View from the top: Lookout Playground towers above it all

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For kids, a new playground is an invitation: climb higher, run faster, try the slide you were not sure you could handle, meet new friends, and perhaps most importantly, come back tomorrow and the next day and do it all again.

The new 118-acre community of Sky Ranch in Cochrane Lakes takes that invitation one step further with its newly opened Lookout Playground, a 7.1-acre park with a landmark play structure.

“We really wanted to deliver on our promise to future homeowners and to the broader community that on Day 1 there would be amenities and a community space to call home,” says Jesse LaFrance, CEO and founder of JL Developments, the developer behind Sky Ranch.

Located less than 2.5 kilometres north of Cochrane, the 118-acre community is the first new community to be developed in the Cochrane Lakes region in 16 years. When complete, it will include 646 homes along with three kilometres of walking trails, two playgrounds, parks and other community amenities.

The playground officially opened at the end of August with a themed celebration, giving more than 200 children a chance to explore and to give feedback on the new playground, while the first homes of the 118-acre development were just beginning to take shape.

LaFrance says that putting the playground and other public spaces in before the homes was a deliberate decision.

“The idea was to give prospective homeowners a better sense of what they were buying into rather than asking them to imagine what the neighbourhood might look like several years down the road. In our industry and in new community building, quite often amenities follow after rooftops start. Rather than waiting three or four years, we really wanted to flip that on its head and try to build that story from Day 1,” he says.

Construction of Sky Ranch began this summer, with 254 residential lots planned in the first phase. More than 20 homes were under construction on the playground’s opening day, while show homes are planned for a grand opening in the spring of 2027.

LaFrance understands the value of a playground beyond just play; seeing it as a way to connect the community even before people move in.

“Being a dad of three, I’ve spent the better part of the last five years at playgrounds. I’ve met friends. We’ve met our neighbours at playgrounds,” he says. “Having that open space and that dialogue where families and friends can get together with their children can’t be understated.”

The playground is home to Alberta’s first Volo Aire climbing tower, a three-storey, net-based structure and only the second of its kind in Canada. Designed by Vancouver-based Habitat Systems Inc., Volo Aire offers plenty of opportunity for adventure and exploration. Children can navigate tunnels, tubes, nets and climbing elements before choosing between a spiral tube slide and a straight slide. The tower also features and interior cargo-net climb and an exterior scramble. And then there is the big one: Alberta’s tallest fully accessible playground slide, sending riders whooshing 20-feet downwards from the top of the tower to the ground.

“We really wanted to create a landmark and a regional amenity with the playground,” says LaFrance.

 As such, the design team landed on a mountain theme for the playground, designing large mounds in the rubber mat playground flooring to emulate mountains and to give further climbing play opportunities. The Volo Aire play structure was further customized with an artist- created mountain range landscape laser-etched into the exterior silhouette.

Glow stones embedded in stamped-concrete pathways throughout the community and the playground create a subtle night-time experience, mimicking constellations while helping the community maintain its dark-sky principles.

Keeping within the mountain-theme, home designs include duplexes, row housing, single family and semi-estate product. Three architectural styles — Rocky View Farmhouse, Rocky View Prairie and Sky Ranch Modern — are intended to reflect the area’s agricultural history and former brickmaking heritage.

The builder group includes Akash Homes, Artistique Homes, Bedrock Homes, Fifth Avenue Homes, Luxuria Homes, Tamson Homes and Victory Homes.

Show home openings are planned for the spring of 2027.