On Monday, October 24, Town Council has voted unanimously to purchase the 1.85 acre property between Fifth Avenue and Centre Avenue along Railway Street.  

Mike Korman, Town of Cochrane, Economic Development Manager, says the Integrated Downtown Action Plan (IDAP) marks this location as a good spot for a “Cultural Corridor” joining the Historic Downtown to the Quarry by a pedestrian crossing across the Canadian Pacific Railway.

“We looked at that property as an opportunity to really sell the two downtowns together and create a pedestrian crossing that would create more walkability in the area, increase the intensity of both shopping areas with pedestrians and really provide a way to bring the two downtowns together because they are separated by the tracks”

Another possible option for the land, the IDAP speaks of, is creating a central Transit Hub for a future transit system. Although, Council hasn’t decided on exactly what to do with the lot, Korman says it’s a very good investment for the Town.

“There’s a lot of options. We haven’t explored any of them but we do realize the necessity to secure the land. When you look at the downtown core as a whole, a lot of land is being gobbled up by investors and developers and if the Town wanted to do anything with it and have a presence in the downtown core we really needed to secure at least something and we believe that this is a really good parcel to secure.”

The Town is currently working with the Canadian Pacific to determine what type of crossing will best work for the area. The 1.9 million dollar land purchase is coming from the 'Community Revitalization Levy'.