CALGARY — The Town of Okotoks has decided to ditch its cap on population growth.

On Monday, council voted five to two in favour of the motion to eliminate the town’s 30,000-population cap, which was enacted in 1998 as part of a sustainability plan.

Coun. Matt Rockley lauded the decision, saying it will spur new opportunities.

“It’s the Town of Okotoks responding to a change in times,” said Rockley, who was elected on an anti-cap platform in 2010.

But veteran Coun. Laurie Hodson described it as a “dark day for Okotoks.”

Hodson said he fears urban sprawl will bring “big city problems.”

“Council has taken its foot off the brake entirely,” he said in an interview late Monday.

The bedroom community south of Calgary has seen its thriving population outstrip its water supply over the past five years.

Its population surpassed 24,500 last year, soaring from 17,150 in 2006. according to census data.

The Sheep River, which supplies the town’s water, can only sustain about 32,000 people.

Dealing with the population boom has been a highly divisive issue for more than a decade. About three-quarters of residents reported concerns over population growth in a survey commissioned by the town in April. Meanwhile, 84 per cent of respondents expressed trepidation over the town’s water supply.

The town must now arrange for a regional water system that uses Bow River water or another nearby source. It will also have to annex land from the Municipal District of Foothills to accommodate growth.

Mayor Bill Robertson voted in favour scrapping the growth cap but helped defeat a motion to build a water pipeline to Okotoks from Calgary.

Robertson worries about a loss of autonomy: “The elephant controls what the mouse is going to do.”

The mayor added it’s unsustainable to move water over long distances, and believes council should explore other options such as off-stream storage, harvesting rain water and sourcing drain water when deciding what to do next.

bweismiller@calgaryherald.com