Environment and Sustainability will be hard at work over the next year creating an Environmental Master Plan for Okotoks.

On Monday, June 26, Okotoks Town Council approved a $100,000 budget amendment to create the plan.

Dawn Smith, Sustainability Coordinator for the Town, says the Environmental Master Plan comes at a good time, now that Okotoks is annexing land and creating a new municipal development plan.

"It's kind of a critical time that we need to set our objectives for how we want to be environmental leaders in our future land development, and also how we an retrofit our existing community to make sure we are protecting the ecosystem in our region."

Smith says creating this new plan will allow the Town access to funding from the Federal Government through the Federation of Canadian Municipalities Climate Innovation Program.

"It's a very active grant program to look at environmental leadership, climate change mitigation, and adaptation measures. To access that future grant money you kind of need to have your ducks in a row on environmental planning, and most municipalities in Canada already have this plan, so it's really time we should be doing it."

The plan is to be unveiled in early 2018, over the next few months the Town will create future ideas for local ecosystems, energy, air, sun, the way communities are built, and transportation.

They also hope to set objectives and targets to ensure developments, and the Town itself are running in the most sustainable manner.

Smith is hoping for public consultations on the plan to begin in the Fall.

"It is the communities plan, but it will also have corporate objectives as well, but mostly it relies on the community and how we're going to be living in the future so absolutely we'll be asking for public feedback."

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