Site Design in Cold Climates

[NeffariasBredd]

Hello everyone,

I'm working on a project doing site design for a large hospital on a ~60 acre site in the UP of Michigan. I was wondering if anybody had advice or could point me in the direction of some good resources for things to take into consideration when working on projects like this. The majority of my experience is in the Southeast.

Thanks in advance!

-Neffarias Bredd

 

[oldestguy]

Before commenting with advice, we need to know your detailed function up there? Consulting Engineer to the owner? Landscape Architect?

The State probably has a bunch of codes that you will have to follow, usually available in book form or on line.

Also what time of year. In summer it is just as bad as in the south.

 

[NeffariasBredd]

We're a consulting Civl Engineer to the owner. The Hospital hasn't been built yet (we're still in the early stages of the project). The City doesn't have much of anything useful but I haven't looked for State regulations yet. I'm not sure what you mean by what time of year, but I'm specifically looking for advice regarding winter.

 

[dhengr]

NeffariasBredd:
Later in the winter, digging and grading is pretty tough for the upper 5' to 7', it’s all frozen. What’s the soil profile look like? Some areas have sand forever, and others have a water table 18" below grade and rock a foot below that. There will likely be state requirements about retention of water run-off, etc. They generally care about their clean water up there.

 

[NeffariasBredd]

dhengr,

Yeah, the Stormwater requirements are pretty strict. The hospital will be pretty close to Lake Superior so it's mostly sandy sandy soils on the north half of the site but it gets fairly rocky in the southern half. I've been using the Web Soil Survey for preliminary info on soils but they didn't have anything on depth of frost. Do you know where I could find more information about that?

 

[civilman72]

1. Call the local building department. They will be able to tell you the (design) frost depth and minimum foundation depth.

2. Call the local planning and zoning department. They should be able to provide site development requirements (i.e. water quality BMPs, etc.).

 

[agua84]

Likely stormwater regs will dictate much of the site design. A few things to consider for site design would be: cover for utilities (get local frost depth as mentioned), provision for snow plowing and storage areas, think through what is likely to happen with stormwater devices relative to freeze/thaw, keep pavements and base as dry as possible to prevent frost heaves. If the uphill portion of the site is blasted into bedrock with groundwater present be prepared to deal with seepage and freezing - not a problem unless its flowing onto the parking or roadway. If you have concerns, it wouldn't hurt to find a local engineer to look over your preliminary plans.