In a recent Orlando Business Journal article, Dr. Kalidas discussed his vision for a “Medical Tourism” development. Excel Engineering has the pleasure of assisting Dr. Kirti Kalidas and KMP Land Corp. with the Land Planning, Civil Engineering, Permitting and Construction services for the proposed 107,000 square foot Hotel and Medical office development. Excel Engineering completed site plans for the on-site stormwater management system, water distribution system and sanitary sewer system. Permitting for this project is through Orange County, St. John’s River Water Management District, the Orlando Utilities Commission, Florida Department of Environmental Protection and Florida Department of Transportation. We are proud to assist Dr. Kalidas in accomplishing his vision for this innovative medical experience.
Month: May 2015
The Orlando-based land planning, civil and environmental engineering firm, Excel Engineering Consultants, LLC, is pleased to announce that it recently achieved LEED® Accredited Professional (LEED® AP) certification for its principal Julian Coto, P.E. Mr. Coto is principal engineer and Professional Engineer Registered in: Florida, North Carolina, Georgia, Alabama and South Carolina.
Excel Engineering Consultants, LLC provides land planning, civil and environmental engineering services to private, institutional, industrial and public clients. Services include land planning; land use feasibility studies; planning and engineering of commercial, residential, institutional and industrial campuses; water supply, treatment and distribution; wastewater collection, treatment and disposal; and project management.
Developed by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), the LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) accreditation is an important achievement in reinforcing the firm’s mission of “Sustainable Communities by Design.” For more information about Excel Engineering Consultants, LLC services, visit us on the web at http://www.excelengineers.com.
The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit composed of leaders from every sector of the building industry working to promote buildings and communities that are environmentally responsible, profitable and healthy places to live and work.
For information about USGBC and LEED®, please visit http://www.usgbc.org.
Scott Suspends Agency Rule-Making
In one of his first major actions since his inauguration last week, Florida Governor Rick Scott has issued an Executive Order that freezes all new regulations and establishes the Office of Fiscal Accountability and Regulatory Reform, which will review all rules prior to promulgation as well as agency practices and contracts. The order immediately suspends rulemaking for all agencies under the direction of the Governor; imposes 90-day suspension on execution of any contracts with a value in excess of $1 million, without prior approval from the Office; and prohibits agencies from promulgating rules unless they obtain prior approval from the Office. The order is part of Scott’s overall plan to reduce government regulation, remove regulatory burdens on small businesses, and enhance Florida’s economic development opportunities.
Buzzett Named New DCA Secretary
Florida Governor Rick Scott has named former St. Joe Co. executive Billy Buzzett to lead the state Department of Community Affairs (DCA). Buzzett is a civil engineer and land-use attorney who served as a vice president of strategic planning for St. Joe up until 2009. In making the appointment, Scott said Buzzett was “well-positioned to manage the consolidation of DCA into other state agencies.” Buzzett is no stranger to government having served on the 1998 Constitutional Revision Commission and as an administrative law judge and associate general counsel for former Gov. Bob Martinez. Buzzett succeeds another land-use attorney, Tom Pelham, as DCA secretary.
FHBA Newsletter January 10, 2011
In a survey conducted in February 2011, 96% of our clients gave us a score of 10(1) for customer service experience and 100% of our clients gave us a score of 10(1) for recommending us to their friends and colleagues. Our clients told us that they liked our team, responsiveness, accessibility and our in-depth expertise. Over the Past 20 Years we have developed a proven “9 Steps to Project Success” process to save our clients time, money and frustration in the project design and permitting process.
(1) The survey asked 5 questions one of which was “on a scale of 1 to 10 (10 being the best) rate your customer service experience”. 99% of our clients gave us score of 9 to 10. The other was “on a scale of 1 to 10 (10 being the best) rate if you would recommend us to a friend”.
Stormwater is water that essentially comes from all forms of weather (rain, melted snow) and has an acute tendency to flow across hard surfaces that don’t soak up water. These surfaces are commonly parking lots, roof tops, sidewalks, and streets. The trouble with stormwater arises from two issues:
- If the actual volume of stormwater is too great, it can lead to flooding and other forms of water
- Stormwater is notorious for carrying contaminants quickly and over a large area.
Some of the common pollutants in stormwater are heavy metals, debris, oils, bacteria, and harsh elements. It is difficult to treat stormwater before it enters bodies of water such as streams and lakes. It also has the chance of creating problems within cities’ wastewater treatment plants.
If stormwater isn’t moderated, it also contributes many problems because of its overwhelming volume. Streams, for example, have a certain amount of water they can manage. With an excess of stormwater, natural drainage ways become eroded, banks and bottoms are worn away, and the natural habitat of wildlife is harmed.
It is important for every project to develop stormwater pollution prevention plans. These control measures will benefit the area of land development in the long run. Many times, these construction projects are required to have a Construction Stormwater General Permit, but it is also up to the individual to execute a strategy to control stormwater on their site.
Stormwater management has to be an ongoing topic of importance for land planning and development in Orlando, especially for bigger projects such as apartment complexes and assisted living facilities. These developments take far larger amounts of planning and time. It requires well-conceived execution to be able to manage stormwater, especially here in Florida.
Excel Engineering Consultants are experts in Orlando land planning and Orlando civil engineering. By using our comprehensive civil engineering services, we will ensure stormwater management and drainage at your site is optimized and efficient. Contact us today at 1-800-806-1206.
We discussed the negative impact stormwater has, but there are different ways to conquer its adverse effects.In fact, there are ways of even benefiting from stormwater.One of the best ways to utilize the benefits of stormwater is having the capacity to actually capture it and eventually reuse it.By capturing stormwater, wastewater treatment plants are able to tap into a new source of water to distribute to municipalities and private enterprises.Some approaches that are able to accomplish this are constructed-wetland stormwater treatment systems, small lot reuse, source reuse, and a few others.
Cities are considering stormwater more with the construction and expansion of their infrastructure.Proper runoff is going to be a core concern for any stormwater management system.The motion is moving further away from sewer collection and providing benefits and efficiency to watersheds.Diverting stormwater appropriately benefits the usage of alternative land, such as vegetation and wildlife. Different surfaces are going to have the ability to route wastewater to its desired location.
By working to mitigate runoff, water quality can be enhanced along with being able to harness the benefits of improved groundwater.Many cities around the world are working on the “best practices” for managing stormwater, and we should see exciting results in years to come.
Managing stormwater is not only important for vegetation, the efficiency of municipalities, and water treatment facilities.It is important for developing a sustainable infrastructure for assisted living facilities and apartment complexes.Land development in Orlando must be measured expertly and executed professionally.
Excel Engineering Consultants are experts in Orlando land planning and , Orlando civil engineering.By using our comprehensive civil engineering services, we will ensure stormwater management and drainage at your site is optimized and efficient.
Call Excel Engineering for all your Orlando Civil Engineering needs: 407-260-2292
Excel Engineering for Water Treatment Operation and Maintenance help
Are You Aware that in July of this year some new laws came into effect in Florida which will affect your Florida land development project. Some of these new Regulations are good and others may be not-so-good. Let me explain…..
The Good
IF you have a land development permit with any of the Water Management districts (St. Johns River, South Florida, or SW Florida), or the FDEP, you may be eligible for a 2 year extension-and it will not cost you anything. Here is how it works. Land development permits issued by the FDEP or the water management districts are known as Environmental Resource Permits (ERP).House Bill (HB) 503 provides for a 2 year extension of certain ERP.
Does Your Project Qualify for the 2 Year Extension?
Let’s see if your project qualifies for this 2 year extension of time.
- Does your ERP expire between Jan 1, 2012 and Jan 1, 2014?
- Have you previously requested any extensions of time?
- If you received extensions of time in 2010 or 2011 under other House Bills you may still qualify.
How Do You Get An Extension Of Time
To get an extension of time you should have your engineer submit a written extension of time letter to the FDEP, SJRWMD, SWFWMD, or the SFWMD before December 31, 2012.In this letter you need to let them know that you want the extension of time. You also need to identify the specific permits that you wish to extend. You must also include a schedule for the construction.
What If You’re Permit Expired
If your permit expired you may still be able to take advantage of this extension of time. Some conditions apply.
Permit Conditions that Won’t Qualify
- Is your project substantially out of compliance?
- Is your project under a court order?
- Do you have wetland impacts?
If you believe that your ERP may qualify for an extension of time speak with your attorney or engineer about this to see if you qualify. Make sure that you get this done “pronto”. Because the deadline for completing the process is December 30, 2012.And there will probably be a bunch of last minute requests and some may fall through the cracks. Don’t be one of them.
Self-Certification of Projects that are Less Than 10 Acres:
If you have a project that is less than 10 acres in size and has less than 2 acres of impervious surface you may be able to avoid the lengthy permitting process through any of the water management districts (SJRWMD, SWFWMD, SFWMD) or the FDEP. This new legislation allows your engineer to self-certify the project. This requires a Professional Engineer that certifies that the project meets the following criteria:
- It was designed by a Professional Engineer.
- The total area is less than 10 acres and has less than 2 acres of impervious area.
- The project isn’t part of a larger master planned project (sorry but you can’t chop a big project in pieces to get around the rules).
- No Wetland or Surface water impacts.
- The size of the drainage pipes won’t be larger than 24 inches.
Well if you have a small project that qualifies you can by-pass the whole lengthy permitting process with the water management district of the FDEP.
The Maybe Not-So-Good
Uniform Statewide ERP regulations: The State has been working on consolidating the land development regulations of the various Water Management Districts and the FDEP into one set of rules. Presently each water management district and the FDEP have different rules. This is both good and bad. The bad is that there is no uniformity in the rules. So for instance; in Orange County you have both the SJRWMD and the SFWMD. Depending on which side of the line your project is located different rules apply.
Now SJRWMD has some rules that are very good for land development as compared to the SFWMD rules and vice versa. My fear is that the consolidation will mean throwing out all the rules from each district that benefit land development and don’t have a significant impact on the environment. And keeping all the rules from each district that are the most stringent.
For projects in Central Florida this will have a marked difference. The SJRWMD allows you to lower the water table by up to 5 feet in order to create volume for your storm water requirements. This allows you to minimize the size of the pond because you store more of the volume vertically. However, the SFWMD does not allow you to lower the water table. This makes your ponds bigger and subjects more of your developable land to being a retention pond. This means more expensive land for you and lower R.O.I. for your project.
We’ll have to wait and see. The rule making is set for October of this year (that’s 2012).And I’ll keep you posted.
If you would like more information about these rule changes and how it may affect your land development project or would like to receive the full rule so that you can read it yourself, send me an email, call me or drop by the office and I’ll get it to you.