What’s on the horizon in Cranbrook

Cranbrook is looking at several initiatives to encourage development and business in 2012

1 of 2Cranbrook Farmers Market 2011 — Cranbrook Photo/Brian Clarkson photo

2 of 2Kevin Weaver is the City of Cranbrook's economic development officer. — Photo courtesy Kevin Weaver

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Cranbrook, B.C., is the hub of the East Kootenay. The city's residents enjoy a lifestyle unparalleled to any other, with Cranbrook's central location to surrounding communities (including Alberta and a major United States border crossing), its strong and diverse workforce, its recreational opportunities and the fact that it has a wide range of strategic services. These include the main campus of the College of the Rockies, the East Kootenay Regional Hospital and the Canadian Rockies International Airport.

Kevin Weaver, economic development officer for the City of Cranbrook, believes very strongly in the future of the East Kootenay's biggest city and believes the lifestyle in Cranbrook should never be taken for granted.

"Over the last couple of years, I've been working in various aspects with new residents to Cranbrook and the surrounding area, immigrants to the country and the community," said Weaver. "After speaking with several of them and asking why they chose Cranbrook, the response I got back is something we often overlook because we see it every day—this is what they envisioned was Canada. We are very blessed as a community."

Weaver cannot stress enough that location is a key factor in Cranbrook's success—and with a wide array of programs and initiatives being looked at in 2012, the city can only grow and progress. Here are a few examples of what's in store for Cranbrook.

Industrial development

A major area of focus for the City of Cranbrook is to encourage industrial development.

"We want to move forward with our airport industrial lands that have been identified," said Weaver. "We have produced a plan for those lands and are now in a position to actually start moving forward to the next level and to look at how to actually undertake the physical development of the land and entice airport-related businesses and related industry to utilize the land we have available."

The City has been working co-operatively with the St. Mary's Band, who is also interested in development, as the band has land adjacent to the airport. The City wants to look at how it can bring those lands into that type of use, or enhance the level of use currently happening to get an even greater return from an economic perspective.

Improving the business climate

Weaver said the City would like to take its already bustling downtown and make it a more attractive place for business and for people to simply enjoy and experience.

"Associated with that, we are going to implement a formal Business Retention and Expansion program through the Economic Development Association of B.C.," Weaver said. "We will have a strategy in place to take a look at where we are currently in our business community, what their current challenges are and what we can do in the long run to strengthen and help address those challenges."

Alternative and renewable energy 

The City is working in a collaborative way with its neighbouring communities—like Kimberley, the St. Mary's Band, the Ktunaxa Nation Council and the Rocky Mountain Trench Society—on the concept of bioenergy.

"We have several projects scheduled to move forward this year related to that," said Weaver, "including a project looking at the possibility of producing dedicated bioenergy crops called Eco-Willow. That would involve taking lands that are not producing as well as they could from an agricultural perspective and see how we can enhance the land and make it more productive and get us off our reliance of fossil fuels for heating supplies for our community. "

The City is also looking at all aspects of enhancing renewable energy development for Cranbrook and the region as a way to improve the environment and improve the community.

The top three reasons to have a business in Cranbrook

Lifestyle

The region itself offers an incredible lifestyle. Cranbrook has a large number of schools with a well-established Kindergarten-to-Grade 12 system. Weaver said business owners want to ensure their families have access to good-quality education. This is attainable right up to post-secondary education, with the College of the Rockies' main campus located in Cranbrook. The city also has hospital services, shopping services and recreational amenities. "Cranbrook is able to offer it all in a small, compact presence," said Weaver.

Location, location, location

"Our number 1 advantage as a community is our location," said Weaver. " We are centrally located to the rest of the region and are within close proximity to major markets as well."

Cranbrook is a major rail hub for the CPR, it has easy access to major highway trade routes and is close to major border crossings such as the Kingsgate border crossing to the United States.

A large existing business community

This enables a lot of collaborative approaches, such as cluster development. Weaver gave the example of the construction trades industry: as you get more and more of these types of businesses, you see complementary businesses looking to take presence in the community. Cranbrook has approximately 1,500 business licences.

"That is a fair number for a community of our size," Weaver said. "I see it as a strength for attracting new business."