Don't expect growth to slip too much in 2010 and 2011 with the planned completion of the 32nd Street traffic corridor.
The corridor will boast two bridges - one spanning the Sheep River and a second one over the CPR rail line - and give Okotoks a badly needed second north-south major roadway to take the pressure off Highway 2A.
The project is set to open in April 2011, but it's already influencing the marketplace.
"That's increased the property values all along 32nd Street," said Shane Olson, the town's economic development team leader.
"We're getting all sorts of calls now because of that project."
Interest in industrial land in the town-developed Okotoks Business Park expansion has been increasing, making the municipality contemplate raising its prices.
The $27 million corridor is being two-thirds funded with federal and provincial infrastructure cash, with the city and its development community paying the rest.
While Okotoks remains home to surplus condo units built or started during the boom of 2007 and 2008, the single-family home market is powering along as the economy keeps picking up.
Okotoks issued permits for about $62 million in new construction in the first half of 2010, up substantially from about $26 million in the same period last year. The 2010 figure includes over $6 million in commercial projects, but the rest of the $62 million is almost all new single-family homes, said Olson.
Business growth is also significant, with Okotoks now being home to over 1,500 licensed businesses - including more than 500 home-based businesses.
Okotoks took a crucial step this year in securing additional water for growth through a deal with an energy company that owned a licence to pull water from the Sheep River.
The deal involved a $1 million payment by the town to a charity to be managed by the energy company.
"This water-licence transfer is a landmark decision that will benefit our community for years to come," noted Okotoks Mayor Bill McAlpine when the deal was finalized.
It will allow for urban growth to a scale that once seemed unlikely for the community - which could someday see a population of 60,000 in the town itself, despite a civic drive for moderate growth.
from Western Investor, September 2010
