@downthepub Can I ask, roughly where do you live in Calgary? We spoke to someone from Calgary and they recommended staying out of the NE, due to the crime etc. and suggested that the NW would be better.

@qman8166 When it came to satellite towns the same person also mentioned Airdrie as somewhere to look at as apparently the commute times are shorter. Somewhere else to look at.

I'm (just) SW, between downtown and 17th Avenue. I would avoid the NE too, but in general Calgary is pretty safe.

As a few others have said there's nothing wrong with the towns you've mentioned but I'm not convinced they offer anything you can't get in the city. Calgary has lots of greens spaces, for us we are walking distance to Glenmore reservoir and 5 minutes drive to Fish Creek Park. Walking distance to elementary and junior high schools and four sets of shops. Short drive to Southcentre or Chinook and easy public transport into the city centre.

Personally I would stick to the more established suburbs in the NW or SW and depending on exactly what you want and your budget there is plenty of choice.

I was chatting to someone (a Canadian) a while ago who when he moved to the Calgary area a few years ago wanted the "small town" setting and decided that High River offered that but not Okotoks. I would guess Okotoks is now significantly bigger than when he looked and seems as though it will continue to expand, particularly around where the Home Depot is on the southern edge of the town.

I agree, there is no difference between Okotoks and most communties in Calgary, cookie cutter, all of them!

Aidrie to the SE is a nightmare.

I think Okotoks has a population limit due to the water supply. Or at least that's what we've read and were told by our friendly Okotoks Realtor.

Hoping to land there some time around christmas if all goes to plan. Although where we want to live seems to change constantly. Firstly decided on Okotoks then NW Airdrie then New Brighton now back to Okotoks (Cimmaron to be exact)

I certainly don't think your realtor should be using that as a selling point for the town.

Apparently the population of Okotoks has been "capped" several times over the years - and then gets "re-capped". They will have to tap into the Calgary pipeline if they decide to go over their 30,000 population limit - and then who knows how big it will grow!

The "do we/don't we get water from elsewhere" argument is one of the points all the potential councillors are using in their attempts to get re-elected this fall.

Hi guys,

Thanks for the comments, interesting reading.
We have finally negotiated a deal on a rental property in the SW, its beautiful and perfect and right up our street, Its a great fit for all of us so we are sooooo pleased.

So how many of you are in the SW? do you enjoy it, we've been a couple of times and it looks a great place to live.

Mike

The present population is 21k or so it can get a fair bit bigger before reaching the 30k cap. As you say even then it will be easy enough to install a pipeline for water supply from Calgary. They can also get the water by taking over existing water abstraction licences. As you say, the idea that the 30k cap is somehow a definite block to expansion is fanciful.

http://www.montrealgazette.com/life/...873/story.html

Spent our first 3.5 years in Calgary living in Evergreen. It was lovely, but has changed a lot in the past 10 months since we moved. So many new houses right next to where we used to live, I don't recognise the place
We initially sold and thought of moving out to Ontario, but are now in SE Calgary as we feel there is better access to Deerfoot.
SW Calgary is nice. Much better transit links, although there is the new BRT in Mac Towne but not tried it out.
Once you have established yourselves a bit, you will find which area of the city is the right fit for you. Renting is definitely a great idea when you first come over as you could find where you like and where you need to be are 2 different things

I think the cap applies for the time being, although.....

In Alberta there will never be a permanent "cap" on town and city populations. Legislation provides for cities and towns to "annex" land from their rural neighbours when they start to run out of land supply. That's why Calgary has expanded so much in recent years.

Once Okotoks has solved the "where will the water come from" riddle, no doubt it will annex more land for future expansion.

Give it a few years and Okotoks will be part of Calgary anyway!!