Forest Ridge Residential Subdivision

Al-Terra in conjunction with various sub-consultants, was retained to do the engineering design and construction management (including survey) by Qualico Developments for the roughly 78 hectares (ha) of raw land in the Westpark area of the City of Fort Saskatchewan. The development to date (53.5 ha) consists of various low and medium density residential product types, associated municipal reserve parks, a children’s play structure, two inter-connected neighbourhood stormwater management facilities, and about 1500 m of Collector Roadways.

The initial planning and engineering were carried out to preserve the existing natural features, including an old-growth “interpretive” forest and the elevation ridge on the property. An agreement for cost sharing and installation of an offsite sanitary trunk had to be established, taking into consideration the neighbouring developer’s needs, before the development of Forest Ridge could begin.

The property has significant elevation changes, including a 10 m slope, requiring extensive geotechnical investigations during construction. To manage stormwater, an innovative connected dry storm pond system was used due to the sloping terrain and sandy soils. The project also dealt with a high groundwater table and running sand. Additionally, the City requested traffic calming measures at several intersections along the collector roadway.