Okotoks annexation good for Calgary
Posted Sep 26, 2013 12:17 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
A highly respected demographer says urban planners should embrace not reject growth.
Wendell Cox of Wendell Cox Consultancy / Demographia , based in the St. Louis , Missouri tells 660News, only through growth can a city or town maintain affordable house prices.
Okotoks proposed annexation plan would add land to the North, West, South and Southeast and would accommodate growth through 2073.
For years many urban planners have been urging municipal officials to rein in urban sprawl, by growing up not out.
Cox says that policy has failed, especially in Calgary suggesting that is why house prices in the Stampede city have increased by 40 per cent relative to income in the past 8 years.
He says if communities like Okotoks and Airdrie are not allowed to grow, Calgary home prices could rival Vancouver in the next decade.
Okotoks officials admit the annexation plan would put additional strains on the water supply, but are confident solutions for both water and sanitation can be found.
Cox agrees and is telling Okotoks next town council to proceed with its proposed annexation plan.
