Having a proposed community hover on our borders is not supported by all Cochrane Council members.

Cochrane Councillor Tara McFadden says we need to push back, as the proposed Glenbow Ranch Area development will have negative impacts on Cochrane.

The proposed development over the next 10-15 years will add roughly 14,000 people to our borders impacting  everything from traffic to social services.

McFadden believes communities like Cochrane need to take these bordering 'towns' seriously.

"It's a pressure we are all facing. It is not something we can just let fly by. Right now through the growth management board we are all kind of reviewing what we need to do for the long term sustainability of the region. This is a huge threat to Cochrane and we need to come up with a plan to deal with that, but were not alone in dealing with this challenge. So we have look to our neighbours Calgary, Airdrie, Chestermere they're dealing with the same problems and come up with a regional solution for sprawl on our borders."

McFadden says do we need a 'hamlet' with half the current population of Cochrane butting up next to us?

"Do we really want a city that is that large? Just because we can sprawl...should we? We moved out here for that small town feel to be our own community to have our own identity, if Rocky View County is going to surround us with cities and towns, we are just going to create an uber city for Calgary so that identity will be lost."

McFadden adds that while traffic will be a nightmare, recreational services and even Glenbow Provincial Park will be affected.

"I don't think adding a 'city' of 14-16,000 people in anyway compliments the purpose of a Provincial Park. When you look at the wildlife corridor that development will cut that in two, so you will just end up with a large urban park."

Councillors Jeff Toews and Morgan Nagel, though not supportive, see this development as the lesser of two evils. Nagel adds that while he would prefer Cochrane stay a small town forever, this is at least a more beneficial option.

"If we have to develop this, this is pretty nice stuff. Fifty years from now Calgary is probably going to touch us, that is just reality, if this is what gets built it is better than high density all the way from Calgary to here. Potentially this could secure the Cochrane region as the nicest part of the Calgary region with the Provincial Park and the river through there. I would rather nothing was being built but if something has to be built, it is good for the future of Cochrane."

In McFadden's eyes this does not need to go through and she asks fellow Cochranites to email Rocky View County Council as well as our Provincial representative, MLA Cam Westhead and express your concern.