Interested parties will soon be able to put down their deposits for residential and business lots in two new Westlock developments.
Westgate Developments Ltd. will hold open house events July 19 from 3 p.m. to 8 p.m., July 20 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and July 21 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Westlock Inn for the Westgate Business Park and Greenfield Estates.
Potential buyers can take the opportunity to have a look at the development plans and reserve lots, while presentations are planned from Joel West 67, a custom-home builder owned by Tammy Joel Kemna.
Kemna has over 20 years of experience with land development and is invested in Westgate Developments.
“I own a land development management company. I manage their projects right from designing it architecturally and the area structure plan, the liaison with the municipal governments, I deal with the engineers. I’m your quarterback that does the work,” said Kemna.
“My job with Joel West is I put a community together. With the land developer, I’ve been the land development manager, bringing forward the area structure plan. … I actually sat with the engineers when we were designing the lots.”
At the open house events, Kemna says “we’ll be showing what kind of homes can be built, what the architectural controls are, what the colours are … and you can reserve your lot” and put down deposits.
The architectural guidelines and controls are intended to make sure the community looks and feels consistent.
Joel West will provide renderings of potential homes, floor plans and general indications of what can go on the lots. Interested production builders can then use those as a baseline, purchase any number of lots and commit to build homes.
A homeowner could also custom design their own home with a builder, with the caveat that it fits within the architectural controls identified in the area structure plans.
“The developer will interview the builder to ensure their quality and their experience,” said Kemna.
Westgate Developments provided the area structure plan to the town in 2017 and applied for a rezoning request. The bylaw changes and rezoning were accepted in 2018.
Kemna explained that in 2018, things slowed down “because a lot of due diligence and research was put into the engineering of these areas. There was quite a concern for the stormwater and the stormwater management.”
What followed was a process of problem-solving amongst the town and land developer engineers, resulting in the pond and drainage system in Greenfield estates.
Moving on, construction will be done in phases, which were outlined in the development agreement signed at the Mayor’s Breakfast June 12. The breakdown will also be available at the open house.
Phase 1 for Greenfield Estates, and the main focus for land developers, is the stormwater management system. Cut-and-fill (removing top soil), which changes the levels of the land, is part of this as well, since it affects how the water runs through the pieces of land for drainage.
Herve Faucher, Richard Faucher, and Jim Biblow are the partners in Westgate Developments Ltd. Individually, they have over 30 years of experience in similar projects.
“The owners of Westgate Developments and myself, we all come with backgrounds and we all come with corporations. We’re putting together a well-fitted, book-ended development,” said Kemna.
