Alberta's stormy economic climate has slowed the development of homes in Cochrane to a rate unseen since 2006.

In a 2018 development summary presented to council tonight, planner Nicole Tomes said Cochrane saw 359 new units developed in 2018, down by 229 units from 2017. It's lower than the last development downturn in 2011 when 372 residential units were built and it's the lowest in 12 years.

Despite that, Cochrane's population is expected to have grown an estimated 6.2 per cent, about 1,640 people from the 2017 census of 27,960.  Results of the 2019 municipal census are expected to be released later this month and by these projections that would put us around the 30,000 mark

Town Chief Administrative Officer Dave Devana told council unless economic conditions change it's unlikely the town will hit the four per cent annual growth projection that is the basis of the town's financial planning in its current three-year budget. He says it won't impact the 2019 budget passed earlier in the evening but would show its face in 2020.

Despite the major downturn, Cochrane's growth projections remain steady and are comparable to last year, the report states.

All in, residential developments at all stages of approval will accommodate forecasted residential growth for the next 19 to 23 years and house a population of 57,587.

Our water supply, though, is not as good of shape and is currently estimated to support a population of about 40,000 people. Our current water licence is estimated to accommodate growth for the next eight to 10 years. At the previous council meeting, $110,000 was approved to develop a water strategy to address this major issue.

The report points emphasis has been placed on council's objective to increase the availability of commercial/light industrial land, particularly by approving the Greystone area structure plan and neighbourhood plan.