Cycling Calgary's surrounding communities

On the rim of on-street bike lane initiatives in Calgary, more cyclists are looking to transport safe pedal-power to smaller cities around southern Alberta.

Met with controversy by some motorists, Calgary has approved 260 kilometres of on-street, 3.1-metre wide bike lanes to go along with a 550-kilometre pathway system.

While bike lanes may be the trail to two-wheel success in Calgary, many smaller centres are relying on an array of paved and non-paved pathways to accommodate a growing number of free-wheeling travellers.

But while multi-use pathway systems may be an attractive option for recreational riders and casual commuters, hard-core on-street distance riders like Nick Lynem have experienced some road sharing concerns with automobiles.

Community in midst of urban hen pilot, continues sustainable practices

There's some fowl play underway in Okotoks these days.

The town, just 15 minutes south of Calgary, is in the midst of an urban hen pilot, which started May 1 and runs until September of next year.

"Two to three months ago, there was discussion in council, which was public, and they decided shortly thereafter to move to pilot project status," said Jon Begg, communications manager for the Town of Okotoks.

Surrounding communities hold their value

The appeal to small-town living just a stone's throw from the "big" city is nothing new. Yet recent housing market intelligence suggests it's more than just lifestyle preferences driving homeowners beyond Calgary's borders.

While slower economic activity has influenced housing markets across the province, CREB®'s latest Surrounding Area Quarterly report found prices in areas surrounding Calgary have remained fairly stable.

The Parkhouses in Okotoks to launch May 1

A "pocket neighbourhood" in the popular Okotoks community of Drake Landing will be offering active, mature homebuyers an alternative to constricted apartment-style living.

The Parkhouses, a unique 50-plus adult-living project by Lifestyle Homes, will launch sales May 1.

The neighbourhood will include 31 semi-detached villa-style bungalows with front porches and rear-attached garages that will all face inward to a common park space for residents.
This pocket neighbourhood designed to promote social interaction between neighbours will be a first for the town just 18 kilometres south of Calgary.

Calgary councillors, local food activists working towards urban hen pilot project

A prominent local food activist is urging the city to rethink their opposition to backyard coops, arguing the advantages of urban livestock far outweigh their potential drawbacks.

"[Hens are] amazing for (the consumption of) organic household wastes. They're amazing for pest control in the backyard, they eat bugs and all kinds of different things," said Paul Hughes, a farm manager with urban farm Grow Calgary and the founder of the Canadian Liberated Urban Chicken Klub (CLUCK).

"They then will produce from that consumption of food and feed. They will produce a beautiful, nutritious egg that has about 33 per cent more nutrients than what we call an industrial egg from a battery-cage operation."

Small-town community feel, a stone's throw from Calgary city limits
While it's a quick jaunt from Calgary's southern limits, residents of Okotoks are happy with the small-town feel the town possesses.

"I like living in Okotoks because it is family-oriented, family-focused, has a small-town community feel and it is 10 to 15 minutes away from the city," said community resident Charlie-Mae Marlatt.

"There's so much to do here; fishing, rafting and camping, a person can go on and on."

Derived from the Blackfoot word for "rock", Okotoks is one of the fastest growing communities in Canada.

Calgary's neighbouring towns look ahead to 2015

Riding right along with their larger sibling, the towns around Calgary enjoyed a banner year for real estate in 2014. Topping the 4,439 sales seen in 2013, 2014 saw sales rise to 5,513, an increase of 24.2 per cent.

Airdrie was one market that posted particularly good sales activity in 2014, increasing annually by nearly 28 per cent to a new all-time record high of 1,695 units. Okotoks recorded 770 sales, narrowly beating out the 748 sales seen in Cochrane.

When looking for a reason so many communities outside of Calgary are seeing such a pronounced increase in sales, the relative affordability available in centres like Airdrie, Okotoks and Cochrane could be pointed out as a key factor.

Affordability driving sales growth in Airdrie, Cochrane and Okotoks

Calgary's surrounding communities and their respective residential resale housing markets are continuing their torrid pace in 2014, with 4,449 homes overall exchanging hands for the first nine months of the year, a 26 per cent increase compared with 2013, according to CREB®.

Airdrie, Cochrane and Okotoks all saw double-digit sales growth on a year-over-year basis.