Another chapter: appeal hearing begins for Capital Pointe

Another chapter of the ongoing Capital Pointe development is being written as Westgate Properties appeals an order to comply from the City of Regina.

Capital Pointe has become a talking point since the idea was first brought forward around a decade a go, with it facing many delays.

The city issued an order to comply to have the hole filled back in April because actions were given by then engineer, Isherwood Geostructural Engineers, regarding the redesign and replacement of the temporary equipment there in March.

On Tuesday, the Saskatchewan Building and Accessibility Standards Appeal Board heard from the lawyers representing Westgate, Sahil Shoor and Neil Abbott. Christine Clifford is representing the city.

In Abbott’s opening statement, he said Westgate is disputing the claim put forward by the city that the site is unsafe. Abbott also said if the board does side with the city, that they modify the order with an alternative to back-filling the hole.

After both Abbott and Clifford made their opening statements, Shoor called the first expert witness up — Kai-sing Hui, a geotechnical engineer with EXP Services.

Geotechnical engineering has to deal with the soil and how it reacts during the building process. Hui said Regina’s soil is interesting because of “Regina clay”, a layer of plastic clay near the top of the soil, which can shrink or expand depending on the amount of moisture it receives.

Due to the depth, the hole must be dug 16 to 17 metres deep for the Capital Pointe site to mostly avoid running into problems with the clay.

EXP was first consulted about the Capital Pointe site on June 1, 2018. After doing their own surveys and inspections, as well as looking back at previous work done on the site, Hui said he deemed the site to be safe and stable. That recommendation will only be valid until December with more testing needed to be done if it is to be extended.

One of the areas which was deemed a problem by Isherwood was the northeast corner of the project. Between June 5–16, 2017, the ground had shifted up to 40 millimetres.

Work to fix the issue had been done in November ahead of the winter, with Isherwood pulling dirt from the centre of the project to add to the corner helping decrease the amount of force pushing on the shoring.

Hui said there was essentially no movement at the site from June 5-29, 2018. Other areas of the project have also seen minimal movements.

Clifford will be bringing her own expert witnesses to the appeal which will include a member from Isherwood as well as someone from KGS Group. Pinter & Associates, an engineering consulting firm, is also expected to speak during the appeal at the request of the appeal board.

The appeal is expected to last three days.