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Category: TN

LandTechNews/BlogTN

Geopier Rammed Aggregate Pier Systems

LandTech has gotten the opportunity to work on a wide variety of projects that has exposed us to unique construction technology. We’re performing construction surveying stakeout of a project that is utilizing a Rammed Aggregate Pier (RAP) system.

Geopier Foundation Company, a subsidiary of the Tensar Corporation, developed the first RAP system in 1989. According to their website:

Geopier Rammed Aggregate Pier™ (RAP) systems are efficient and cost effective Intermediate Foundation® solutions for the support of settlement sensitive structures.

Geopier® technologies are constructed by applying direct vertical ramming energy to densely compact successive thin lifts of high quality crushed rock to form high stiffness engineered elements. The vertical ramming action also increases the lateral stress and improves the soils surrounding the cavity, which results in foundation settlement control and greater bearing pressures for design.

Depending on site requirements, RAP systems can be installed using replacement or displacement methods. The unique installation process utilizes vertical impact ramming energy, resulting in unsurpassed strength and stiffness. RAP systems are used to reinforce good to poor soils, including soft to stiff clay and silt; loose to dense sand; organic silt and peat; variable, uncontrolled fill; and soils below the ground water table.

See more at: http://www.geopier.com/Geopier-Systems/Rammed-Aggregate-Pier-Systems

 

Jay Lewis Civil Engineering, East Tennessee Region, Land Development, Land Surveying, TN 0 Comments

Federal Court Blocks EPA Water Rule

The EPA and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACoE) have been working to more clearly define the federal government’s authority to protect waterways by clarifying the definition of “waters of the U.S.”. However, there has been much disagreement about the limits of federal authority versus state authority and private property rights.

A Federal Court has handed down a stay on the new rule by the EPA and USACoE, saying it is likely illegal. http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/256493-court-blocks-obamas-water-rule-nationwide

 A federal court ruled Friday that President Obama’s regulation to protect small waterways from pollution cannot be enforced nationwide.

In a 2-1 ruling, the Cincinnati-based Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit delivered a stinging defeat to Obama’s most ambitious effort to keep streams and wetlands clean, saying it looks likely that the rule, dubbed “waters of the United States,” is illegal.

“We conclude that petitioners have demonstrated a substantial possibility of success on the merits of their claims,” the judges wrote in their decision, explaining that the Environmental Protection Agency’s new guidelines for determining whether water is subject to federal control — based mostly on the water’s distance and connection to larger water bodies — is “at odds” with a key Supreme Court ruling.

These issues are important to civil engineers working on land development projects because it will determine if the regulating authority is the federal government (EPA and/or USACoE), the state (TDEC in Tennessee), or the local government (City of Knoxville for example).

For the State of Tennessee, rules regarding work in waterways are generally regulated by the Tennessee Department of Environment & Conservation (TDEC). For example, anyone proposing to alter a stream, river or lake must obtain an Aquatic Resource Alteration Permit (ARAP). Examples of work requiring a permit include dredging, streambank stabilization, channel relocation, water withdrawals, and road crossings. For more information, visit TDEC’s website https://www.tn.gov/environment/article/permit-aquatic-resource-alteration-permit

Please feel free to contact LandTech’s staff of civil engineers and land surveyors to assist you with any issues relating to ARAP permitting. http://landtechco.com/home

 

Jay Lewis Civil Engineering, Land Development, Land Surveying, TN 0 Comments

Surveyors and Engineers – Call before you dig

Most people are familiar with the warnings to “call before you dig”. There are commercials, bumper stickers, and notices on websites. But, it’s not just a contractor digging a trench that needs to be concerned about underground utility damage. Land surveying work preparing maps for civil engineering design could also present a danger to underground utilities.

Prior to excavation you would call Tennessee 811.  http://www.tenn811.com/

“In the state of Tennessee, State Law requires anyone about to engage in either digging, excavation, moving of earth, demolition or any type of activity that disturbs the earth and therefore possibly involving a danger to damaging underground utility lines,  to notify Tennessee 811, of their intent to dig.

Tennessee 811 will then notify the member utilities of your proposed work. The utility company locator will then have 72 hours, excluding holidays and weekends, to locate those underground facilities. “

The Tennessee State Law is the “Underground Utility Damage Prevention Act”, and can be found in it’s entirety here: Underground Utility Damage Prevention Act

For LandTech projects it is standard practice to contact TN811 for a “design locate request” which is “a communication to the one‐call service in which a request for locating existing utility facilities for predesign or advance planning purposes is made“.

We will enter our design locate request using the E-Ticket process on-line. We will indicate the type of work as “survey work” or “survey stakes”. Since we may set 18″ length iron rods for property corners or survey measurement points, there is the potential to damage an underground utility line.

We would be happy to discuss our underground utility location process with you. Contact us at http://landtechco.com/contact_us

Jay Lewis Civil Engineering, Land Development, Land Surveying, TN, Underground Utility Location 0 Comments

Oil and Gas Well Location Plats

In recent years, oil and gas production in the United States has expanded, in part due to an innovative technique called “hydraulic fracturing”, commonly called “fracking”.  According to Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydraulic_fracturing):

Hydraulic fracturing (also hydrofracturing, hydrofracking, fracking or fraccing) is a well-stimulation technique in which rock is fractured by a pressurized liquid. The process involves the high-pressure injection of ‘fracking fluid’ (primarily water, containing sand and other proppants suspended with the aid of gelling agents) into a wellbore to create cracks in the deep-rock formations through which natural gas, petroleum, and brine will flow more freely. When the hydraulic pressure is removed from the well, small grains of hydraulic fracturing proppants (either sand or aluminium oxide) hold the fractures open.

In Tennessee, the Tennessee Department of Environment & Conservation (TDEC) requires anyone who drills, deepens or reopens oil and gas wells to obtain an Oil and Gas Well Permit. You can find more information on the permitting process at TDEC’s website here: http://www.tennessee.gov/environment/article/permit-other-oil-and-gas-well-permit

According to TDEC’s instructions, the permit applicant must submit an oil and gas well location plat prepared by a Tennessee registered land surveyor, showing information such as (but not limited to):

  • proposed location of the oil and gas well site;
  • proposed location of all new ingress and egress;
  • location of all diversions, drilling pits, dikes, structures and facilities
  • proposed location of storage tanks and other surface disturbances

A listing of the complete well location plat requirements can be found in the TDEC Oil and Gas Program Rules, Chapter 0400-52-03 Well Location Plats, here: http://www.state.tn.us/sos/rules/0400/0400-52/0400-52-03.20130618.pdf

The civil engineering and land surveying staff at LandTech has experience assisting the oil and gas exploration industry with the preparation of oil and gas well location plats. Contact LandTech if you have any questions about your project.  http://landtechco.com/contact_us

Jay Lewis Civil Engineering, East Tennessee Region, Land Surveying, TN 0 Comments

Zoning Appeals

One of the earliest steps in the site design process is a review of the Zoning Ordinance to determine requirements for a particular property based on it’s zoning classification (such as residential, business, commercial, industrial, etc.) The Zoning Ordinance contains information that is relevant to both the land surveyor and civil engineer.

In Knoxville or Knox County, you can find the applicable zoning classification for a particular parcel using the KGIS website: http://www.kgis.org/KGISMaps/Map.htm

Once we’ve identified the zoning classification for a particular property, we will review the local zoning ordinance for a summary of the requirements.

For the City of Knoxville, you can review the Zoning Ordinance here:  https://www.municode.com/library/tn/knoxville/codes/code_of_ordinances?nodeId=APXBZORE

For Knox County, you can review the Zoning Ordinance here: http://archive.knoxmpc.org/zoning/KnoxCounty.pdf

If a proposed site design cannot meet all of the requirements for a particular zoning classification, the owner can apply for a variance. In Knoxville, an applicant submits a site plan to the City’s Plans Review and Inspections Division, and the requested variances are presented to the Board of Zoning Appeals (BZA) for an approval or denial of the requested variance.

You can find more information about the City BZA here: http://knoxvilletn.gov/government/boards_commissions/board_of_zoning_appeals/

You can find more information about the Knox County BZA here: http://www.knoxcounty.org/codes/bza.php

If you have any questions about zoning variance for your project, contact LandTech at http://landtechco.com/contact_us

Jay Lewis Civil Engineering, East Tennessee Region, Knox County, Knoxville, Land Development, Land Surveying, TN 0 Comments

Post Construction Certifications

An important step for a land development project is confirmation that the final site was constructed in accordance with the design plans. In the City of Knoxville, this step is called a Development Certification.

According to the City’s Land Development Manual, or LDM (website link LDM):

“An approved development certification is one of the items required prior to the release of any bond (also called Performance and Indemnity Agreement) that has been collected by the Stormwater Engineering Division. The development certification is issued by the Stormwater Engineering Division after all construction has been completed in accordance with the design plans and requirements of the Knoxville Stormwater and Street Ordinance.

Appendix A contains a site review checklist for final approval of a constructed site development project and the associated as-built drawing.

Every as-built drawing must be properly certified by the appropriate design professional engineer and the registered land surveyor.”

Therefore, the development certification involves both the civil engineer and the land surveyor.  Land Tech staff includes both professional civil engineers and registered land surveyors that can assist with the development certification process.

Contact us if you have any questions about this process for your project. http://landtechco.com/home

 

Jay Lewis Civil Engineering, East Tennessee Region, Knox County, Knoxville, Land Development, Land Surveying, TN 0 Comments

Civil Engineering and Land Surveying Websites

The internet is a technology that has altered our society in many ways, and the civil engineering and land surveying professions are no different. There are many websites we routinely use when working on land development projects. Below are a few examples.

1. Knoxville Code of Ordinances : We use this website to get information on zoning and stormwater regulations for the City of Knoxville.

2. Knoxville-Knox County Metropolitan Planning Commission : This website has information on subdivision regulations, and zoning ordinances for both the City of Knoxville and Knox County.

3. City of Knoxville Engineering Department : This site contains links to various engineering divisions, the BMP Manual, the Land Development Manual, and KGIS mapping for the City of Knoxville.

4. Knox County Engineering Department : This site contains information for the Knox County Engineering Department, such as their stormwater manual and contact information.

5. TDEC Water Pollution Map : This Tennessee Department of Environment & Conservation (TDEC) website provides water quality information for streams and water bodies in the State.

6. USGS Map Locator & Downloader : You can find and download the most current or historic U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) maps, which includes roads, contours, streams, and other relevant mapping information.

7. OPUS : The National Geodetic Survey (NGS) provides an Online Positioning User Service (OPUS) for uploading GPS data and obtaining geodetic (latitude and longitude) or state plane coordinates.

These are just a few of the websites we routinely use to acquire civil engineering and land surveying data needed for our land development projects. If you have any questions about your project, please contact our LandTech staff.

For more information about us, and contact information, visit our website:  http://landtechco.com/home.

Jay Lewis Civil Engineering, East Tennessee Region, Knox County, Knoxville, Land Development, Land Surveying, TN 0 Comments

Permitting for Construction in a Stormwater Ditch

LandTech was recently contacted by a property owner in Knox County, Tennessee about providing a design for a pipe culvert in his side yard. Approximately 25% of the property is isolated by a stormwater ditch crossing the parcel. The property owner wants to install a pipe culvert crossing for easy access across the swale to the isolated portion of the property.

Sometimes a seemingly simple project involves numerous regulatory issues.

When we visited the site, we noticed a small amount of water flowing in the ditch. This would mean the ditch is technically a “stream”. Construction in a stream requires an Aquatic Resource Alteration Permit, or ARAP, from the Tennessee Department of Environment & Conservation (TDEC). More information about ARAP’s can be found here:

http://www.tn.gov/environment/article/permit-aquatic-resource-alteration-permit

We also discovered this portion of the property is in a FEMA 100-year special flood hazard area. This means the culvert would need to be sized to pass a 100-year flood without impacting the water surface elevation. If you’re interesting in finding the limits of any 100-year special flood hazard area, visit the FEMA Flood Map Service Center website:

http://msc.fema.gov/portal

Needless to say, this project is more complicated than the property owner anticipated, but LandTech can ease your burden by providing the advice and professional land surveying and civil engineering services needed to navigate the complexities of a project like this.

For more information about your project or our services, visit our website  http://landtechco.com/home or give us a call.

Jay Lewis Civil Engineering, East Tennessee Region, Knox County, Knoxville, Land Development, Land Surveying, TN 0 Comments

Waters of the United States Legislation

The U.S. House of Representatives recently passed legislation to restrict the EPA and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) from:

 ….developing, finalizing, adopting, implementing, applying, administering, or enforcing the proposed rule entitled, “Definition of ‘Waters of the United States’ Under the Clean Water Act,” issued on April 21, 2014…..

Of course, the legislation would also need to pass the U.S. Senate to become law, which is doubtful this year.

https://beta.congress.gov/bill/113th-congress/house-bill/5078

This legislation impacts land development professionals, such as civil engineers and land surveyors, because of impacts to stream and wetland permit regulations. New Federal rules could reassign regulatory jurisdiction from State Regulators (such as the Tennessee Department of Environment & Conservation) and Local Regulators (such as the City of Knoxville or Knox County) to Federal Regulators such as the EPA or USACE.

This will definitely be a topic of interest in upcoming sessions of Congress. Stay tuned.

Jay Lewis Civil Engineering, East Tennessee Region, Knox County, Knoxville, Land Development, Land Surveying, TN 0 Comments

Sewage Disposal Systems in Tennessee

An important element of land development projects is wastewater disposal. For projects in areas without public sanitary sewer systems, a subsurface sewage disposal system typically will be required.

The Regulations to Govern Subsurface Sewage Disposal Systems can be found on the Tennessee Department of Environment & Conservation (TDEC) website, here: http://www.tn.gov/environment/water/septic-disposal_regulations.shtml

There is a misconception that the only option for a subsurface sewage disposal system is a standard septic tank with a conventional disposal (drain) field). But the Tennessee SDS regulations also include sewage disposal alternatives such as advanced treatment systems, low pressure pipe systems, and subsurface drip disposal (SDD) systems, to name a few. In many instances these alternative systems provide options to increase development density.

If you have any questions about the sanitary sewer system for your project, contact LandTech at http://landtechco.com/home

Jay Lewis Civil Engineering, East Tennessee Region, Land Development, TN 0 Comments