Private Development Aspects

[martin888888]

My experience is mainly in public development projects and was curious if anyone had any good insight into a few design parameters. On private development projects (shopping malls, parking lots, etc) is normal to install vertical curbing instead of curb and gutter. It is also normal to install Lynch catch basins on private projects instead of other conventional catch basins. Anyone have any insight as to why. Lynch basins require more maintenance and do not eliminate any normal Water quality requirements. Curb and gutter are a better option hydraulicly.

 

[TerryScan]

I suspect the answers to your questions may vary regionally. In my realm, vertical curbing in private development is very common. In parking areas, paving is often sloped away from curbs as much as toward them, making gutters superfluous. Of course, cost is an issue too.

In this area, I am not familiar with the term Lynch catch basins. A quick web search indicates they are pre-fabricated basins, with a sump? These are not commonly used in my area. I see them more in yard areas without traffic loading.

 

[cvg]

cost
get familiar with that term because developers are all about reducing the capital cost thereby increasing their bottom line. they could not give a whit how much maintenance you would like to reduce, because they will not be around to do any maintenance.

 

[martin888888]

Thanks for the responses. It goes well beyond cost impacts however.

 

[brandonbw]

We use gutters when we flow the water towards the curb. If you use really generic callouts and details I guess someone would callout the curb and gutter over an entire parking lot. I have seen that on newer construction. We actually got a lot of calls for not putting gutters around one particular parking lot. Very odd, but we did it since the client wanted it.

We callout NDS, Brooks, Kristar or Alhambra Foundry drains. Most of the time the contractor uses whatever they are used to or is sold at Home Depot. Is Lynch something specific to your area? The manufacturers we use are approved by the City, so that could be it, though I don't know how much anyone cares what brands we spec out.

B+W Engineering and Design
Los Angeles Civil Engineer and Structural Engineer

http://bwengr.com

 

[Ron]

Keep in mind that for private/commercial development, once the concept is established, any money that goes into the project comes out of the developer's pocket...so cost is the driving issue.

 

[CELinOttawa]

Cost. I have become an absolute expert at keeping costs down on private sector jobs... That's what the clients want. That's what brings in return business. Keep the costs lower than your competition can, and the developpers will notice.

I have seen engineers who get costs even lower than my projects, but this is nearly always due to comprimises on safety. There is a one-man-shop out of Kingston Ontario who is notorious in the Structural community for having no insurance (ie: Can't get blood from a stone) and designing everything with the same dozen or so details. All slabs are 15M bars at 150 centres each way, no exceptions. Very frightening stuff, and I can't understand how he's still practicing... *sigh*

 

[beej67]

Almost all development in Georgia has a gutter wherever there's a curb, regardless of the grading. Stormwater management and water quality can look a hundred different ways down here, depending on the site constraints. Never heard of a Lynch Basin before today.

Development in much of the rest of the rural southeast tends to go for ditches in lieu of curb and gutter wherever it's viable and the land plan isn't stressed, to save on cost.

Hydrology, Drainage Analysis, Flood Studies, and Complex Stormwater Litigation for Atlanta and the South East -

http://www.campbellcivil.com