As foothills residents recuperate from their Christmas celebrations local councils must get back to work in earnest.
As councils flip the calendar, hopefully they will realize 2011 will be a key year.
For Okotoks council, not surprisingly its priorities will surround water, development and recreation.
First, Okotoks and the Foothills MD reached a preliminary agreement to proceed with a regional fieldhouse through a P3 partnership. This was a huge step forward and both councils should be lauded for realizing this was the best option. Now, they must carry that momentum into the next year and ensure this project is complete sooner rather than later.
With an agreement on the fieldhouse in place, Okotoks and the MD must now sit down and reach an agreement on the Wind Walk development.
Wind Walk, proposed just south of Okotoks’ border on Highway 7, will be a state-of-the-art project and a boon for both municipalities once it is complete. However, the municipalities must come to an agreement on water and the developer, Mike Holmes, should stop his adversarial stance and try and work with Okotoks to make his environmental vision a reality.
Finally, Okotoks council must resolve its long term water issues. It is clear the provincial government is intent on building a pipeline to Calgary — something Okotoks council staunchly opposes. Okotoks must sit down with the Province and find some common ground so the two are not pulling in opposite directions, but working together.
In Black Diamond and Turner Valley the two councils must bury the hachet and work together. They failed miserably with the Sheep River library, but they can make things right with a joint community centre which both towns desperately need.
