It’s amazing the average child spends only seven minutes a day outdoors. What’s even more amazing is that this statistic applies to Colorado, a state where the outdoors is everything! Due to the benefits outside activity gives to curtailing conditions such as obesity, diabetes and heart disease–and the potential health-care costs associated with them–Jeffco Outdoors Foundation… Read more »
Supplying Oil Boom with Affordable Housing
By Rick Behning, PE First, the good news — the oil industry is boosting Williston, North Dakota’s economy. Now, the bad news — workers inside and outside the industry are having a tough time affording the high prices on a limited housing supply. What’s the answer? Baseline’s project, Fendee Estates, has one underway. This planned rural and residential… Read more »
Civil Engineers Rank #26 in 100 Best Jobs
By Noah Nemmers, PE U.S. News 100 Best Jobs of 2013 ranks occupations offering a strong combination of employment opportunity, salary, work-life balance and security. Civil Engineers earned slot #26 on the list. According to the report, a main reason is that the Bureau of Labor Statistics is projecting a healthy employment growth of 19.4… Read more »
Time Ticking to Comply with Floodplain Rules
By Chris Rundall, PE, LEED AP In an effort to increase public safety and reduce flood losses across the state, the Colorado Water Conservation Board (CWCB) issued new floodplain rules and regulations on January 14, 2011. These rules were built off the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) rules to provide uniform standards for regulating floodplains… Read more »
Demystifying the ALTA Survey
by Aaron Demo, PLS Professional Land Surveyors are constantly helping clients understand what they need when they say “survey”. Surveys can range from Improvement Location Certificates (“ILCs”) to the infamous “ALTA Surveys”. Surveys are generally subject to state and local regulations, but can vary dramatically. The ALTA survey is unique because it is governed by… Read more »
NREL Roundabout Receives ENR Mountain States’ Award
Baseline’s design for NREL’s Moss Street Extension Project, which is now Research Road, received Engineering News-Record Mountain Sates’ 2012 Best Projects (ENR) Award of Merit. The project was spurred by the need to reduce traffic volumes and increase safety for visitors and more than 1,000 on-campus employees. Research Road consists of approximately a half mile of a… Read more »
Key to Dewatering – Save Money by being Proactive
By Baseline Water/Wastewater Engineering Water/wastewater treatment is an ongoing, high priority in Colorado and there’s no shortage of news about it—especially with discharge regulations getting tighter. Remember the controversy about the strict standards for arsenic levels CDOT encountered on its highway improvement project at I-25 and West Alameda? A similar issue happened to RTD on… Read more »
Will QR Codes Replace Paper Building Permits?
By Vince Harris, AICP What started out as an idea by New York City’s Buildings Commissioner, Robert LiMandri, may find its way to Denver. Engineering News-Record’s “QR Codes Unlocking Secrets of NYC Building Permits” reports LiMandri is using QR codes to hold building project information so viewers can access it through their smartphones. LiMandri got the… Read more »
Jeffco Innovators Echo Encouraging Signs for Real Estate
By Noah Nemmers, PE, PLS & Vince Harris, AICP If you’re looking for signs the real estate market is turning around, Colorado has plenty–especially in Baseline’s home county. Baseline Corporation was proud to be a sponsor of last month’s 2012 South Jeffco Innovators Real Estate Event from the Jefferson County Economic Development Corporation (Jeffco EDC). Consisting… Read more »
A + B Bidding Provides Alternative Approach
By Chris Rundall, P.E., LEED AP I know A+B Bidding has been around for awhile, but I didn’t have a reason to research it until recently. I was discussing alternative approaches to construction bidding with a local contractor in Steamboat Springs, and he mentioned this approach to project bidding: ______________________________________________________________________________ A + B x (the… Read more »
FREE Pump System Optimization Workshop
Technical Unit Credit from Operator Certification Program Office Available Performing Energy Audits Improving Pump & Blower Efficiency Identifying Energy Recovery Opportunities Discovering “Green” Generation Technologies Getting Electric Utility Rebates Wasting Money By Baseline Water/Wastewater Engineering No doubt these topics are all hot issues, but how do you find the time to learn everything you need… Read more »
Colorado Transportation Funding
By Chris Rundall Here in Colorado, consumers pay a 40.4 cents-per-gallon tax on gasoline: of this tax, 18.4 cents goes to the federal government and 22 cents goes to the state. The state tax portion, which funds maintenance and improvements to our state’s roads and bridges, has not changed since 1991. However, inflation and improved vehicle… Read more »
Urban Infill Development
In the Denver Metro area and Northern Colorado when “urban infill” projects are mentioned, we might think of the downtown Denver area just North of Coors Field or Stapleton as prime examples of the term. Wikipedia defines infill as “the use of land within a built-up area for further construction; especially as part of a… Read more »
Lessons Learned about Low-impact Development
By Noah Nemmers, PE Low-impact development (LID) is a term used to describe a land planning and engineering design approach to managing storm water runoff. LID emphasizes conservation and use of on-site natural features to protect water quality. This approach implements engineered small-scale hydrologic controls to replicate the pre-development hydrologic regime of watersheds through infiltrating, filtering, storing, evaporating, and detaining runoff close to its source. Baseline has been involved in numerous… Read more »
Fracking and Water Usage
By Rick Behning, PE One of the concerns related to the fracking process is water usage. Kenneth Carlson, co-director of the Colorado Energy-Water Consortium, was interviewed for a recent Greeley Tribune article. The article explains that 0.1 percent of water diverted for beneficial use will be used for fracking over the 5 year span from… Read more »
Economic Downturn and Land Planning for Self-serve Storage
By Rick Behning, PE The economic downturn of the past several years, while devastating to the real estate and financial markets, has simultaneously created opportunity for many industries. Rental properties are in high demand, many law fields are busier now than ever, and car mechanics are swamped with aging vehicle maintenance. One wouldn’t expect land… Read more »
Utilities Energy Audits
By Baseline Water/Wastewater Engineering In the water/wastewater industry, the popular “energy audit” is what many companies are doing to promote sustainability, a reduction in carbon footprint, and lower operating costs…but are they being done correctly? The answer, more often than not, is no. Many of these companies recommend simply replacing a motor or adding a… Read more »
De-Mystifying ALTA Surveys
By Aaron Demo, PLS Professional Land Surveyors are constantly helping clients understand what they need when they say they need a “survey.” Surveys can range from Improvement Location Certificates (“ILCs”) to the infamous “ALTA surveys”. Surveys are generally subject to state and local regulations, but can still vary in dramatic ways. The ALTA survey is… Read more »
Colorado Floodplain Rules
In an effort to increase public safety and reduce flood losses across the state, the Colorado Water Conservation Board issued new floodplain rules and regulations that became effective on January 14, 2011. These rules build off of the FEMA rules with the hope to provides uniform standards for regulatory floodplains in Colorado and activities in… Read more »
Bakken and North Dakota Development
As of 2012, North Dakota has overtaken California to become the third-largest U.S. oil-producing state, as fracking technology has boosted shale oil output. Production has doubled in the three years since 2009. The boom in oil production in the region has also effectively cut the Midwestern state’s unemployment rate to the lowest in the country,… Read more »
