Oceanwest Development News & Construction Updates

• Construction Update October 2008

  Work has continued throughout 2008 and Oceanwest is looking great. Marine Drive, Odyssey Lane (the private road), and Cedar Grove Place (the cul-de-sac that is in Cedar Ridge phase 2) are all completed. Cynamocka is completed except for the final lift of black top. This will be completed at the same time as the final phase of Cedar Ridge, expected to be next month. Work on that second cul-de-sac is progressing well with water and sewer fully installed and Hydro and Tel well on the way to being complete. The paving crew was booked for the last week of October, but delays with their work on Highway 4 into town has pushed the schedule back one week.

  The only remaining items in this whole section are the installation of rocks with street numbers carved on them (the rocks are already on site but need to be placed properly) and the completion of the next phase of the Wild Pacific Trail. This new section is about 600 m long and loops around the north side of Cedar Ridge phases 2 and 3, connecting the WPT parking lot created in Phase 1 with the Ball park. This will give an alternate loop for people to travel if they do not want to retrace their steps. Oyster Jim once again laid out the route and Greenroom Landscaping are doing the construction. The whole section is roughed in, including three bridges over a small stream, and it is only waiting for the geotextile and crush for the final layer.

  The crusher is back working on the second hotel site for two or three weeks, so the trail will be completed soon. We had the portable sawmill back this summer and it cut most of the merch cedar into product for use around the site, including the three trail bridges and a new lookout near the second hotel site. We will most likely take a break from road construction next year and let the initial purchasers have some peace and quiet and get the first houses built.

• Year end update, December 28, 2007
  The Wild Pacific Trail changes were completed during the summer and the grand opening of the 900 m of new trail was held on September 22. We are really pleased with how it turned out and would like to especially thank Oyster Jim Martin and Green Room Landscaping for their hard work on this project.
  
  Work on the roads has been held up by the fact that we have been waiting for the detailed electrical drawings from BC Hydro. These were finally received just before Christmas, about 5 months after they were due. Because of this delay we decided to do the black top in two layers, and the first layer went down on Marine Drive and Cynamocka in early December, on the last day that the asphalt batch plant was operating before shutting for the winter. The final lift will be put down in the early spring as soon as the plant opens up again and we have a spell of warmer dryer weather. By that time all the remaining work on the first phase subdivision should be completed. Phase 2 of Cedar Ridge, the first cul-de-sac, will be completed at the same time.
  
  Most of the merchantable logs have been stacked in the first hotel site and in the next couple of months we will get the portable sawmill in once again to create material for use in various ways around the project, including more bridges and look-outs for the next sections of the Wild Pacific Trail.
  
  
• Construction update July 17
  Last week we received approval for the routing and design of the proposed changes to the Wild Pacific Trail. The contract for the work has already been signed with Green Room Landscaping and they will be starting the project almost right away. The first section that will be worked on is the route roughly parallel to and west of the extension to Cynamocka so that there will soon be some distance between trail users and the ongoing road construction works. The trail work should be complete around the end of August and it will include some spectacular new sections and viewpoints.
  
  We are finally in the last days of the rock blasting and crushing so are back laying the sewer and water pipes along the last sections of Marine Drive and up Cynamocka. We will then build those road beds and have them ready for paving. The amount of crushed rock we have created is amazing and it is currently stored everywhere. The parking lot we built for future Wild Pacific Trail users is now absolutely full of the material and we also created a new storage area in the first of our hotel sites. But in the end it will all be used on the roads currently under construction. It is all just part of our efforts to use materials that are on site whenever possible.
  
  
• June 7th 2007
  A portable sawmill is just finishing cutting some of the cedar trees that had to be removed during road construction. The sawmill was sited in the new parking lot that has been built for eventual use by Wild Pacific Trail users. The resulting lumber will be used for stairs, bridges and elevated walkways in the 900 meters of new and improved sections of the Wild Pacific Trail through the first phase subdivision. An effort is being made to use all materials possible on site and for the benefit of the project.
  
  
• May 11th 2007
  This week the contractor started installing water and sewer lines in the road rights of way. Blasting of rock for the various roads currently being constructed is about 75% complete and late next week a crusher should arrive to take the rock and crush it into the various sizes required to complete the road bed and surfaces. The look of the work area is about to change quickly and dramatically.
  
  
  
• April 25th 2007
  A large wood grinder started work on the site late last week. All wood or woody debris that is cleared during the road construction is being used rather than put in a dump. This material being ground up will be going into the Catalyst paper mill power boiler in Port Alberni, thus being recycled into carbon neutral energy. The merchantable logs are going to be milled on site and used for bridges and stairs related to the Wild Pacific Trail improvements, and for other features. This is all part of the Oceanwest effort to use natural and local materials on site and, where that is not possible, to minimize waste going to landfill.
  
  
• Westerly News, 24 January 2007
  Letter to the Editor: "Weyerhaeuser update on development"