Living in Cochrane: The Good and The Bad

[Bill Bumface]

Originally Posted by stampsx2

I think he was too, but just the bike ride part not the door to door part.

Do you shower after riding to work? I hope so.

After riding for 8 minutes at an easy pace that is if anything down hill? God no. I don't sweat a drop unless I screw up and over dress. That's what emergency desk drawer deodorant is for

I don't ride in my work pants in the warm months though, I ride in shorts. I also don't lock up my bike. There is a room 30 feet from the loading dock entrance that takes me ~30 seconds to enter the code and put my bike inside. It's right beside the elevator. I will give you that it takes 2 minutes to change from shorts to pants and to put on my work shoes.

The biggest PITA biking in winter is that it adds 5-10 minutes to my commute because of the extra dressing/undressing on either end. When you are throwing on ski goggles, a face tube, 2 pairs of gloves, 2 jackets etc you're easily adds 5 minutes of lead time on either side.

I know tons of people that love to hang out on the train and surf/read/watch shows. I don't really mind the train myself if I get a seat. The times I work now I got pretty tired of trying to cram on them, there is no way to read or surf comfortably when your face is in someone's pit. The morning was always fine, coming home from work SUCKED. Often it would take 10 minutes for the train to get out of downtown, let alone to my stop (when I lived in the NW).

And reading/texting while walking doesn't really work. I always end up walking at about half speed. Much easier on a train.

[soreshins]

7 year old thread bump.

We are thinking of moving to Cochrane. Anyone done that recently or any previous posters have any thoughts on how things may have changed out there over the last 7 years?

[pylon]

I moved out here in August. And I really like it.

The Good:

Home pricing. 300-400k gets you a beautiful duplex attached garage with a mountain view (that's what we're in.) 400-600k gets you a VERY nice home in a new development. 600k to 800k your in Luxury homes with primo river/mountain views. 800k+ your looking at the stuff out at Cochrane Lakes. There are Estate Homes out there that give Bearspaw palaces a run for their money at around half the cost.

The town is very well equipped now, but everything is now in one area, the Quarry. All the big guys are here now, Walmart, Save-On, There's one of everything for restaurants (the Sushi place out here, Sakura, is incredible) and it has without a doubt the nicest Canadian Tire I've ever seen that's open until 10pm.

Extremely dog friendly. For some that might not be a bonus. But there are a lot of dog owners and off leash areas.

Extremely quiet at night. After 10 it's a ghost town.

The Mountain proximity is awesome. Yes it's about half way in the middle, but you don't fight any traffic leaving town. 25 minutes, your at the foot of Mt. Yumnuska. If you hike or camp a lot, it gives you almost the convenience of living in Canmore without having to be a millionaire. This is the main reason I moved out here.

And don't forget being 10 minutes from the good part of the 1A. If you have fast cars/motorcycles, it's as good as it gets around here.

The Bad:

Make sure you leave town before 7:45 coming into Calgary. The traffic from 8:00-9:00 am can get pretty congested at HWY 22/1A. If you are East of that intersection, you're fine, but if you have to navigate it in the morning, it can get ugly. You also must own sunglasses, you are driving directly into the sun most mornings and same coming home. You won't be able to drive safely without them many days. I commute from Sunset Ridge to the Northland Mall area, and it takes 26 minutes to the button almost every day. My folks live in Cranston, and it's 52 minutes in regular traffic.

You will have massive amounts of snow sometimes, and Calgary will just get a light dusting.

Same with morning fog. The fog seems to get trapped in the valley here, and very thick.

Property tax is the same or higher than Calgary it seems. But very comaprable. You won't be saving much.

HWY 1A/22 is very busy on weekends, as tons of people are leaving town for campgrounds/mountains.

Obviously your gonna spend more on Gasoline.

This is kinda the elphant in the room with Cochrane, it is not very diverse. I have heard some people embrace that fact as a bonus to them, some don't care. Personally I don't care either way, as it's the location I was after. My previous residence was inner city in a very eclectic area, but there are very few minorities out here. It's a very white place, and some people may not like that, especially if they are a minority themselves.

Hope this helps.

[Lubicon]

Don't live there but I think Pylon sums it up well from what I can tell. Only thing in might add under the 'how has it changed in 7 years' category is the population is now something like 27 000. It is not a small town anymore by any stretch, and regardless of how Cochran-ites want the town to be portrayed. Arguably it is a small city now but is reluctant to grow up in some ways. Biggest drawback I can see is the road infrastructure is woefully inadequate. Hwy 22 / 1A is a traffic light at two fairly major roads that are only two lanes. As Pylon has alluded to it can jam up spectacularly on weekends in the summary (last summer traffic was backed up for kilometres on 1A on a couple of occasions). The Province is upgrading the interchange in a few years but in the meantime the town continues to add traffic lights and lower the speed limit along 22. The only two roads out of town to Calgary are two lanes (1A does not 4 lane until the top of the hill) and there is still only one bridge crossing over the river.

It seems like a nice play if you don't have to commute or if you can manage your hours to avoid the bad times on the road. People I know who live there love it overall. I couldn't do it based on the transportation drawbacks and my commute but that's just me.

[DownhillGoat]

Originally Posted by pylon

(the Sushi place out here, Sakura, is incredible)

I'm still amazed at how good that place is.

[Harry Lime]

If you are looking for fast paced excitement, cochrane isn't for you. If actually knowing the names of your neighbors is important, then it is.

[Sliver]

Originally Posted by Harry Lime

If you are looking for fast paced excitement, cochrane isn't for you. If actually knowing the names of your neighbors is important, then it is.

Uh, that describes every suburb I've ever lived in in Calgary, too. Not that exciting; know all of my neighbours.

[soreshins]

Thanks everyone for the replies -especially Pylon. That was a really helpful post.

We are looking over in Fireside /Willows / Riversong areas so as to avoid the traffic and get out easily onto Hwy1.

Only issue is it's not really walkable into Cochrane itself from there (takes about an hour according to google maps) and there isn't much in the way of amenities out that way right now.

We need to decide in the next couple of weeks but definitely leaning towards the Cochrane move right now

[Ryan Coke]

I’ve been out here a couple of years and we’re very happy with it. It’s the right size for me. A little more chilled and small townish than Calgary, but enough services at this point that most of everything is right here. And yet still close enough to Calgary for when I want something that isn’t here.

I don’t work a Monday to Friday work week, and don’t often have to commute during prime times. So usually the drive isn’t an issue at all, but even when I am commuting in rush hour it isn’t much of an issue usually. My drive to the airport is a few minutes longer than when I was Deep South Calgary.

I’m not on the east side of that 22/1A intersection though, so it is interesting hearing the issues there.

My wish list is continuing traffic upgrades, in particular that intersection, a Lowe’s/Home Depot, and a Costco.

The only place we’d move from here will have a significantly warmer climate.

[soreshins]

Luckily i can work from home a couple of days a week. However, I do have to head to the airport fairly frequently but it doesn't seem to be too much more difficult from Cochrane compared to our current location. My wife works on the western side of Calgary so a fairly easy commute for her on the days that I don't drive in.

[Harry Lime]

Originally Posted by soreshins

Thanks everyone for the replies -especially Pylon. That was a really helpful post.

We are looking over in Fireside /Willows / Riversong areas so as to avoid the traffic and get out easily onto Hwy1.

Only issue is it's not really walkable into Cochrane itself from there (takes about an hour according to google maps) and there isn't much in the way of amenities out that way right now.

We need to decide in the next couple of weeks but definitely leaning towards the Cochrane move right now

They are building a bridge from Riversong into the Quarry that will be completed next year. It will create it's own traffic problems, but will be great for the people living in that community.

There is also a commercial property being built on the east side of 22 for that community, that will be complete in the fall of 2018.

[flamesfan1297]

Originally Posted by sa226

Man you guys are city slickers....Airdire, Cochrane small town? Aren't they both technically cities?

Exactly what I was thinking. They all feel like a city to me. I grew up in a small town of 3000 people, the only chain restaurants we had were a Subway and A&W. The public transportation consisted of one taxi company, who only had one driver and vehicle.

Fun fact: our only taxi driver got A DUI driving the cab one night. Was a rather cold walk home from the bar that night...

[fundmark19]

I still miss living in Cochrane. I don't think I could go back to the commute but something about it makes me wish I had never left.

[Caged Great]

It's very pretty out there. The views of the mountains and the city are excellent. It's a bit boring in terms of stuff to do, but that could also be said of a lot of areas in Calgary as well.