the future of the Ag Society began when the society was denied a 50-year lease extension requested in 2015, followed by RVC deciding to sell the land should a suitable proposal come forward. No such proposal has been received as of yet.

CDAS is within town limits but the land is owned by RVC.