Okotoks saw business, employment growth in 2011
Economy: Industrial sector saw highest growth in more than five years
Okotoks’ economy is on the upswing after seeing significant growth in businesses and jobs in 2011.
There were 177 new businesses opened in Okotoks last year, ranging from small, home-based businesses to large commercial or industrial operations. Of those, 120 were home-based and 57 were storefront, which includes retail stores or offices.
Shane Olson, Okotoks economic development team leader, said the 177 new businesses also created 506 new jobs last year, including single-employee, home-based businesses and others who employ larger numbers of people.
It’s the first year the Town has tracked the number of jobs created by new businesses opening in Okotoks.
“We haven’t done that before because a lot of people weren’t providing us with data on how many employees they had,” he said. “We’ve refined our processes to collect that.”
One new Okotoks business owner is optimistic about the coming year for himself and his employees.
Sam Chahda, owner of Yoga Elements, opened the business in September with six contract instructors. He now has nine contract instructors, a number he thinks will be adequate for some time.
Four of his instructors live in Okotoks with the rest are from Calgary.
One thing that worried Chahda was he wouldn’t find enough qualified yoga instructors in Okotoks. However, he said he was surprised to find there were a lot of people in town who had the skills he was looking for.
“I was pretty surprised at the depth of yoga instructors in Okotoks,” said Chahda.
He said having good instructors was important to the initial success of his business.
Chahda said the business started small and has been slowly growing and improving.
“I’m pretty hopeful as with any new business, I’m hoping to at least double my membership over the next year,” he said.
Instructor Andrea Salamon lives in south Calgary and works at the studio part-time. She admitted she hadn’t given much thought to working in Okotoks before and she enjoys working in town.
“I knew Okotoks was here and I knew it had a strong community and growing population,” she said.
She added the job has shown her what Okotoks has to offer.
“It’s opening my eyes to new businesses I wouldn’t have seen before,” she said.
Olson said 2012 is shaping up to be a good year led by major projects, such as a new Best Western Hotel and the Westmount Square office building.
“We’re starting to see the upward trend of another wave here,” he said. “It’s not going to be at the 2007 levels, but on the business growth side we’re feeling pretty confident we’re going to see some growth.”
Olson said one of the priorities in the coming years will be attracting new businesses to the South Bank Business Park area, which will be helped by the new Best Western Hotel to be built near Costco.
He said he is seeing more interest in locating to Okotoks from businesses contacting his offices, with October, November and December being the busiest months of the year for inquiries.
Olson’s predictions come after Okotoks’ businesses sector grew in 2011.
There were 1,602 businesses in Okotoks last year. Of those, 603 were home-based, which is up from 590 in 2010.
While some businesses closed last year, he said the number of businesses in town was still up 2.56 per cent in 2011 compared to 2010.
In 2011 the Town’s industrial sector saw the most growth in more than five years.
“We issued a total of 11 industrial permits in 2011, worth a total of $2.3 million in construction,” said Olson. “It sounds like a low number, but that’s the highest that number has been in five years or more. Industrial has always lagged.”
In 2009, there was $1 million worth of industrial projects in construction value and 2010 only saw $355,000. For several years prior to 2009, Olson said there were no permits issued for industrial construction. He credited the recent expansion of the Okotoks Business Park for the increase.
At the same time, commercial construction has slowed from $20.4 million worth of construction in 2009, when the Westmount retail area was built, to just under $6 million in 2011.
Okotoks’ commercial and industrial sectors also beat out residential growth in 2011.
According to Olson, residential development outpaced commercial and development growth but this trend started to change last year as the number of housing starts dropping by 27 per cent in 2011.
“The residential piece has certainly leveled out… but it’s saying the non-residential side is picking up,” he said.
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