Twin Brooks Community Design Engagement – Introduction

Meeting Date: March 21st, 2017, 6:00 pm – 9:15 pm Location: #301, 1103 – 95 Street SW

Attendees: City of Edmonton (CoE), Builder (Landmark Homes), and Community participants*

–       City of Edmonton: Tim McCargar, Prabhat Dahal, Bill Harris

–       Builder: Gurpreet Singh, Rui Huang, Heather Vera, Tanya Rumak

–       Community Participants* (community)

On the evening of March 21st, 2017, the above representatives met to provide information and to solicit input into the City’s Twin Brooks First Place Design Engagement introduction Meeting. Design Engagement coordinated by Landmark Group of Companies and City of Edmonton representatives

Welcome and opening comments, design Process objectives, process road map and evaluation process

Tim McCargar from City of Edmonton thanked and explained

• the process and the opportunity for the participants involved in the design engagement process,
• expectations of design engagement participant,
• how the design engagement process will be evaluated, and

○      Participant satisfaction with the process & meeting organization,

○      if participants felt staff were helpful and courteous,

○      comment on the opportunity to provide feedback,

○      if comments and concerns were acknowledged and, if reasonable responses were provided and

○      if the final design fits within the community

• how we will communicate progress made in design of new homes.

Landmark Homes- Introduction, past projects and building practice

The builder presented their first place projects from the past, their construction practices, sustainability practices, and value added practices

The builder presenting was reflective of past consultation, process and outcome in different neighbourhoods

The builder provided commitment to work with the community to create a design that compliments the neighbourhood.

Design engagement roadmap

 * individual representative names taken out for privacy reasons

Twin Brooks site information and project safety plan

Twin Brooks construction will follow a safety plan that works for the residents, students, and sports field users.

The Builder, apart from their regular on site safety process, will

• do regular communication with stakeholders on safety measures and procedures
• project perimeter fencing to separate the public from the construction activities. Gates to be kept shut whenever possible during construction activity and locked when there is no construction activity
• signage noting project entry requirements including but not limited to Personal Protective Equipment, Hazard Assessments, Contacts and Emergency Procedures, Muster Point.
• provide contact information for the site superintendent
• will meet with school to develop communication channel and provide safety measures
• find common ground to resolve emergent issues related to safety

Discussion of participants interests and concerns as reflected in pre design engagement survey

The survey broadly provided preference of the design engagement participants on

• architectural style,
• open space/landscaping,
• parking,
• fencing and number of bedrooms.

Survey result will influence the site plan, landscaping plan, and detail design of Twin brooks First Place homes.

How we will share information about the design engagement process with residents

The City and Builder (Landmark Communities) will ensure timely and transparent communication with all stakeholders of development.

The City is planning to communicate with each resident via neighbourhood wide mailer once the First place home design is finalized through design engagement process.

Development of meeting key messages and future meeting dates

Key message and future meeting dates including venue and time will be discussed at the end of every engagement meeting. Next meeting dates will be decided on consensus.

Questions and Answer from the first engagement meeting

1.     Average Bearspaw Selling Price

At present, homes in Bearspaw and Kernohan are selling at around $300,000, including the land value but excluding applicable taxes. Home costs in Twin Brooks will determined by the new home builder and market conditions and influenced by the design engagement process.

2.     What is the price of home comprised of?

Total home price is comprised of three cost; home cost, deferred land value and the GST.

3.     What are property taxes for those units?

Property taxes vary based on location, size, and type of homes. At average First time home buyers are paying between $1750-$2000 annually (2016-2017).

4.     What is the estimated project timeline?

• Public awareness and open house: November-December 2016
• Design Engagement Process: February-May/June 2017
• Development Approval process: Oct 2017 – March 2018
• Estimated construction start: May 2018
• Estimated Construction and Sales completion: 2020

5.     When do you expect sales to begin?

Sales are expected to begin in Summer 2018

6.     What is the density/maximum number of homes allowed for Twin Brooks site? The exact number of homes to be built will not be known until the design engagement process is complete. The builder estimates the building site would support between 35-40 homes. The maximum number of homes allowed under the current zoning for approved building site is 43.

7.     Are there HOA fees? Condo fees?

All First Place Development are under build under Condominium Property Act. Thus, Condo fees is applicable for all homeowners on First Place Program. Homeowner’s fee is dependent on the existence of Homeowners Association in the neighbourhood.

8.     Any past First Place projects have solar panels?

Not yet, but homes in Bearspaw and Kirkness are built solar ready.

9.     How conflicts or different opinions during the design engagement session got resolved?

Design Engagement is a process of consensus building. Most of the outcome from design engagement is based on agreement between the participating residents, builder and the City. We hope to achieve this by providing transparent information and options that works for everyone including future first time home buyers.

10.  Does it matter to builder how many units are going to be built?

Yes, it does. Land deferred price is directly impacted by the the number of homes being constructed on the site. Land price is proportionately distributed to each home. Less number of homes result in higher price for the land and vice versa. Apart of number of homes, builder is going to upgrade site with landscapings, road structures, dirt managements etc. All those common property upgrade cost will be eventually distributed into each unit’s sales prices.

11.  Is stucco finishing a feasible exterior finishing option for this First Place project? Here in Edmonton market, there are two types of stucco available, EIFS and traditional stucco

EIFs stucco

• joints between EIFs stucco and window/door/exterior plugs are prone to water leakage, regardless sealant method, windows will leak at some point.
• regardless the quality of workmanship, EIFs Stucco cavities caused by “water intrusion” is just matter of time, which could cause serious wood decay and rotting.

Traditional Stucco (Portland Cement)

• portland Cement, just like any concrete, only can to be applied at optimum temperature. this is not realistic for townhome construction due to its long project span (construction thru winter season)

other things to consider

• stucco crack could be a issue during the transportation from our factory to job site
• condo fee and insurance could be a lot higher for constant stucco repair and maintenance
• it can only be applied in summer without the cost of wrapping the building.
• for repairs, it is very hard to find a color match.

12.  How will Landmark address the safety precaution measures during the construction (Larkspur had large fence and full time security on site)?

13.  When Twin Brooks First Place site construction will start?

Already addressed under point 4.

14.  Will this development worsen the parking issues on both side of 12th  Ave? Parking on First Place Program follows City of Edmonton’s Zoning Bylaw standard. Often, the number of parking spots provided greatly exceeds the zoning requirement. The Builder works closely with design engagement participants on parking issues and resolves them with proper planning and design. So far, none of the First place program sites have spill-over parking issues.

15.  Apparent sewer repair along 113th Street, and on 12 Avenue between 112 Street and to 111th street.

We have checked with the City’s Integrated Infrastructure Services (responsible for Drainage design and construction) and they have indicated that the work on 113 Street near the sanitary lift station in 2014-2015 was for relining of certain sanitary pipes. These pipes were installed in about 1989, and the City, as part of ongoing operation and maintenance of drainage systems, determined that they were needing repair. This was for a few segments of pipe only. We were not able to find a record of construction work being done recently along 12 Avenue, and it may have been related to EPCOR work on water system, or if it was drainage, may have been of a more minor nature or a service repair.

16.  Will the new development overload the existing sewer capacity?

The existing sewers in 12 Avenue were designed for the additional school which was determined to not be needed. As such, the remaining sewer capacity from this surplus school site is available for the First Place site. Further, due to the larger size of the sewers within 12 Avenue, the additional sanitary and storm flows generated from the site are a small portion of the existing pipe capacities. The response by Drainage Services from the review of the subdivision for the First Place site did not identify concerns with sanitary servicing, and required that the storm drainage service for the site to the storm sewers (minor system) be restricted, with onsite storage provided for up to the 1 in 5 year storm. Although it was not anticipated that there would be concerns with the sewer capacities, we asked Drainage Systems Analysis to check their system models, and they confirmed there is capacity for the First Place development at Twin Brooks.

17.  Will this development cause additional surface run-off and what is the effect on south west water pond levels?

As is typical of current stormwater system design, the minor, or generally the piped, system handles up to the 1 in 5 year storms, with the major system, usually by overland flows, handles larger storms by directing flows to a stormwater management facility (SWMF or “pond”). For the Twin Brooks First Place site, the major drainage will be directed to 12 Avenue, where as per neighbourhood design, it will then flow west then south into the pond.

Regarding surface runoff, yes, the development will likely increase it as compared to current state, as would the development of the site for a school. But for smaller storm events there will be storage on site, and the controlled stormwater flow discharges to the pipe (minor) system that doesn’t go to SWMF(pond) anyway. For the major drainage, the pond’s water level is controlled, so it shouldn’t exceed the maximum level unless the inflow exceeds what the outlet can handle. For the 0.8 ha site, a quick calculation for the hypothetical water level change in the pond if the full runoff from the site for a 1 in 100 storm went to the pond and was not able to leave the pond appears to be about 2.5 cm.