The Town of Cochrane announced April 14 it has signed a service agreement with the City of Calgary for fire response.

In the case of such an agreement, each municipality maintains jurisdiction within their borders and identifies the circumstances under which they'll ask for assistance from neighbouring municipalities.

For the third consecutive quarter, sales growth in all communities surrounding Calgary was in the double digits. In addition to lifestyle preferences, demand in surrounding areas has improved due to the relative price advantage over Calgary and less supply constraints in many of the surrounding markets.

During the first quarter of the year, 44 per cent of new listings in surrounding areas were priced below $400,000. Within the city of Calgary, 23 per cent of single family homes were under this price point.

For those in search of community, culture and culinary delights, Calgary's inner city is the perfect place to call home.

For those seeking a home in communities bordering the downtown core, walkability is a huge factor when it comes to inner city life.

"The biggest thing I love about living in the inner city is not needing a car to get to everything," said Beltline resident Mark Pfeifer. "I can walk to everything I need to including work, grocery stores, parks, the river, pubs, restaurants etc. I do have a car, but it is primarily used to get out of the city, generally to the mountains."

The Alberta Real Estate Foundation (AREF) is partnering with the Alberta Emerald Awards to sponsor the Shared Footprints Award celebrating excellence in land use.

The Shared Footprints Award, which recognizes excellence in Integrated Land Management (ILM)—a strategic planned approach to managing and reducing the human-caused footprint on public and/or private land—was created in 2009 in partnership with Alberta Sustainable Resource and Development.

Home sales are up in Canmore.

Home sales in the mountain town hit an all-time high, topping pre-recession levels not seen since 2008. The town saw an increase of 38 per cent from 365 home sales in 2012 to 503 home sales in 2013.

The City has submitted a $900 million flood repair list to the Alberta Government.

The list of projects has been submitted for provincial funding, but councillors are requesting city administrators categorize the list into musthaves and nice-to-haves.