The last of the community enhancements got voted on at Cochrane Council.

The debatable notice of motion to increase side yard setbacks between homes from 4 feet to 5 feet was carried Monday night by a 5-2 vote; new legislation will take place in January 2017 with allowance for current approved lots to be grandfathered in.

Councillor Gaynor Levisky co-created the community enhancement motions alongside Councillor Jeff Toews; Levisky shares she was happy to see progress in creating positive changes for Cochrane communities.

"Me and Councillor Toews both feel this is a big win for us and were excited that we got that motion passed."

Levisky feels there may be some repercussions but really her focus is on being a voice for Cochrane residents.

"My concern is working for the community, working for the residents. I cannot be distracted whether or not this is going to impact the developers bottom line."

Developers have voiced concerns that the new amendments could impact home buyers by $8-10,000 more and impact their ability to meet density housing targets.

"I have been saying this for three years since I've been elected, we need to do density better in our community and this 8-10 per acre gets us that cookie cutter type of approach and I think there is way more creative ways we can reach our density targets as a community and still respect the environmental concern around urban sprawl."

Alan Boucher, Melcor, Senior Development Manager, says increasing the side yard set backs will in his mind not only impact choice but buyers pocket books as well.

"There is going to be extra costs and decreased choice for home owners in our communities. I think there is a misconception out there that we force home buyers into lots with 4ft side lots but in fact that is not the case. We don't mandate side yard requirements, we find that often times home owners choose to build to the maximum side yard allowance or to maximize the square footage of their home to achieve the biggest bang for their buck."

Boucher adds these changes will indeed see costs go up and may even have a larger community impact.

"These extra costs have to come from somewhere, we will do our best to find efficiency to avoid passing that down to the home buyer because as a company keeping housing affordable is very important, however, that is going to come at the expense of other things. We might have to decrease the level of architectural treatment in the community and possibly look at decreasing some of the amenities in our open spaces. We are going to have to take a hard look at that because those things that are above and beyond the requirements cost money, we like to do it because it is part of our legacy we want to leave behind but at the end of the day affordability needs to be maintained."

Boucher feels unfortunately some of the results will be counterproductive to some of the ideas council was trying to achieve with the community enhancements motion.

Long term prediction of how this change impacts Cochrane could be bigger than expected.

"I think part of the reason the town has seen the growth; and with growth comes a lot of amenities, restaurants, businesses, so forth; a lot of that is the environment and the policies that have been in place. It will certainly change our business plan moving forward."

On a final note, Boucher says increased side yards are not something homeowners are complaining about.

"We don't hear that complaint at all, I have talked to a lot of people who are our customers and buy homes in our communities and they love living in a new home, in a new community, with great amenities, and great open spaces, certainly there is no concern with regards to side yard set backs; 9 out of 10 times they choose to maximize that side yard because they want to maximize square footage in their home as opposed to an extra foot of side yard where grass doesn't grow."

Going through the arduous process of the community enhancements has shown Councillor Levisky that more needs to be done, not less.

"We have gone through this process and have a better idea of what we can change and what we can't; where we can demand different things, and where we've got legislative restrictions. I am happy with the outcome but I think we still have work to do, we've go to continue to raise that bar and expect really great communities."