New, West Storm Mgmt. Pond 6
Residents of Valley Pointe Way & Place are concerned about the impact of a new storm management pond (referred to as Pond 6) to be constructed by AT/EllisDon during Spring/Summer 2020. Pond 6 is required to manage storm water run-off from the new and expanded TCH, as part of the WCRR project.
On May 30, 2020, AT provided further details confirming commencement of construction for a new stormwater management pond ("Pond 6") to be located within the highway right-of-way immediately west of Valley Pointe Way and the existing storm pond. Stripping operations of existing trees and brush from the construction site occurred in late 2019 / early 2020.
Pond 6, will be two to three times the size of the existing storm water pond and is required to handle stormwater runoff from the doubling of existing lanes on the Trans-Canada Highway being built as part of the West Calgary Ring Road (WCRR). The existing pond is owned and operated by The City of Calgary to manage stormwater runoff from nearby residential streets.
Below are two excellent drone shots of the construction site taken in early July 2020. They were kindly provided to us by a real estate company via a resident of Valley Pointe Way. The first photo is taken over the west edge of Valley Pointe Way looking southwest across the existing pond, the pond 6 excavation site, then across the TCH. The second photo is a southeast view from north of the construction site across the SE corner of Valley Pointe Way / Place, the TCH and Crestmont towards COP and the downtown skyline. They really give a sense of the scope of this project and its proximity to adjacent homes.
Pond 6 is classified as a wet pond, designed to capture, and temporarily contain stormwater runoff for some of the sediments and pollutants to settle out, allowing cleaner water to return to the Bow River via Coach Creek. Coach Creek is shown in the schematics below, flowing north from Crestmont, below the TCH via two culverts, and west of the Pond 6, ultimately draining into the Bow River. Currently runoff is discharged into Coach Creek untreated and uncontrolled; the installation of Pond 6 will result in an improvement to the stormwater management in the area.
The present site of the future Pond 6 is a mounded hill requiring a significant excavation to reduce the elevation in preparation for the future Pond 6. AT's two schematics below show further details of the excavation including a plan view of the pond location and two cross sections: J and K. AT advises that equipment required will include bulldozers, backhoes, large rock trucks, graders, packers, and water trucks. A significant number of dump trucks will be required to haul excavated material away from the work site.
WET POND 6: SECTIONS J and K
There were early community concerns that EllisDon would successfully apply to the City of Calgary for a haul permit for dump trucks through the residential streets of Valley Ridge to provide access to the Valley Ridge Blvd / TCH interchange. In February 2019 we advised the City's Director of Roads of the community's concerns and are therefore pleased to see that EllisDon's contractors will instead utilize an east-west haul route along the north side of the Trans-Canada Highway (red & green arrows), to access and haul material away from the work site to the interchange. We have modified AT's schematic shown below, to include the approximate location of Pond 6 together with enhanced labelling for the reader.
During construction, AT advises that adjacent residents should expect increased dust and noise from construction activities and changes to the visual landscape as construction progresses.
AT advises the new, stormwater management pond 6 will not include landscaping, beautification, or a pathway.
AT has not advised of the expected start date for actual excavation nor the expected duration of time for hauling excavated material from the construction site.
