Okotoks lifts population cap

Okotoks town council has lifted its cap on population and is now looking for ways to keep the community viable in the coming years.

Council voted to make the change at a meeting on Monday afternoon.

A population cap was imposed on the community in 1998 and councilors who were on the job when the cap was imposed say that residents were in favour because ‘infinite growth and sustainability are not compatible terms.’

The community was also limited because of its water supply.

Current sources can only sustain about 35,000 people in the community.

The community says in a release that they have been enjoying benefits from many partnerships with their neighbours in the Foothills and will look to them first for answers to their water problem.

They say they are not looking at the possibility of a Calgary pipeline.

Okotoks also plans to annex more land from the M.D. of Foothills for expansion.