Midwestern Consulting

Edmonston, Maryland has a new green mainstreet

“Green Streets for All”

Edmonston, Maryland has redesigned their main street from a very wide, straight-as-a-stick bituminous roadway to a “complete street” that solves much of the local flooding problems with bio-retention. This system captures and treats the runoff from 90% of the storm events. 

At the same time, the redesign provides pedestrian access, bike lanes, bump outs and road alignment offsets.  Taking it one step further, they added wind powered LED street lighting and large shade trees.  To add icing to the cake, the website will allow downloading of free open-source design plans including cad files and plug-in, thus the title “Green Streets for All.”

Read more here.

Earl Ophoff is a registered landscape architect in Midwestern Consulting’s Ann Arbor, Michigan office.  You can reach Earl and talk to him about non-motorized pathways and green designs at 734.995.0200.

More spending on campus is needed for FY 2011

With the current Michigan state fiscal year budget in a mess and the prospects for FY 2011 looking just as grim, how can we in the design and construction profession hold out any hope that a higher education capital outlay bill might get approved for FY 2011?

Despite operating budget deficits, it turns out the key is the ability of the state to finance the state building authority bonds used to finance these badly needed projects.  According to a source at the Senate Fiscal agency, there is room in the SBA program for a substantial capital outlay program for FY 2011. 

The only problem is politics.

While construction projects at public universities and community colleges stimulate local economies and add badly needed jobs to the communities, Lansing politicains seem to be worried more about positioning themselves for the election in November.

We would like to see a capital outlay bill for FY 2011.  Goodness knows Michigan’s  colleges and universities need new and renovated structures.  And we in Michigan’s design and construction industry would love to tackle these new technical projects so badly needed on our campuses today.

The Michigan Legislature passed the Complete Streets transportation legislation yesterday.  Governor Granholm is expected to sign the bill into law soon.

The legislation is designed to make transportation engineers and city planners think about the needs of users of roadways other than motorists – mainly bicyclists and walkers.  If any of you have had the misfortune of riding your bike in the street and having rude motorists hog the roadway or honk at you in anger you know where this legislation is aimed.

We generally support this new design effort.  But what will it mean to cities, counties and townships?  Will the costs of acquiring new ROW access for sidewalks or bike paths, and their related constructon costs, be worth the effort to encourage residents to ditch their cars? 

If Michigan’s transportation engineers and city planners are serious in their efforts to promote a healthier lifestyle through walking and bicycle riding, there needs to be safe non-motorized pathways for people to use. 

But, we ask, at what cost?

What do you think?  Please leave a comment on this site.

Water mains for fire suppression serving multiple buildings under the same ownership and on the same parcel can be designed to save money on expensive City of Ann Arbor tap, connection, and meter charges (see chart below).

Connection Charges for Fire Service Connections   (Effective 1/1/09)

A recent project included two hotels on one parcel.  Big money was saved on fees by eliminating one fire suppression tap.  Fire suppression was provided by extending the proposed 6” water line from one hotel to the other saving the owner $103,260.

A second project included three rental apartment buildings with a total of 896 bedrooms on one parcel. One 8” tap and a booster pump replaced three 8” taps reducing City fees by $406,880.

This concept can be used in the City of Ann Arbor where there are multiple buildings under the same ownership on a single parcel.  For example, a privately owned office park, a commercial or academic campus, or a retail center with multiple structures and tenants could be designed this way to save big money on tap, connection, and meter charges.

Earl Ophoff, LSA, is a registered landscape architect and senior project manager with Midwestern Consulting, Ann Arbor, Michigan.  Call Earl at 734.995.0200.

Another example of a “development friendly-ier” Ann Arbor:

Ann Arbor Administrative Amendments (A4) to approved site plans permit increased building square footage of up to 10 percent of the approved floor area, or 10,000 square feet (sf), whichever is less.  An A4 is approved by staff, does not require a full site plan, Planning Commission, citizens participation, or City Council meetings. 

Larger additions or conversions of excess parking to building square footage can be done incrementally by breaking up proposed floor area increases into phases getting each phase approved separately.  Each phase is subject to the 10 percent/10,000 sf limit.    The additions are not cumulative and can be done in multiple stages that together exceed the 10 percent/10,000 sf maximum.

For example, an existing 100,000 sf retail center with 400 parking spaces now requires 323 to 377 spaces.  Parking could be reduced by up to 77 spaces, building square footage could be increased, or a combination of the two could be done to take advantage of the lower requirements. The maximum increase in building area is 23,870 sf (subject to maximum lot coverage and floor area ratio limits).  This could be done in three Administrative Amendments.

Earl Ophoff, LSA, is a registered landscape architect and senior project manager with Midwestern Consulting, Ann Arbor, Michigan.  Call Earl at 734.995.0200.