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DownhillGoat · 10-23-2013, 02:42 PM

I'll throw my 2 cents in, although I'm a bit of an anomaly, I'm sure.

I lived in a DT condo for the better part of 10 years, but worked west of town, and got tired of fighting rush hour traffic after night shifts, so moved to Cochrane to be closer to work.

Some of my other reasoning:

- Access to mountains. It took me 15 minutes just to get out of the elevator/parkade on a good day. Then another 15 minutes to the #1. Then another 15 to get to the Petro-can. However I usually ski/hike on weekdays, so throw rush hour into that mix too. Right now I can probably stand on my balcony and hit the 1A with a well thrown stone. Hit the 1A, go through Morley, and onto the #1 cuts down a ton of time. Also, it's nice to come home, grab a bite to eat, then motorbike to Canmore and back on the 1A, but you already covered that.

- At the time I built, it was marginally cheaper than Calgary. I can't comment on the current market.

- As for why would you build in a cookie-cutter community in Cochrane vs Calgary, the yards (I use the term loosely) are slightly bigger. In some cases in my neighbourhood, a lot bigger (the guy across from me parks his RV and his toy hauler in his side yard. Yeah, it's not like a 1960's yard, but I can't touch my neighbour's house and mine at the same time.

- Having everything close by is nice. Dr's office, grocery store, recycling centre whatever. All within 5 mins.

- It has a nice vibe.

Now, for the downsides

- I moved here with my (now) ex. Being single in Cochrane sucks. Your options are either young married women, or high school girls (insert dazed & confused gif here). I really don't recommend going after either.

- As mentioned already, your friends won't come to visit. I know people that will drive 45 minutes from the south of the 22x to see someone in the NW, but put a highway in the mix and you may as well be talking about a different country.

- The 1A/22 intersection sucks. As of the last election, the Tories took the intersection improvements out of the provincial budget. Not sure if that's changed since. The signal is better now, but you can still be stuck for 6 lights before you actually can get into the empty turning lane. Also, all you DT parasites that come out to use Ghost Lake on the weekends just clog everything up. Stay in Sikome!

- It's windy as hell. Annoyingly so.

- The night life is nonexistent. Well, except when fundmark is at BP for cheap schooner night. If you think him ordering off monoprice is funny, you should see him order beer after 4 schooners.

As for your question about taxes, I'm paying around $1900 on a 1600 sqft. walkout. A family member is paying around $1600 on a 1700 sqft non-walkout. I can't really compare that to Calgary since that was a condo, but maybe some of the Calgary homeowner's can chime in.

My ex worked in Crowfoot near the BMW dealership. It was 25mins, door-to-door.

Neighbourhoods I'd look in - Fireside (easy access to 22/#1 - but they're getting a Tim Hortons up there, so that might add for congestion, haven't seen the plans yet), Heritage Hills (easy access to 1A - also, in Heritage Hills you wouldn't have to turn on the 1A/22 intersection, just go straight through to work).

Neighbourhoods I'd stay away from - Gleneagles (they had some retaining wall issues there years ago. I'm sure it's fixed now, but I'm always leery when engineers try to re-route nature...). Also, given the flooding this year, I'd stay away from lower Jumping Pound Ridge, or anything else in the flood zone. I'd also stay out of Riversong. The drive in there is about 4 kms of school zones and other 30 zones. It's a pain since they've re-routed everything. * * * edit : I just found out that it's now 50 km/h there, but they're losing a traffic lane to town homes, so I doubt it'll be any better * * *

I have a few friends in Sunset Ridge. Not bad. You're turning on the 1A/22 to get to the NW, and getting onto the highway from there can be a pain at times, but it's not horrible. Nice enough area, liquor store and a gas station up there now.

I think I got most of it. If you've got anything else specific, shoot me a PM or post back in here.

10-23-2013, 02:42 PM	#83
DownhillGoat Franchise Player Join Date: Jan 2010 Exp:	I'll throw my 2 cents in, although I'm a bit of an anomaly, I'm sure. I lived in a DT condo for the better part of 10 years, but worked west of town, and got tired of fighting rush hour traffic after night shifts, so moved to Cochrane to be closer to work. Some of my other reasoning: - Access to mountains. It took me 15 minutes just to get out of the elevator/parkade on a good day. Then another 15 minutes to the #1. Then another 15 to get to the Petro-can. However I usually ski/hike on weekdays, so throw rush hour into that mix too. Right now I can probably stand on my balcony and hit the 1A with a well thrown stone. Hit the 1A, go through Morley, and onto the #1 cuts down a ton of time. Also, it's nice to come home, grab a bite to eat, then motorbike to Canmore and back on the 1A, but you already covered that. - At the time I built, it was marginally cheaper than Calgary. I can't comment on the current market. - As for why would you build in a cookie-cutter community in Cochrane vs Calgary, the yards (I use the term loosely) are slightly bigger. In some cases in my neighbourhood, a lot bigger (the guy across from me parks his RV and his toy hauler in his side yard. Yeah, it's not like a 1960's yard, but I can't touch my neighbour's house and mine at the same time. - Having everything close by is nice. Dr's office, grocery store, recycling centre whatever. All within 5 mins. - It has a nice vibe. Now, for the downsides - I moved here with my (now) ex. Being single in Cochrane sucks. Your options are either young married women, or high school girls (insert dazed & confused gif here). I really don't recommend going after either. - As mentioned already, your friends won't come to visit. I know people that will drive 45 minutes from the south of the 22x to see someone in the NW, but put a highway in the mix and you may as well be talking about a different country. - The 1A/22 intersection sucks. As of the last election, the Tories took the intersection improvements out of the provincial budget. Not sure if that's changed since. The signal is better now, but you can still be stuck for 6 lights before you actually can get into the empty turning lane. Also, all you DT parasites that come out to use Ghost Lake on the weekends just clog everything up. Stay in Sikome! - It's windy as hell. Annoyingly so. - The night life is nonexistent. Well, except when fundmark is at BP for cheap schooner night. If you think him ordering off monoprice is funny, you should see him order beer after 4 schooners. As for your question about taxes, I'm paying around $1900 on a 1600 sqft. walkout. A family member is paying around $1600 on a 1700 sqft non-walkout. I can't really compare that to Calgary since that was a condo, but maybe some of the Calgary homeowner's can chime in. My ex worked in Crowfoot near the BMW dealership. It was 25mins, door-to-door. Neighbourhoods I'd look in - Fireside (easy access to 22/#1 - but they're getting a Tim Hortons up there, so that might add for congestion, haven't seen the plans yet), Heritage Hills (easy access to 1A - also, in Heritage Hills you wouldn't have to turn on the 1A/22 intersection, just go straight through to work). Neighbourhoods I'd stay away from - Gleneagles (they had some retaining wall issues there years ago. I'm sure it's fixed now, but I'm always leery when engineers try to re-route nature...). Also, given the flooding this year, I'd stay away from lower Jumping Pound Ridge, or anything else in the flood zone. I'd also stay out of Riversong. The drive in there is about 4 kms of school zones and other 30 zones. It's a pain since they've re-routed everything. * * * edit : I just found out that it's now 50 km/h there, but they're losing a traffic lane to town homes, so I doubt it'll be any better * * * I have a few friends in Sunset Ridge. Not bad. You're turning on the 1A/22 to get to the NW, and getting onto the highway from there can be a pain at times, but it's not horrible. Nice enough area, liquor store and a gas station up there now. I think I got most of it. If you've got anything else specific, shoot me a PM or post back in here.