The town's tri-site task force is only a few meetings away from coming back to the public with their ideas on how three downtown publicly-owned properties should be used in the future. By mid-December, they intend to bring their findings to town council.

Chair and town councillor Susan Flowers says interest in the public land has far exceeded their expectations and the committee has sifted through vast amounts of information to determine what's best. 

"They're all important, but we need to figure out which ones need to be downtown the most," says Flowers.

"They are such prime pieces of properties and so important to downtown Cochrane's future. We want to make sure we make good use of them and for them to be adaptable as things change over time."

"They (the committee) really want it to be flexible and want to see a sharing of space by things that really go together."

Recently, they reviewed a matrix of the three land parcels in question. The largest and most predominant is on 5th Ave and is currently home to the Cochrane Lions Rodeo Park, Cochrane Lions Events Centre, the Boys and Girls Club, Cochrane's two longest ball diamonds and the empty land where the Big Hill Leisure Centre once stood. The two others are on Railway St., one adjacent to the public library and the other just across the street.

"Urban Systems are doing up a drawing for us to see what the possibilities are and how close we're getting to presenting our optimal ideas to council."

Before going to council, though, the committee wants to go back to the public to present their ideas and garner more feedback. The tri-site committee is meeting tomorrow night, Nov. 8, and the timeline for the open house will be one of the items on the agenda.

She praises the commitment made by the committee members.

"We have a really dedicated committee of volunteers that have spent many hours reading and discussing all the applicants."