ABout US
Developer Initiatives
SHEET FLOW STORM WATER MANAGEMENT
A first in Alberta! Committed to our vision of building an enviro-conscious community and conserving as much of the natural landscape as possible, we decided not to strip and grade the community site like a typical development. With Urban Systems our engineering partners, we’ve successfully integrated a Sheet Flow Stormwater Management system into our community preserving native trees, shrubs, grasses and flowers, and considerably reducing landscaping expenses.
MATERIAL MANAGEMENT OF GRAVEL ON SITE
When we started this development a 10-acre burrow pit 35 feet deep sat in the south east corner of the project. This area was used by City Power (TransAlta) to build the dam and subsequently used by the Municipalities in the area as a gravel source.
At the water front at the west end of the development a cliff existed 55 feet straight up off the lake edge. We lowered the cliff by 25 feet then sloped it back at roughly a 3 to 1 slope. This allowed us to move 140,000 cubic meters of pit run material from the waterfront back into the south east corner and reclaim the old burrow pit location. At the same time we crushed enough gravels to build the roads within CottageClub, the 1A- Highway intersection and Range Road 60. As a bonus the bottom sand on our beaches came from pockets of sand found with CottageClub that we were able to repurpose.
RE VEGITATION
We are also proud that we were able to re-vegetate the waterfront area with the same material that existed before we took the cliff down. By stripping off the top 12 inches of vegetation & soils in this area, storing it and then placing the same material back down within 2 months the vegetation did not start decomposing. What this means is today we have the same wild grasses, shrubs and flowers that existed on the cliff prior to development.
NATURESCAPING
Our approach to management of storm water was built around protecting the natural shrubs, grasses & flowers that exited on site. To this end we protected all the green spaces from the start of the development. CottageClub sits on land with 1 to 2 inches of topsoil followed by 98 feet of pit run & gravels then sandstone & shale. These conditions make for difficult growing conditions but as always nature has looked after us. Protecting green spaces makes sense. We then extended the thought process by mandating natures cape on lots. We provided a native seed mix to lot owners that contains grasses native to the area and we encourage transplanting of native shrubs prior to foundation excavation. We have also planted hundreds of trees grown locally from seeds collected within CottageClub thus ensuring we have planted hardy native species.
WILDLIFE FENCING AROUND THE PERIMETER OF THE COMMUNITY
You may notice that we have a unique fence design around the perimeter of CottageClub, paying homage to the ranching history of the area and ensuring safe passage for wildlife such as deer. Our wildfire friendly fencing is specifically designed five feet high to prevent injury to wildlife and to reduce the cost of repairs caused by wildlife damage. Our fences are also extremely safe for children, the rails on the fence are located on the exterior and the mesh on the fence is two inches wide by four inches high making it very difficult for child to try and crawl over.
COVERED HAMMOCKS
We built several covered hammock structures from driftwood gathered off our beach. Have you ever watched construction at a Caribbean beach destination? Yup that was us building these hammock structures from materials around us.
ARCHITECTURAL CONTROLS
CottageClub from the start focused on high quality small footprint cottage & cabin designs with an Alpine or Western theme . Unlike other developments we have a maximum cottage size but no minimum cottage size. Our architectural controls ensure high quality, low-maintenance cottage exteriors in keeping with the vision for our community. Where possible materials are sourced within 100 miles and materials with long life cycles are encouraged. We support “Canadian-Made” products that are built to last!
100 MILE DIET
Materials used on the exterior of the cottage are mandated as part of our Architectural Controls. Wherever possible we look for materials that are sourced locally with 100 miles and have a long-life cycle of 100 years wherever possible. We also encourage owners to consider the same selection of materials for the interior of their cottage.