March 2002

EC&S' Approach to a Project

By Lee Blodgett, R.E.P.A.

EC&S is a full service environmental consulting, civil engineering and surveying firm. We specialize in quality technical services and consulting for land development and real estate transactions. There are many regulations, specifications and agency approvals that either govern or dictate the requirements for conducting and completing these activities. There are two major components that must synergize to result in a successful project. These are technical competence and strategic planning. The best design must integrate with the resources of time and funding available to accomplish the desired outcome.

At EC&S our approach to a project is to begin with a thorough assessment of our clients wants or desired outcome. Generally, this leads to an interactive discussion and mutual education identifying what services and expertise are needed to reach the project objective.

Once this is determined, a delivery timeline and budget are established and personnel are assigned to the project. The project team at EC&S consists of a Principal in Charge who is responsible for overseeing the project to assure that our clients needs are being serviced. The team leader is the Project Manager who is responsible for directing all project activities to meet desired outcomes of quality and timely completion within budget. Technical staff with various and specific expertise are assigned to the variety of tasks required depending on the scope of each project.

EC&S personnel are extremely competent technically and equally important, are very service oriented. We endeavor to deliver quality, timely results within budget. You need to make only one call to obtain all the diverse services for your land development and real estate transaction project needs.

In this issue we present several recent successful projects that involved multiple disciplines working together to complete in extremely short delivery times. These projects represent our dedication to service.

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By Mark Chilcott

 

Biggs Gilmore Occupies the Speareflex Building

Speareflex Building - Raised Walkway Between Buildings

Shakespeare Building - Two-Story Art Deco Style Building

Biggs Gilmore, a Kalamazoo based marketing and communications firm, took possession of the top three floors (approximately 36,000-sq. ft.) in the Speareflex Building.

The Speareflex Building is a 50,000-sq. ft., four-story building of brick with wood post and beam construction. It features large windows for natural light, loft style finish, and dramatic views (both interior atrium views and exterior city views). This building is one of two remaining buildings located on the Speareflex Block, a 3.02-acre site located in downtown Kalamazoo with former heavy manufacturing uses.

Phase one of the development includes the restoration and redevelopment of the Speareflex Building and the Shakespeare Building, a two-story art deco style building. Site improvements include: construction of a raised walkway/common area that spans between the two buildings and a grade level courtyard; construction of private and public parking facilities to service the tenants and customers of the buildings; and streetscape and interior site landscaping. Future phases may include construction of a new high-rise building and townhouses (owner occupied and lease).

EC&S, working on behalf of the developer and in collaboration with the City of Kalamazoo, accomplished the following: consulted on the brownfield and environmental portions of the Development Agreement; obtained approval of a Brownfield Plan authorizing capture of incremental taxes for Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) and Michigan Economic Growth Alliance (MEGA) eligible activities; obtained DEQ and MEGA approval of a 381 Work Plan authorizing school tax capture for eligible activities; obtained Brownfield Single Business Tax Credit Pre-approval for the project; procured Downtown Development Authority (DDA) grants for streetscape, façade and interior improvements and procured an Economic Development Corporation (EDC) bridge loan.

The Single Business Tax Credit was utilized to attract an anchor tenant (Biggs Gilmore) and the incremental tax capture and DDA grants were utilized to make the project economically feasible.

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Transaction Information
Property Evaluation

By Rich Micklin, C.P.G.

A local developer recently retained EC&S to conduct a Phase I Environmental Site Assessment of a 30-acre parcel located north of Traverse City. During the course of that investigation an abandoned underground storage tank (UST) was discovered. EC&S was retained by the owner of the property to remove the UST, and assess for potential environmental impact. There was no impact.

The developer was also conducting soil percolation tests (perc tests) to determine waste water drainage capacity. Most of the perc tests were unsuccessful. The developer then retained EC&S to determine how much of the property would perc. Using a truck-mounted Geoprobe^® hydraulic sampling unit, an EC&S Scientist was able to delineate those areas with acceptable percolation rates in half a day.

Using state of the art global positioning equipment, the EC&S surveying department was able to quickly draft a scaled map with accurate soil boring locations. Analysis of the soil borings indicated that the higher elevation soils were mostly clay and the lower elevation soils were water lain sands with suitable percolation.

With this information, the EC&S engineering department was able to prepare a concept plan with commercial buildings located in the higher elevations area. The buildings would be plumbed to a decentralized wastewater treatment system with a leach field located in the lower elevation.

By utilizing the multiple services EC&S offers, the developer gained valuable information used to make an informed decision about the economic viability of the project. This time the decision was made not to purchase and develop the property due to unacceptable economics.

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Land Development News
Meeting Deadlines

By Garth Greenan, P.E.

In an ideal world, it would be easy to plan a whole project during the project development phases. Projects just don't always work that way, and it's important to have the ability to meet impending deadlines. A new Blockbuster Video store in Sault Ste. Marie necessitated a creative approach to meeting a planning commission deadline. It was important to the proposed store-opening schedule to beat the winter paving plant shutdown. With the start of design only a week prior to the required submittal for site plan review, a concerted effort was needed to complete the design. Sending a survey crew out immediately, starting site design in the office, while simultaneously working with the City, design was completed in time to make the submittal for site plan review. The Blockbuster Video store was able to get the necessary work completed in the fall to allow winter construction of the interior of the building.

In conjunction with the engineering services, EC&S provided expedited environmental services. Investigations previously completed revealed that a gas station operated on the property from the 1920s until about 1975. Previous analytical sampling indicated that the property might qualify as a "facility" (i.e. a place where contamination in concentrations exceeding Michigan regulatory levels is located) under Michigan law.

EC&S completed a Phase I Environmental Site Assessment Update and performed limited Phase II sampling. A Baseline Environmental Assessment was completed to provide the new owners protection from cleanup liability for the existing site contamination.

Utilizing a cross-trained staff, dedicating enough manpower and close cooperation with the reviewing agencies contributes to meeting a challenging schedule.

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What's New at EC&S
EC&S Welcomes Team Member

EC&S is pleased to announce the addition of new staff member Guy Rousseau. Guy recently joined us as a Project Engineer and holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Environmental Engineering from Michigan Technological University. Guy came to us with 7 years of experience and will be providing engineering and technical support for environmental cleanups, hydrogeologic investigations, and geotechnical investigations. Guy will be working on projects that involve Storage Tank Removals and Releases, Land Transaction Assessments, Geotechnical Investigations and Brownfield Redevelopment.

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2748 Garfield Road North, Suite 9 Traverse City MI 49686		Phone 231-941-2366 • Fax 231-941-2375 Email info@ecswebsite.com