Cochrane Councillor Morgan Nagel put forth a Notice of Motion that would see Cochrane say 'NO' to more development.

On Monday July 11, Nagel took a stand and is looking for Mayor and council support to halt development until we get a grasp on traffic woes.

"The biggest problem in Cochrane is traffic and we don't have any concrete solutions in place right now, but we keep on approving development after development. At some point we just have to say enough is enough until we sort out this traffic disaster that we have; we can't allow people to be building any more homes."

Nagel says for those worried about tax implications, there are a couple of things to keep in mind. Land development would continue for awhile because developers usually have a couple of years of development already approved. Secondly Nagel shares, Cochrane's problem is not with revenue it is with spending.

"If want to look after our taxes, we need to stop spending so much money; I don't think selling out our town to developers is the way to keep taxes down."

One way Nagel proposes to save is by freezing wages on municipal employees.

"Families across Cochrane have been taking pay cuts, hour cuts, or getting laid off, meanwhile everybody who is working for the government is getting a raise every year."

Nagel adds that come budget time he would like administration to become creative.

"We're not going to raise taxes, we are going to freeze these budgets, we're going to freeze these wages, please find a way  to make these work with less."

Nagel says it is not just Cochrane with a spending issue.

"The answer to every problem in government in Canada has always just been to throw more money at it, and we need to stop using that mentality."

While the 1A and 22 is a Provincial project, the second bridge is a long ways away.

"Cochrane is out of money, so the only way we can pay for this thing is through development. The problem is if we approve a whole bunch of homes and collect these levies, we still don't have the land access or land of right ways to build the bridge; so we need to make sure we have the land in place before we go to build more houses."

Okotoks at one point tried to limit growth by placing a cap on population back in 1998, but that motion was lifted in 2012. The population cap was limited to 35,000 people due to concerns of water supply, in 2012 Okotoks council voted to defeat the motion with one of the biggest reasons to keep Okotoks sustainable long term.

Nagels says he would like council to declare a freeze on residential land use designation until the following two criteria items are met:

  • That the Government of Alberta clearly indicates a full financial commitment to upgrading the intersection of Highways 1A and 22.

  • That the Town of Cochrane acquires the right of ways, or land accesses necessary to facilitating the construction of a new bridge across the Bow River.