The Calgary Metropolitan Region Board (CMRB) has entered the second phase of its public engagement on its regional growth plan, and Cochrane Mayor Jeff Genung is encouraging more people to participate.

Genung, who is CMRB vice chair, says he was a little disappointed in the amount of public input received from across the region for what he views as a pathway to the future for the greater Calgary region.

"I've been challenging my colleagues around the CMRB board room table to really do a lot more effort in their own communities to drive the engagement," says Genung. "Cochrane, I am proud to say, was the second most engaged community after the City of Calgary."

He believes it's because Cochrane has been proactive in developing its own vision that was adopted by town council last November after extensive public consultation.  

"We had a lot of residents chime in and I know it's because of the work that we've done with our community vision, and we've tied it in with why we need to fit into the CMRB."

To help promote further public participation, Genung says a highway sign will be situated on the corner of Hwy. 1A and Centre Ave.

The first phase of the consultation was designed to provide a better understanding of what residents' priorities are for managing growth in the region. The input was offered online through a short survey, poll questions, and, for those heavily engaged, a discussion forum.

Now the question has become "how" should it be implemented. The second round basically asks what would different types of development mean for your way of life, and what is important to keep in mind?

Input is being collected until Nov. 27.

This summer, CMRB says they were told participants want less land consumed, more public transit, less water usage, higher density communities, and less money spent on new infrastructure.

The CMRB has translated that to mean a 15 per cent reduction in water and wastewater requirements, 35 per cent reduction in the amount of new infrastructure, 40 per cent reduction in land consumption, 25 per cent reduction in carbon emissions from residential buildings, and 15 per cent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from vehicle kms travelled.

Genung believes being able to work collectively to tackle common issues is the underlining value of the regional body.

He believes the status quo of fighting over infrastructure must end, and the CMRB is the answer. He says there is no need to fear the process.

"We just want to have an overview of how we fit in a region and into the globe, and how we can drive economic development, how we can work together on transit, how we can share costs on transportation infrastructure, how we can lobby the government together... there are so many good things that come out of regionalism."

"Why are we continually rebuilding things and reinventing the wheel in our own little jurisdictions, instead of pulling our head up and looking outside and sharing those costs? That is really the vision I see in the CMRB."

In contrast, Rocky View County continues to lobby for the abolishment of the regional board.

For more details, and to participate click here.

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