By Juan Lopez 0 Comments

Dial-a-Bus Storage Facility

For many years, Tectonic has provided professional engineering services at various locations throughout the Town of Warwick. In partnership with Orange County, the Town of Warwick obtained grants and funding from the Federal Transit Administration for a bus storage facility. The proposed garage would house 12 buses and facilitating dispatch operations within a 9,100 square foot facility.  The buses serve the southern portion of the County including the towns of Blooming Grove, Wallkill, Monroe/Harriman, Goshen, Chester, Warwick, and their incorporated villages.

Tectonic assisted the Town with obtaining funding and permits to construct the garage. Additional services included:

  • Preparation of a Stormwater Pollution Prevention Plan (SWPPP) and a National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) screening report.
  • Addressing potential impacts upon historic resources, wetlands, ecologically sensitive areas and endangered species while providing additional guidance for project compliance with federal and state applications.
  • Geotechnical subsurface investigations.
  • Surveying services.
  • Cost estimating.

Towards completion of the project, Tectonic was responsible for updating and re-evaluating the SWPPP and NEPA checklist in order for the project to move forward.

By Juan Lopez 0 Comments

USDA Animal Import Center Facility

Tectonic provided multi-discipline services as a subconsultant to government contractor, Clark Nexsen, for the preliminary design, support and oversight of the design-build construction on the New York Animal Import Center (NYAIC) at Stewart International Airport. This 10,000 square foot, LEED-Silver Administration building is one of 2 air/ocean-borne animal import centers on the eastern seaboard that is operated by the U.S. Department of Agricultural Animal and Plant Health Inspection Services (USDA-APHIS). The NYAIC was created as part of a multi-phased modernization plan to inspect and quarantine animals before their ultimate release and transfer to their final destination within the U.S.

Tectonic provided the following services:

  • Preliminary design: surveying, geotechnical subsurface investigations, National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) screening, New York State Historic Preservation Office (NYSHPO) consultation, and code review.
  • Preparation of NEPA and New York State Environmental Quality Review (SEQR) documentation addressing potential environmental impacts, and coordination of the process and determination with the USDA’s environmental liaison.
  • Development of a Program of Requirements (POR) and preliminary site plan to address the functional and operational compliance with USDA design standards, Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (PANYNJ) tenant construction requirements, airport individual State Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (SPDES) Permit limitations, and Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) circulars/regulations.
  • Utilization of sand filters, pre-manufactured pretreatment units, and green technologies (stormwater planters and vegetate swales)

The information obtained from the pre-design phase and preliminary site and stormwater designs will be utilized by a design-build team in the final design and construction of the project.

By Juan Lopez 0 Comments

GOSR Waterford Wetland Drainage

The Village of Waterford, located on the west side of the Hudson River in Saratoga County, experienced catastrophic flooding during Hurricane Irene in August 2011.  A neighborhood of 55 residences at the north end of the Village was inundated by rising water and suffered losses. The Village requested $1 million in Community Development Block Grant – Disaster Relief (CDBG-DR) funding under the New York Rising Community Reconstruction (NYRCR) program to complete the improvements described as the “Wetland Drainage System Improvements” in the Waterford NYRCR Plan.

Tectonic worked with the Governor’s Office of Storm Recovery to appraise the request, perform an engineering and environmental project feasibility review, evaluate alternatives, outline regulatory requirements, and recommend viable approaches to control or mitigate the flooding impacts with the objective of achieving resiliency.

The final study recommended the provision of backflow prevention and construction of a municipal separate storm sewer trunk to improve drainage, reduce flooding, and increase access to first responders.  A more extensive solution involving wetland detention behind a railroad embankment was found to be only marginally more effective at reducing flooding during high-frequency storm events.

By Juan Lopez 0 Comments

FEMA – Funded Culvert Replacements

Tectonic worked closely with the Town of Warwick to provide multi-discipline engineering services on various culverts and Town roadways that were destroyed after Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm Lee in August/September 2011. The Federal Emergency Agency (FEMA) declared the region eligible for disaster relief funding and the project was performed under an expedited emergency repair framework. Tectonic coordinated with municipal staff to assess the town-wide damage inflicted by the storms and estimate damages. Ten locations were determined to be “large” FEMA projects and required engineering and permitting to facilitate replacement.

Tectonic performed multiple engineering services at six of the ten locations:

  • Cascade Road (arch culvert to permit fish passage on a regulated watercourse)
  • Black Rock Road (arch culvert to permit fish passage on a regulated watercourse)
  • Bowen Road (arch culvert to permit fish passage on a regulated watercourse
  • Distillery Road (box culvert)
  • Jessup Road (arch culvert to permit significant flow passage)
  • Ketchum Road (box culvert)

Tectonic’s services included:

  • Topographic surveys
  • Geotechnical subsurface investigations for culvert and wingwall foundations
  • Hydraulic modeling (Federal Highway Administration HY-8 Culvert Hydraulic Analysis Program) of the proposed improvements to size the culverts
  • Design and permitting plans generation
  • Permitting of the site (New York State Office of Parks and Historic Preservation, US Army Corps of Engineers emergency general permitting, New York State Department of Environmental Conservation emergency Protection of Waters, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service)
  • Construction documents
  • Public bid and construction support
By Juan Lopez 0 Comments

Great Neck Plaza Parking Lot

Tectonic worked closely with the Village of Great Neck Plaza to support the reconstruction of the Maple Drive municipal parking lot in Great Neck Plaza utilizing green infrastructure techniques.  The Village was successfully awarded a $675,000 project grant from the New York State Environmental Facilities Corporation (EFC) under their highly competitive Green Innovation Grant Program (GIGP). Existing infrastructure was improved using a “green”, sustainable approach to construction that would improve vehicle circulation and lot utilization.

Tectonic initially prepared a feasibility study that accompanied the grant to support this project. Tectonic documented environmental matters including threatened and endangered species, historic properties listed on the National Register of Historic Places, archaeologically sensitive areas, subsurface conditions, aquifers, and critical environmental areas. Green infrastructure practices were screened for compatibility with the project location and site conditions. Viable practices were further explored for prospective sizing, environmental benefit, and construction requirements. Construction inspection and materials testing will be provided during the spring of 2016.

Ultimately, a permeable pavement system was utilized to help minimize flooding in addition to reducing stormwater runoff into storm drains, waterways, and eventually the Long Island Sound. Additional green improvements included low-maintenance landscaping, LED street lighting, and solar-powered central metering in place of the outdated coin-operated metering. The parking lot project will help revitalize the Great Neck downtown community and stimulate economic development in other Long Island Communities nearby.

By Juan Lopez 0 Comments

USMA Foley Athletic Center

Tectonic has a long history of performing work at various sites throughout the United States Military Academy. Tectonic provided multi-discipline support including civil and geotechnical engineering, surveying, and construction inspection services for the design and construction phases at the Foley Athletic Center, a 77,000-square foot facility designed by Baker Barrios Architects. The Center was constructed to provide Army athletic teams with a climate-controlled indoor practice facility.

Services included:

  • Performing a value engineering redesign of the project’s stormwater management facility to address impacts of shallow rock, groundwater influence, and construction budget.
  • Providing State Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (SPDES) Compliance inspections (under NYSDEC General Permit) to assist with the Contractor’s management of erosion and sediment control associated with the project’s development.
  • Performing a ground survey based on the North American Vertical Datum of 1988 (NAVD 1988) with mapping prepared in AutoCAD format showing all visible improvements, subsurface utility information, and topography to facilitate design of the new facility.
  • During construction, setting survey control lines for the installation of steel frame and pre-fabricated panels for the new building, drainage, and sanitary sewer structures.

The completed facility has become the largest donation in the history of the Academy. It houses a regulation 100-yard football field with a FieldTurf® playing surface utilized by several of Army’s teams including football, baseball, softball, soccer, and lacrosse.

By Juan Lopez 0 Comments

Glenmere Lake Dam

Glenmere Lake Dam, a large, high hazard dam, impounds a water supply reservoir with a surface area of 328 acres and drainage area of 2.4 square miles. The dam is approximately 600-feet long and consists primarily of an earth embankment with a maximum height of 24 feet, partly supported by masonry stone and reinforced concrete walls. The crest of the dam serves as a two lane paved County roadway. Glenmere Lake also provides habitat for the largest known population of the endangered, Northern Cricket Frog (Acris crepitans) in New York State.

Tectonic prepared an Engineering Assessment and Emergency Action Plan for the dam that included the following:

• Hydrologic and hydraulic analyses
• Dam breach analyses
• Inundation mapping and hazard class evaluation
• Incremental damage assessments
• Spillway capacity evaluation
• Subsurface investigation
• Stability and seepage analyses
• Topographic and bathymetric surveys

As a result of the Engineering Assessment, the spillway capacity and dam stability were found to be deficient. Tectonic performed additional studies including an evaluation of raising the dam embankment and enlarging the spillway to increase storage and spillway capacity to prevent overtopping.

Tectonic prepared permit application documents, design plans, cost estimates and construction documents to complete the necessary improvements and modifications that include modifying the alignment of the dam to reduce the length of the dam by more than 50 percent, installing a toe drain to control seepage, and replacing the existing spillway and spillway conveyance conduit.

The relocation and shortening of the dam was a unique approach that eliminated the need for costly environmental remediation, reduced impacts to the Northern Cricket Frog population and allowed construction to proceed without lowering the reservoir which would have drastically impacted the water supply and endangered species.

Construction is currently underway and Tectonic is providing resident engineering inspection and material testing services and also monitoring of the Northern Cricket Frog as required by the NYSDEC.

By Juan Lopez 0 Comments

Harbors at Haverstraw

The Harbors at Haverstraw, a 542-unit residential community, is a successful redevelopment of a former brownfield site on the Hudson River. Tectonic has been working with Ginsburg Development Companies (GDC) since the initial planning phases of the Haverstraw Waterfront Redevelopment. Tectonic completed site development plans and preliminary civil engineering services including locations of buildings, parking, drives, utilities, stormwater management facilities and site grading. Additional engineering services included:

  • Assisting in the draft of the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) and State Environmental Quality Review (SEQR) process, providing civil engineering and environmental services.
  • Preparation of Stormwater Management Report in accordance with DEC standards.
  • Analysis of adequacy of water and sewer systems, projected usage, and necessary improvements, including the preparation of Water System and Sewer System Reports as well as assisting with Rockland County approval.
  • Upgrade of existing sanitary sewer pump station.
  • Erosion and sediment control plans.
  • Multiple Site Plan Amendments as development evolves.
  • Consulting for Post-Superstorm-Sandy FEMA Advisory Base Flood Elevation (ABFE) designation and map revisions.
  • Construction support services.

The Harbors is part of a larger waterfront redevelopment that provides multi-family housing with a connection to the Metro-North commuter rail via Ferry. Future phases will connect a 1.5-mile riverfront promenade to Haverstraw’s Main Street area. The residential community includes two pools, a fitness center, basketball court and clubhouse.