Land Development Handbook: Planning, Engineering, and Surveying

Abstract

When this business was launched more than 50 years ago, land development planning, engineering, and surveying was largely a backwater branch of civil engineering and not respected as a legitimate engineering field. Other consultants looked down their noses at anyone engaged in this practice and felt it was not real engineering. Since land development consulting was how I made a living, I resented the notion. I feel now, and felt then, that this is a very noble profession. It requires expertise in all branches of civil engineering including surveying, roadway design, grading, drainage, water systems, wastewater systems, dry utilities, and environmental science as well as knowledge of the related fields including urban planning, landscaping, archaeology, and architecture. More important than the broad-based civil engineering experience gained as a land development consultant is the end product of our diligent labor: land development consultants provide housing (shelter) for people—one of the absolute necessities of humankind, along with food and clothing. For these reasons, I have devoted a large part of my career to elevating this profession to the level it deserves. Our firm tried hard to influence our clients to allocate a larger portion of the cost of a housing or commercial project to much-needed infrastructure. In those early days, few regulations required adequate drainage, utilities, and other infrastructure in order to provide good, reliable access to housing and other real estate developments. We often clashed with our clients over these issues. Gradually and over time, the localities mandated better infrastructure and improved environmental performance through enhanced standards and regulations. These requirements are still progressing and evolving today, as evidenced by the tremendous strides taken in the green building and environmental movements. I feel that our firm, in its way, without crossing swords too much with our clients, has contributed hugely to an improved built environment for the purposes of everyday living. We started a journey a half century ago and we have arrived at the destination. The profession of land development consulting is now recognized and respected among the engineering disciplines. Every major A/E consulting firm has a land development practice. It is taught in many colleges and universities as an elective and, in some cases, as its own specialty track within the civil engineering program. Young people are aware of and attracted to the profession. They enter this field inspired, bringing with them new ideas, the most recent technology, and a youthful perspective on the world that challenges us “old-timers” to keep pace with the speed of learning, rise above convention, and truly innovate for the benefit of our clients and our communities. One of the ways by which Dewberry remains attuned to this dynamicindustry is through this book. The Land Development Handbook began as a dream many years ago. In the mid-1980s I decided we may as well