Drainage, traffic and diminished property values are three concerns residents have in regards to the proposed Westgate Business Park and Greenfield Estates development.
Only 14 residents attended the public hearing at the Town of Westlock’s July 4 council meeting to voice their concerns.
Council ultimately gave second reading to the area structure plan with third reading scheduled for its next meeting which is slated for July 17.
Mayor Ralph Leriger said Westlock’s future health will be determined by investment and growth.
This development fits in with the community’s future success.
“We looked at all of our challenges, and there’s lots of them. There’s aging infrastructure, the cost of policing — which is going to be significant,” said Leriger.
“In almost every case the answer to them is growth. It’s my belief that we haven’t grown because we haven’t tried.
Featured prominently among residents’ concerns was the flow of water and avoiding another “once in a century” flood like the one that ravaged the town Aug. 22.
Town of Westlock chief administrative officer Dean Krause said they’ve taken water flow into consideration as a requirement for the developers.
“Storm water has been my nemesis for over a year,” he said as he pointed out the planned drainage system on a map.
“What’s being proposed is a storm water pond. Storm water ponds have to be designed to withstand a 100-year flood.”
One area the town and developers are looking to address is the current flow of water. Part of the area structure plan for the development includes installing an underground storm system and re-working drainage ditches to move water towards a storm basin east of the Rotary Spirit Centre
“The development helps the whole residential area which doesn’t have a storm water pond right now,” said Krause.
Westgate Development Ltd. president Tammy Kemna noted that the current pond east in the proposed development area was dug for a previous development that never went forward and had no infrastructure to enable water to flow in and out.
“Water goes in and has nowhere to go, so right now it has to be pumped out,” she said. “When we develop, we’ll put in an inlet and outlet which will allow the water to go into the stormwater system the town has in place.”
Kemna added that as developers Westgate Development Ltd. is required to ensure water flows out of the pond at a rate of four litres per second, considered a slow rate, to avoid overwhelming the town’s storm system.
“When we develop it actually will help a lot of the concerns that were brought up,” she said. “Right now, it’s just surface water, it’s not going into stormwater.”
A secondary concern brought up by the residents is the type of residences being constructed and traffic issues.
Kemna told the crowd that the plan was to have commercial properties closer to Highway 44, with residential developments further to the west, cumulating in seniors housing next to the Rotary Spirit Centre. The Greenfield Estates development will connect the existing Rotary Trail and extend around the storm pond.
Under the plan, the development will include 54 low-density homes, or R1 properties, and 58 medium-density homes, or R2 properties. Also on tap are two, six units townhouses.
“We’ve tried to do as much as we can to have parking off the streets,” said Kemna. “All of the driveways are in front of the homes. We’ve tried to do a good mixed use and blend it.”
Also part of the development would be connecting 93 and 94 Streets as part of the Westgate Business Park. Kemna added that Alberta Transportation approved both the traffic impact statements Westgate Developments Inc. had submitted the same day as the hearing.
