The Calgary Herald
July 4, 2009
By David Parker

Heading west out of Calgary along Highway 1A for an early start to a tournament at the Lynx Ridge Golf Club, I was amazed at the number of cars driving into the city. Some were obviously from the Bearspaw area, but I suspect most were part of the more than 50 per cent of Cochrane workers who commute daily to Calgary.

I hope most have been able to navigate their way into new parking lots at the recently opened Crowfoot LRT station to ease the traffic on Crowchild Trail.

But the volume caused me to wonder why so many people choose to live in Cochrane instead of Calgary — and, as it turns out, more people are making the move.

The town is quite progressive and Laurie Drukier, who runs Cochrane’s communications department, tells me it has entered into a contract with Twist Marketing to develop a community brand and visual identity program to help its self-image among residents and to attract more visitors, new businesses and homebuyers.

Cochrane has conducted surveys over the past year with a private consultant firm, and obtained feedback from 500 citizens to discover why they like living there and what they think would attract others.

She says town staff was impressed with the work Catherine Proulx and her team at Twist Marketing had done in similar branding exercises for Castlegar and Elkford in southwestern B.C. It met with a steering committee, completed interviews and expects to deliver its first report by the end of this month, followed by a public forum in September.

Drukier says the branding will be more than a new logo and slogan. It will help residents see their community’s value and it will provide the town with market strategies. The branding process will also be part of a letterhead, stationery, website, signage and advertising for use by all departments as well as the local tourism association.

Cochrane is much more than a bedroom community and, despite the downturn in the economy, it has fared fairly well this year. Development permits are similar to last year, a new Toyota dealership is planned, twin arenas are being added to the family sports centre, and negotiations are going well to develop the former Domtar site, an 18-hectare parcel in the downtown core zoned for commercial, but may include residential units above commercial or office on the lands closer to Main (First) Street.

And houses are being built. The most popular new subdivision appears to be River Heights on the south side of the river, but builders are also busy in the north and northwest areas of the town.

A good selection of condominiums and single-family re-sale homes are available in Cochrane, ranging from some two-bedroom apartments in the Glenbrook Crescent area west of the major shopping malls listed around $160,000 to a 4,400-square-foot, five-bedroom beauty on 4.6 treed hectares, listed at $1,640,000.

You can live right across from a favourite destination shopping walk along Railway Street, in a two-bedroom condo built just three years ago for $214,900, or you’ll find a similar property up on the hill on Sunterra Ridge listed at $209,900.

I like the look of a condo alongside the south bank of the Bow River that provides almost 1,500 square feet listed at $435,000.

For those looking for a quiet spot in rural Alberta, yet minutes from the conveniences of town, then the area west of Highway 22 called Toki Estates is a dream — $985,000 will buy you a custom-designed timber home on Toki Road and there is another home that backs onto Jumping Pound Creek with massive Douglas fir beams and 2,400 square feet of living space with an asking price of $785,000.

Another popular area is the Glen Eagles golf course community where $474,000 will get you a 2,500-square-foot former show home.

No question, that with a rising population that has passed the 15,000 mark, Cochrane has a lot going for it and the small-town, friendly atmosphere has proven ideal for many. Plus, it has no parking meters!